JOHN REFLECTION - Week 3

 As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7 saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 8 The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am he.” 10 But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” – John 9:1-11 (NRSV)

Jesus wastes no time in subverting long held beliefs in this passage.

You might have come across the idea that physical disabilities, among other things, are caused by sin.

There are still some who might hold to these types of ideas today (largely because of a particular reading of Old Testament texts), but it is rare. We have the privilege of 2000 years’ worth of scientific study and discovery to enlighten us to the biological and genetic causes for many conditions, including blindness.

But we also suffer from a worldview which is biased in this privilege, especially when it comes to reading ancient texts. One could read this and simply say ‘they just thought that because they didn’t understand the scientific mechanics of the human body – so they substituted science for religious explanations.

This, I think, would be a misjudgement of the situation and would miss a greater point- which would be a shame!

The disciples are not asking a scientific ‘how’ question, but are demonstrating a deep theological point. So bizarre can seem the point about sin causing ailments that we think we have the answer, when we should ask the theological question of ‘why’ they thought this?

If you’ve been reading along through John’s gospel, you might remember a little snippet of John 5;

Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. 14 Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” - John 5:13-14

What an ominous thing to say to someone!

Once more, as is so often the case, interpretation plays a key role in deciphering this. Trouble is, there are multiple valid interpretations.

1)    Having been physically healed, he’s warned not to sin because that is the cause of the condition and to sin again will lead to more illness.

2)    The ‘nothing worse’ is a shift from a conversation about physical health to one about spiritual health. As in, “you think this was bad? Wait until you find out about the consequence of sin!”…

It is possible, then, that the disciples built on an ancient understanding of God using disease as a punishment (ie. The plagues in Exodus) and interpreted Jesus in this light.

Yet, for us, just four chapters later, when they ask a question based on this understanding of the consequence of sin, Jesus challenges them. This man wasn’t an example of sin, but is to be an example of God’s glory.

The traditional view of someone who was blind, for instance, was that they were being punished for something, or that they might be contagious, or both, and so they were ostracised and stigmatised and excluded from societies. There are plenty of stories across the gospels which reflects this.

So, in an act of loving inclusion, Jesus shows that God’s works are revealed through ‘the least’ of society.

This isn’t just to say that God uses people like this blind man, but that his (the blind man’s) identity is as one through whom God will reveal Their works. ‘He was born blind so that’ suggests that this has been the plan since the start of this person’s life.

God sees and knows us in our suffering and might have plans to do amazing things through us.

The Pool of Siloam, which was just near the Southern walls of ancient Jerusalem, was a significant site, in particular as a place of ritual purification.  

One other traditional view of people with disabilities or conditions was that they were often considered impure. They were excluded until such a time as they could be ceremonially clean again. Jesus didn’t need to send this man to the pool. If he had wanted, Jesus could (I believe) have healed him without any mud or water. So the inclusion of mud and water in the process reveals something.

There are some who would say that the use of mud is evoking the imagery of Genesis, where humanity was crafted from the dirt of the earth. John’s Jesus could be showing his role in creation – we already heard about this from the narrator’s perspective in John 1.

But, in sending the man to the pool, we can find two different points.

First, Jesus requires a response. Faith and trust are needed for the man to be healed in this instance. There are loads of examples throughout John’s gospel thus far where Jesus talks about needing to ‘believe’. We, humanity, needs to respond to God’s message through Jesus. For the blind man, his response was to go to the pool and obey Jesus.

Just before this story, in John 8, Jesus says;

If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples.

Obedience is key.

Second, the man isn’t just healed of a physical impairment. The process of ritual purification was one which represented spiritual purity and holiness before God.

Jesus did not just address his physical needs, but his spiritual and social needs too.

Any shame or stigma he would have carried, even guilt if he himself believed his sin had caused his impairment, were taken away in Jesus healing act.

He was, you might say, a new creation.

So, let’s recap – Jesus challenges longstanding theological and social ideas, empowers an outcast and reveals the power and love of God.

And he leaves the blind man transformed – physically, socially and spiritually.

That is the power of Jesus!