Once again, I am reducing the size of my teachings to make them more manageable☺
“5 But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. 7 He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” [Siloam means “sent”]. So, the man went and washed and came back seeing!” – John 9:5-7 NLT
After reading all of Chapter 9 I concluded:
Perhaps our Lord is Showing Up and Showing Off
I have a couple of responses to this miracle. The first one is unpleasant! I usually associate spit with something gross, something I don’t want in my mouth or stomach. Yuck!
My second response is to ask, why? There are a variety of opinions as to why Jesus carried out this miracle as He did. My thought is that He was exercising His genesis authority. He originally formed man from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7). I think He is demonstrating the reality that the One who created everything in the first place can continue to form and make something from His original creation and use it for redemptive purposes. Our Lord has a right to show off, doesn’t He ☺?
This fits the context of John 9:5 where He identifies Himself as the “light of the world” alluding to Genesis 1:3 “And God said, let there be light and there was light.” The first time we hear God speak is in Genesis 1:3. We know that Jesus Christ’s name prior to His entry into the world was “the Word” (Look to John 1:1-3). The result of Christ speaking in creation was light. Light in its most basic form is energy. As an aside: the existence of visible light prior to the establishment of the sun, moon and stars emphasizes the fact that light (energy) is more fundamental than light givers. Oh! The magnificence of God’s creation!
The Holy Spirit took the following five words and ignited them into a revelation in my inner spirit…
Power Is Released in Obedience
When I act in obedience, there is a greater chance that His power will be set free though me!
An additional response to this miracle is the fact there is nothing Christ cannot do, but we have to do our part. Like many of the miracles Christ performed, this one comes with a set of instructions. He tells the man to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. While we do not know the exact distance he traveled, it was likely a hike. He would have traveled through Hezekiah’s tunnel, have descended hundred of steps, and since it was the Feast of Tabernacles, would have bumped into hundreds of pilgrims. Even if someone was holding his hand, or he knew how to get there after years of being blind, it still was a huge trek for him.
I’m not completely sure why Christ had the blind man go and wash, but I’m guessing over all the years of being blind, he could have been paralyzed by helplessness. So, Christ not only restored his dignity by rebuking helplessness, but He also empowered him to overcome his mental paralysis.
The Scripture is very explicit when it comes to the sequence of this miracle. It says he, “came back seeing” (9:7). If he hadn’t obeyed Christ’s command to go to the pool, I don’t think the miracle would have happened.
Sometimes I find myself looking for the extraordinary when the Lord God is asking me to obey the ordinary. Sometimes biblical doctrines become so ordinary to me that I forget how extraordinary they are. Worse yet, I misapply them because I have become so nonchalant with them that they lose their specific meaning or impact on my life.
This is partly what Paul was warning the Corinthian Christians regarding the doctrine of Grace:
“We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” – 2 Corinthians 6:1 NKJV
“Vain.” The Greek word “kenos,” which means to lose its proper purpose, or to become empty! Oh my!
Dallas Willard, one of my favorite authors, says this about grace and obedience:
“We are educated way beyond our capacity to obey. Currently we are not saved by grace, we are paralyzed by grace. We find it hard to see that grace is not opposed to effort, but it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude and grace is opposed to that. But it is not opposed to effort.” – The Great Omission, p. 166
Please read this most staggering verse below, better yet stand and read this verse out loud!
“But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which [was bestowed] upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” – 1 Corinthians 15:10 KJV
Paul was deeply humble. He knew that he had worked hard and accomplished much but only because God had poured kindness and grace upon him.
True grace is never static, it is always dynamic.
His unmerited favor finds it’s biblical competition when we extend that same grace to others. I think if we don’t extend it to others it becomes stale, academic, and eventually empty of its true Biblical meaning. What do you think?
Responding to grace leads to labor and work.
Responding to grace squelches passivity.
Responding to grace means we will pour out grace toward others.
In this life we are vessels of His grace.
In the next life we will be trophies of His grace.
It is incomplete to say that I did nothing, and God did it all.
It is incomplete to say that I did it all and God did nothing.
It is accurate and complete to say God’s grace is working through my efforts.
A Few Concluding Actions:
- Pray for a miracle you are looking for in your life or in some else’s life.
- What actions can you be doing to help bring this miracle into fruition?
- Recount your insights from John 9.
- Which verses in Corinthians resonated with you most? Why?
- Comment on Willard’s quote: I printed this out and taped it into the front of my everyday Bible.
- Explain the proper response to Grace.
- Which of my pithy statements struck you most? Why?
A step of obedience can open your eyes.
A step of obedience can bring redemption for you and for others.
A step of obedience can restore dignity and rebuke helplessness.
A step of obedience can reverse the curse.
A step of obedience can begin a new chapter in your life.
Many miracles require an act of blind obedience.
Here’s to mud in your eyes ☺!
In Christ,
Dale