When Jesus healed the man born blind at birth (John chapter 9), He did much more than just give him a physical healing.
We know the man was a mature adult, for his parents said so when questioned by the Jewish leaders. So, for his entire life he had been blind. Not because he had sinned, or because his parents had sinned, but in order to display the Glory of God. Oh my. How many times over the intervening years had he and his parents prayed for healing, even sought it. How many times had they wondered what they had done wrong, since illness, disability was generally thought to be a result of some sin, fault, in the person.
But Jesus. Jesus said, it was “Neither. It happened to him so that you could
watch him experience God’s miracle.” (Jn. 9:3)
How human it is for us to conclude the same things when our prayers go unanswered. There must be something wrong with us. And while there may be times when elements of that that are true–living in obvious, intentional disobedience, e.g.–how like God to be doing something much bigger in the long delay. Here is a man who surely had lost hope after years of living with blindness. Yet Jesus healed him by smearing a mixture of spit/saliva and clay on his eyes of all things! [Let’s be honest here, does anyone beside me have at least a little bit of “ew” reaction to this?] Saliva, symbolizing the washing of the water of the word, clay symbolizing man.* Jesus came not just to heal our physical blindness, but our spiritual. Here we see that enacted in both realms, for the Blind Man went to the Pool of Siloam (in Hebrew “the pool of Apostleship,” “to be sent.” Jesus was the “sent one” from Heaven*), and saw for the first time. A few verses later after the blind man had been scorned by the Jewish leaders and ejected from the Temple, Jesus ” . . . went to find him and said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” The man whose blind eyes were healed answered, “Who is he, Master? Tell me so that I can place all my faith in him.” Jesus replied, “You’re looking right at him. He’s speaking with you. It’s me, the one in front of you now.” Then the man threw himself at his feet and worshiped Jesus and said, “Lord, I believe in you!” (Jn. 9:35-38). The man had been born “for such a time as this.”
Ah, so much bigger an agenda in this man’s birth and long unanswered prayer than anyone could ever have imagined! How like our loving Father, for Whom time is not even an eye-blink in eternity, and for Whom our best and His glory are always the end game. Would this man choose to be born blind, in order to be the object lesson years later of Jesus’ revelation and the opening of his spiritual eyes–and ours? What do you think?
Take heart dear one, God has purpose in your delays. He is faithful and He will reward those who diligently seek Him–and trust Him, and hold tight to Him, remaining loyal even till the end.
*Brian Simmons, John: Eternal Love, The Passion Translation, BroadStreet Publishing Group LLC (September 23, 2014)
This Isn't All There Is 