ON A SABBATH morning, which was not Sunday, but Saturday, the Jewish day
of rest and church-going--Jesus and his disciples were on their way to
the service in the Temple, when they passed a blind man. They had seen
this man before and knew that he had been blind all his life. He had
come into the world without eyesight, to the great sorrow of his father
and mother; and he lived upon the little coins that people gave him as
they were on their way to the Temple.
The Jews believed that every disease was caused by some act of sin; that
if a man became ill, it was because he had done some wicked deed and was
being punished for it; and if a child was born blind, or dumb, or
crippled, it must have been because either its father or mother had
sinned against God's law. Some of the scribes, who were the teachers of
the law, said that each soul lived many times on the earth; that when a
man died, his soul went into a body that was born at that moment; and if
the new-born baby was blind, or diseased, it was because it had done
wrong in some life before that one. None of these things are believed
now since Christ has taught men, but they were held by nearly all people
while Jesus was on the earth.
As the disciples were passing by this blind man, one of them said to
Jesus:
"Teacher, whose sin was it that caused this man to be born blind? Was
it the fault of his parents? Or was it his own fault?"
"It was through no fault of his, nor of his father or mother that this
man was born blind," answered Jesus. "It was that God might show a
wonderful work in him. While daylight lasts, we must be doing God's
work; the night will soon come when we can work no longer. As long as I
am in the world I am the light of the world, and give light to men."
As he said this, he spat on the ground and mixed the spittle with dust,
making it into mud, and smeared it on the man's eyes. He said to the
blind man:
"Now, go down to the pool of Siloam and wash."
[Illustration: The Pool of Siloam at the present time]
The pool of Siloam was a large tank or reservoir on the southeast of the
city, where the valley of the brook Kedron and the valley of Hinnom
meet. To go to that place the blind man with two great blotches of mud
on his face must walk across the city of Jerusalem, passing all the
crowds on their way to worship. He went down to the pool of Siloam,
climbed down its steps to the water and washed the mud from his face. In
a moment his white, sightless eyes flashed with a new light. He looked
up, and for the first time in all his life he could see!
As he went to his father's house, everybody who saw him noticed how
differently he looked. All had known him as a blind man, groping his way
to the place where he used to sit as a beggar. The people asked each
other:
"Is this the same blind man that begged in the street?"
Some said, "Yes, this is the same man."
But others said, "No, this cannot be the man; but he is one who looks
somewhat like him."
He said, "I am the same man."
"Then how did you get your sight?" they asked.
"The man whom they call Jesus," he answered, "made some mud and put it
on my eyes, and said, 'Go to Siloam and wash your eyes.' So I went and
washed them; and my sight came to me."
"Where is this man who cured you?" they asked.
"I do not know," he answered.
They took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees, who were the
leaders of the people. We have seen that the Pharisees were always
enemies to Jesus. So the Pharisees asked him to tell again how he had
gained his sight; and he told them:
"The man named Jesus smeared some mud on my eyes, and I washed them, and
now I can see."
Some of the Pharisees said, "This man Jesus cannot be from God, because
he does not keep the Sabbath."
The scribes had made a rule that mixing up mud on the Sabbath day was
working; that carrying it from one place to another was bearing a load;
and that to give any treatment to a sick man on the Sabbath, unless it
was necessary to save his life, was Sabbath breaking. So to their eyes,
Jesus in curing the blind man had broken the Sabbath rules in more than
one way.
But some others said, "How can a bad man do such wonderful works? Is not
this work of cure a sign that God is with him?"
So there were two parties among them in their opinion about Jesus. They
asked the blind man again:
"What do you say of this man who has opened your eyes?"
"I say that he is a prophet from God," answered the man.
Many of the Jews, however, would not believe that this man had been born
blind and had gained his sight, until they sent for his father and
mother.
"Is this your son," they asked, "the son you say was born blind? How is
it that now he can see?"
"This is our son," his parents answered, "and he was born blind; of that
we are sure. But how it is that he can see now, we do not know, nor do
we know who opened his eyes. Ask him--he is old enough--he can speak for
himself."
His parents spoke in this way because they were afraid of the Jews, for
the rulers had agreed that any one who said that Jesus was the Christ
should be turned out of the church. That was why they had said, "He is
old enough; ask him." So the Pharisees again sent for the man who had
been blind, and said to him:
"Give God all the praise for your sight; we know that this Jesus is a
bad man."
"I know nothing about his being a bad man; one thing I do know, that
once I was blind, and now I can see."
"What did he do to you?" they asked. "How did he open your eyes?"
"I have told you all about it already," he replied, "and it seems you do
not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you intend to be his
disciples?"
Then they were in a rage at him, and said, "You may be his disciple, but
we are disciples of Moses, and we obey his laws. We know that God spoke
to Moses, but we do not know where this fellow comes from!"
"Well, this is very strange!" answered the man. "You do not know where
he comes from; and yet he has opened my eyes. We know that God does not
listen to bad men; but if any man is God-fearing, and does God's will,
that man God will hear. Since the world began, no one ever heard before
of a man that could open the eyes of one born blind. If this Jesus were
not of God, he could do nothing."
"Are you trying to teach us?" they answered. "You, who were born a
sinner?"
Then they turned him out of the church; they forbade him to sit in the
meetings or to go into the Temple; and after that none of them would so
much as speak to him. Jesus heard that he had been put out of the
church; he sought him out, and when he had found him, he asked:
"Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
"Tell me who he is," said the man, "and I will believe in him."
"You have seen him," answered Jesus, "and it is he who is now speaking
to you."
The man said, "I do believe, Lord," and he fell on his face before him.
And Jesus said, "I came into the world to put men to this test, in order
that those who cannot see, and know they are blind as this man was,
might be made to see; and that those who think they can see should
remain blind."
Some of the Pharisees who heard this knew that it was a rebuke to them,
because they failed to see in Jesus one sent from God. They said:
"Then are we blind, too!"
"If you were really blind," said Jesus, "you would have no sin to answer
for; but as it is, you say, 'We can see,' and so your sin remains
against you."
Again the Jews were divided over the words of Jesus. Some said, "He is
crazy! Why listen to him?"
But others said, "These are not the words of a crazy man. Can a man who
is crazy open the eyes of a blind man?"
[Illustration: The modern village of Siloam]
The Good Shepherd