The healing of the man born blind happens on several different levels. It is not primarily a story of a man whose physical sight
is restored. It is also a story of spiritual insight.
Immediately after answering his disciples' question about the man being born blind, Jesus approaches the man. Using the earth and his saliva, he makes a paste
(reminding us of God’s work of Creation in Genesis) and puts it on the man’s eyes. Jesus then sends him to wash in the pool of Siloam - “Sent” being the meaning of the pool's name is perhaps no coincidence. His experience with Jesus will ultimately send him to witness.
When the authorities question the man's experience of being healed and the One who healed him, the man is unshaken. Many Pharisees doubt and criticise Jesus, saying he cannot be from God because he healed on the Sabbath. But the man stands by the truth of his own experience and his growing conviction that only someone sent by God could have given him the miraculous gift of sight. The
newly sighted man identifies Jesus as a prophet, and there is confidence and conviction about him. The composed way in which he faces the questioning by the religious authorities resonates with the scenes between Jesus and Pilate.
The story's climax is when Jesus goes looking for him and reveals himself to him as the Son of Man, the Messiah. At this moment, the healing is complete. The man is brought from physical sight to spiritual insight. He says immediately: “Lord, I believe.” We know he understands because he addresses Jesus as Lord and worships him. Worship is reserved for God, not for a man or prophet.
Initially, he knew only that someone – a man called Jesus – had healed his eyes. Now he knows the healer, Jesus, the Son of Man, who was sent.
What aspects of my sight, physical, emotional or spiritual, need the touch of
Jesus?
Where do I need to claim the truth of what I know to be true from my own experience?
Where do I long to see more clearly? What ‘in-sight’ will free me?
