This morning I was reading through John, specifically his ninth chapter which is a great story about the healing of a man born blind. I love this story because of the richness of the details that John includes. It sure seems to me to be an eye-witness account. Anyway towards the end of the questioning the formerly blind man says something is very true - John 9:30-33 NIV:
[30] "The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. [31] We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. [32] Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. [33] If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
I believe this formerly blind man, who clearly was not schooled formerly, lays out the basic belief of people concerning the miraculous. They believe that if something miraculous occurs that God was involved. Now in our "modern" society that may be less so, as we explain away many things, but when confronted with an honest, unexplainable miracle we tend to believe God was involved. This is clearly the point that Jesus made at the beginning of this story when asked about whether sin was the cause of the man's blindness. He said, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him." (John 9:3NIV). The miraculous are the works of God, things that God can do that no one else can do.
In this story Jesus spits in the dirt makes mud and spreads it on the eyes of the man born blind. I like to think this is just a follow through of creation, when He formed man out of dust (Gen 2:7), probably with a bunch of spit...Ha! Anyway, a person born blind is usually missing some part or component in the eye, and I think Jesus might just have fashioned him new eyes out of the mud. What exactly he did doesn't really matter, what does matter is that the man received his sight, and was transformed. He was so transformed that his neighbors who had probably seen him every day for years, weren't even sure it was him, and they had to get his parents to verify it really was him. I love how God touches one part of him, but transforms all of him.
God is in the business of transforming lives, all of our lives. His touch in one area, will spread to other areas as He gently leads us and speaks to us. I know people who have had radical transformations, like this blind man, and I have known those whose transformation has been slow and steady. We are all being changed into His likeness if we are His followers, some of us are just more resistant to change.
Back to the formerly blind man, I think it is also very interesting that even though he had been touched and healed by Jesus, he didn't know who he was (what he looked like). When Jesus came and found him, he didn't recognize Jesus. It was only when Jesus revealed himself that the man came to know Jesus and worship Him. The Greek word used here literally means to kneel down and kiss the hands and I can see that exact thing happening here when the man figured out that the one talking to him was the one who healed him. This also is a normal response to the experience of God's saving and transforming power.
Lord, we pray that we might truly know You! We want to know your healing, saving and transforming power in our lives. We want to know and experience the goodness of God, and helps others to know You in this way as well.
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