| Devotional Hours with the Bible |
Chapter 14 |
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A strange thing in this miracle was the use of the means to which Jesus resorted. “He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.” Jesus did not need the help of any means in working His healings, as human physicians do, for He had all power. Evidently the means were used for the effect their use would produce upon the man’s own mind. The blind man had not thought of the possibility of receiving his sight. He seems never to have heard of Jesus as one who could open his eyes. There was in him, therefore, no expectation that he might be cured. Hence the first thing to be done was to arouse his hope and start faith in him. This Jesus did by beginning the process of healing, spitting on the ground, making paste, and putting it on the sightless eyes. This must have started expectation of cure and faith. Then the man was bidden to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam.
This seems strange, too. He could by a word have healed him, not requiring of him the long walk across the city. Why did He require him to go away and wash? The answer is that the act still further encouraged faith and obedience in the man. We have a similar instance in the case of Naaman. Elisha bade him go and wash seven time in the Jordan (see 2 Kgs. 5:10). There was no specific virtue in Jordan water — it never had been known to be a cure for leprosy. But the man must obey, thus showing his faith and his submission to the will of God. If he had not washed in Jordan, he would not have been cleansed. A similar test of faith was required in the ten lepers whom Jesus sent to the priests (Luke 17:12-19). The journey itself would not cleanse them. Yet, f they had not gone they would not have been cured. “As they went, they were cleansed.” This blind man would not have been cured of his blindness that day if he had not obeyed and taken the journey to the Pool of Siloam. He must cooperate with Christ in his healing. Some people wait for the evidences of salvation before they will fully accept Christ. But the salvation will not come until they take the step which proves their faith.
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