(Reprint From June 2016)
"I don't know whether he is a sinner," the man replied. "But I know this....I was blind, and now I can see."
To me this is the greatest explanation of a miracle that I have ever read.
A man who has had an experience, tells what happened about as plain as anyone ever could. He is recounting what happened to a group of religious folks who are bent on destroying Jesus. They grilled this poor fellow in an effort to trap Jesus in some sort of theological hanky-panky and juju medicine.
They questioned the method used by Jesus.
They questioned the time of day He did it.
They questioned as to whether this was even the same man that once was blind...You know that Jesus could have pulled the ol' switcheroo on them thar Pharisees.
To me the part I love the best in this whole story is the means by which the man's blindness was healed.
Are you ready for this.....
Jesus took spit and dirt....
His spit, and if you want to get technical, His dirt since He is the author of creation. Put the two together and smeared it all over this poor fellow's eyes.
As if that wasn't bad enough, He then told the mud-covered, blind fellow to go to a particular pool (Pool of Siloam) and wash the mud off.
Get it?
Blind man....
Can't see....
Told to go somewhere.....
Not only that, the journey is to take place with him covered with mud on his eyes.
Reckon what the neighbor's thought?
Do you think maybe someone made fun of him as he tried to find his way to this pool?
But when you see the end results of the man being healed, all the other stuff seems to not matter any more does it? I think not.
So why is it we get upset or uncomfortable when God comes to us with instructions that seem to take us out of our comfort zone? Why is it we have trouble with instructions that we don't seem to understand? Or at least they don't make sense to us? "Why should I do that? That's crazy."
I know that you've probably been in meetings where ministry time breaks out, and there is an invitation to go down front to pray and receive from God. The distance between you and the front may only be 15 or 20 feet, but you just can't seem to reason it out as to why you have to go down there. "Why can't God just do what He wants to do, right here where I am seated?" Because you want God to do everything, without you having to exercise any faith what so ever. How bad do you want to be healed of all your mess? Are you willing to move out and go receive from God? Are you willing to be like the man who was covered in spit-mud?
If you read the passage from John, no where does it mention where Jesus told the man he would be healed. He simply told him to go wash in the pool. The last part of Verse 7 reads So the man went and washed and came back seeing. The man went and washed not knowing what would really happen, but he went anyway. He may have had an inkling that healing would come, I'm not sure because we aren't given insight into what he was thinking. But ACTION was needed to bring the healing about.
Are you willing to take ACTION the next meeting you are at, and you feel the tug of God on your heart? Are you going to be willing to step out to receive whatever it is God has for you? Or are you going to sit there in your blindness hoping for a miracle? As for me? I'm going to go after God and see what happens. I don't want to miss anything.
Besides.....
A little mud never hurt anyone.
Especially if it brings about the healing we so desperately need.
God on you....
mbb
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