6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground and made mud with His saliva, and He spread the mud [like an ointment] on the man’s eyes. 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing.

8 So the neighbors, and those who used to know him as a beggar, said, “Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Still others said, “No, but he looks like him.” But he kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” 11 He replied, “The Man called Jesus made mud and smeared it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received my sight!” 12 They asked him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”

John 9:6-12 (AMP)

The healing

Yesterday, we were introduced to this man born blind with the question of who was responsible. Today we will look at the means of his healing – as well as the crowd’s reaction (briefly). Here, Jesus uses what some would consider a gross method – he uses spit to make mud then apply it to the blind man’s eyes like salve. He then tells him to wash in the pool of Siloam. Though he could have been offended by Jesus’ method (like Naamen the leper in 2 Kings 5:10-12), he obeys. It works (or course) and the man returns (with fullness of joy we can presume) seeing.

Means of miracles

Let me ask: “Is there one particular way to do miracles of healing?” Obviously not. Here he anointed the man’s eyes and asked him to wash. In John 5:8-9, Jesus just asked the lame man to get up and walk – and he immediately did. Mark records two other incidences (Mark 7:33 and 8:23) where Jesus used his spit to heal.

So why different methods? “Had our Lord cast all his miracles in one mould, men would have attached undue importance to the manner by which he wrought, and would have superstitiously thought more of it [the manner of the miracle] than of the divine power by which the miracle was accomplished.” (Spurgeon)

Faith response

Allow me to also point out that in most of the healing cases, the healed person had to take some action. Here, being blind, the man had to walk to the pool to wash. This required faith.

Crowd response

The crowd couldn’t believe that a man blind from birth could ever be healed; nothing like this ever happened before! He kept testifying, “I am the man,” but they still couldn’t believe it. This led to trouble as we’ll see tomorrow.

<- Reflection ->

• Do you have a request of the Lord? Whether it’s a healing miracle or not, are you prepared to accept God’s way of answering? Will you take the step of faith needed?