Feeling his way along the brick wall, the blind man slowly counted his steps. Reaching the divot in the ground that marked his favorite spot for begging, he sat down and placed a wooden bowl on the ground in front of him. He tilted his head so that the piteous condition of his eyes could be seen. “Alms!” he cried, “Alms for a poor blind man!”
John tells us this man was “blind from his birth.” Not a single photon of light had ever registered in his brain. He was born in total darkness. Spiritually, we are all born blind and in darkness as well. David said, “In sin did my mother conceive me” (Psa 51:5). God says that, “all have sinned” (Rom 3:23).
Even worse, we are often oblivious to the consequences of our sin. For us, wishing we had our boss’s paycheck might be the norm. But in God’s eyes, a single sin, be it a covetous desire, a lie, or even not doing what we know to be right (James 4:17), is grounds for the death penalty. Can you see the problem? Our perspective of sin is radically different from God’s! We think our hearts are naturally good, with just a few dark spots. God, who is holy and perfect, peers directly into our sinful, rotten, and wicked core (Jer 17:9). You and I are clearly blind to sin.
Jesus said to His disciples, “that the works of God should be made manifest” in this blind man. The beggar was startled to realize that the Rabbi’s voice was speaking directly to him. Rabbis didn’t stop for blind beggars! He recoiled in further shock as a wet and gritty mixture was pressed on his eyes. “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam,” the Rabbi commanded.
What an astonishing miracle! A man blind from birth was made to see by the application of dirt, spit, and washing in the pool of Siloam – not your doctor’s every day prescription. But the Creator used dirt to make the first man, so He can just as easily use dirt and spit to make new eyes. He introduced light into physical darkness without any difficulty; so what about our spiritual darkness? What about our sin? Can He do anything about that?
The Lord Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” (John 9:5); so yes, He can and did do something about our sin. However, it required blood rather than spit, and death rather than dirt. On the cross, the Light of the World suffered in total darkness. Why? The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom.6:23). The Lord Jesus Christ, Who did no sin, died. For whose sins did He die? Paul says, “Christ died for OUR sins” (1Cor15:3). Therefore, He died for the beggar’s sins. He died for my sins. What about yours?
The Lord Jesus asked only one question of the newly sighted beggar: “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” The beggar did. Do you?
