How amazing it is to read about Jesus and all that He did during His time here on earth. His compassion for the 'less than', His feeding the five thousand, His raising Lazarus from the dead, His making mud pies. Wait, what? Making mud pies? Well, yes, in a manner of speaking. In church Sunday our pastor read about the healing of the man blind from birth. John 9:1-7 reads, "As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.' (NIV) It is so interesting to see how Jesus teaches object lessons to His disciples. He could have ignored the question, He could have answered and done nothing, He could have just spoken the words and that man would have been healed. But no, He works up enough spit, to as my boys used to say, hock a loogie. He spits on the ground, in the dirt and makes mud of it. He then scoops up some of that mud and smears it on that poor man's face. Maybe it's a good thing he was blind, that could have totally freaked him out. Maybe he had heard of this man called Jesus but this still would have been shocking.
It so struck me when hearing that passage again how it all tells the story of our salvation. We, as people are blind from birth, spiritually blind. It is not because of the sin's of our parents, or our sins, it is Sin that has blinded us. The sin nature that resides in all of us because of the fall of man, beginning with Adam and Eve. That sin nature that separates us from having relationship with God, that blinds us to His love for us. Here we are like that blind man, sitting in the dirt; we have no idea who Jesus is or anything of the life that He wants us to have, the freedom He has provided for us. When I think of it, it's hard to put into words. There is a definite before and after in my life. Again, it is hard to express adequately. Those who don't know Jesus really can't understand, just as someone who has never been blind cannot fathom what happens when sight is given. It is more than having your eyes opened, more than seeing. It is receiving Life. It is being saturated in Love. It is having a hope and a future that you never even knew was available to you. It is a symphony to one who was deaf. It is the warmth of the sun to one left in the darkness. It is an embrace to one never held before.
Why does God do this? So that His works might be displayed in us! That He might be glorified. He takes the dirt we are sitting in, wallowing in. He takes all of the filth and mess and spits in it. How do they do DNA tests? Saliva. So here is our dirty life, our sinful life; Jesus mixes in His saliva, His heavenly DNA and changes everything! Our eyes are opened, our lives are transformed, all so that glory of God might be displayed in us!
We become new creations. Changed and transformed, unrecognizable as our former selves. Even that blind man was not recognized, as it says in the next few verses of that account, "His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” He resembled that man, but he was different, he was transformed. He now had sight and that changed everything. We are no different. When I gave my life to that mud pie Maker, I became a new woman. I was now a child of God. My thoughts were different. My actions were different. My very heart was different. I became unrecognizable to those who knew the former me. They couldn't put a finger on the metamorphosis, but they could see it. Yes I still resembled the old Gail, but I was now renewed, remade, born again. All that His works might be seen in me.
We know that every word in the bible has meaning. Why does it say that Jesus tells the man to go to the pool of Siloam (this word means Sent)? It has meaning. First of all it took obedience on that man's part. I believe if he had just sat there his healing would not have been complete. It took faith and feet moving to receive his absolute healing. But it also shows that first Jesus was sent to us. He then sent that man to wash in the pool. But wait, that man was blind. How did he find his way to that pool? It took others who were sent to show him the way. We likewise are sent. We are sent to show others the Way. We are sent to show them the Truth and the Life that now reside in us. That opened our eyes and allowed us to see. We have received our healing, now we are to put feet to our faith and show others the way to that Pool.
I am continually astonished by the love of our Father. He has a fondness, a tenderness, a passion for us. And He will do whatever it takes to get us to see that. Even going to the extreme of making mud pies.
It so struck me when hearing that passage again how it all tells the story of our salvation. We, as people are blind from birth, spiritually blind. It is not because of the sin's of our parents, or our sins, it is Sin that has blinded us. The sin nature that resides in all of us because of the fall of man, beginning with Adam and Eve. That sin nature that separates us from having relationship with God, that blinds us to His love for us. Here we are like that blind man, sitting in the dirt; we have no idea who Jesus is or anything of the life that He wants us to have, the freedom He has provided for us. When I think of it, it's hard to put into words. There is a definite before and after in my life. Again, it is hard to express adequately. Those who don't know Jesus really can't understand, just as someone who has never been blind cannot fathom what happens when sight is given. It is more than having your eyes opened, more than seeing. It is receiving Life. It is being saturated in Love. It is having a hope and a future that you never even knew was available to you. It is a symphony to one who was deaf. It is the warmth of the sun to one left in the darkness. It is an embrace to one never held before.
Why does God do this? So that His works might be displayed in us! That He might be glorified. He takes the dirt we are sitting in, wallowing in. He takes all of the filth and mess and spits in it. How do they do DNA tests? Saliva. So here is our dirty life, our sinful life; Jesus mixes in His saliva, His heavenly DNA and changes everything! Our eyes are opened, our lives are transformed, all so that glory of God might be displayed in us!
We become new creations. Changed and transformed, unrecognizable as our former selves. Even that blind man was not recognized, as it says in the next few verses of that account, "His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” He resembled that man, but he was different, he was transformed. He now had sight and that changed everything. We are no different. When I gave my life to that mud pie Maker, I became a new woman. I was now a child of God. My thoughts were different. My actions were different. My very heart was different. I became unrecognizable to those who knew the former me. They couldn't put a finger on the metamorphosis, but they could see it. Yes I still resembled the old Gail, but I was now renewed, remade, born again. All that His works might be seen in me.
We know that every word in the bible has meaning. Why does it say that Jesus tells the man to go to the pool of Siloam (this word means Sent)? It has meaning. First of all it took obedience on that man's part. I believe if he had just sat there his healing would not have been complete. It took faith and feet moving to receive his absolute healing. But it also shows that first Jesus was sent to us. He then sent that man to wash in the pool. But wait, that man was blind. How did he find his way to that pool? It took others who were sent to show him the way. We likewise are sent. We are sent to show others the Way. We are sent to show them the Truth and the Life that now reside in us. That opened our eyes and allowed us to see. We have received our healing, now we are to put feet to our faith and show others the way to that Pool.
I am continually astonished by the love of our Father. He has a fondness, a tenderness, a passion for us. And He will do whatever it takes to get us to see that. Even going to the extreme of making mud pies.