John 9 is a chapter devoted solely to the healing of a blind man. It started when the disciples spotted the blind man and asked the question, “who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?”
Jesus’ answer must have startled his followers, “Neither this man nor his parent sinned. This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him.”
Jesus then went on to make a mud, applied it to the man’s eyes and instructed him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. After that happened, a host of other things transpired.
The blind man’s neighbors who noticed his healing questioned him on how it happened. They brought the man to the Pharisees who also questioned him and discovered all this happened on a Sabbath Day. The Pharisees did not believe his testimony about his healing, so they brought in his parents and questioned them. His parent begged off answering for fear they would be ostracized from the synagogue and turned the attention back to their son.
So, for a second time, they bring the man back and question him again, trying to get him to say that the One who healed him could not be from God since the healing took place on the Sabbath. The Pharisees finally declare, “We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man—we don’t know where He’s from!”
Then the former blind man boldly declares, “This is an amazing thing, you don’t know where He is from, yet He opened my eyes!”
I was struck by that word “amazing.” In the Greek it means marvelous, describing an awe-evoking sight, moving the beholder to their deepest emotions. This poor man who had spent his life begging for alms, who had none of the privileges or benefits of the educated Jewish leaders recognized that Jesus was from God. He stood “amazed” at their ignorance and spiritual blindness. And I think there was another part to his amazement … that Jesus had the power and the compassion to open his eyes.
I, too, am amazed, moved to my deepest emotions when I remember that Christ Jesus had the power and the compassion to touch my blind eyes! For once I was blind, but now I see!
