seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
John 9:1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
12 “Where is this man?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said.
So the question in this story..... who sinned? So... they asked a blind man "where did he go?" Morons....
OK... everyone back in the days of Jesus... thought that sin caused people to be ill. People got sick because they didn't follow the rules. They got sick.
The man born blind put a stumbling block in the notion. So the disciples had to ask... who sinned? This guy was born blind. He never has a chance to look at something he shouldn't have. This guy was born blind. He didn't have time to commit a sin. This man was blind. He didn't look at something and lust after it... he didn't steal it... he didn't worship it.... he didn't do anything to cause himself to be blind. So the disciples wanted to know "who sinned"? Can a child be born blind because his parents were sinners?
I know it sounds strange that they would have even considered a baby could be a sinner. I mean a baby can't even roll over let alone worship the breast or lust after someone else's breast.... because it's a baby. A baby doesn't poop in the wrong place.... it poops where it is. A baby doesn't steal or murder [unless they blamed the baby if the mother passes during childbirth]. This baby isn't capable of robbing their neighbor.... he can't even roll over. The way the descendants of Jacob [Israel] is even more absurd. See, according to one of the commentaries.... life begins at conception.... so in their mind... this baby sinned while he was still in the womb! Unless his mother or father did something while he was in the womb and passed their consequences on to the baby.....
The commentaries also bring up the story of Job. Job lost everything.... God let Satan play with Job's life.... Job didn't cause his horror.... Satan did it. Christians are all willing to discuss how there are "powers and principalities" at war. Gabriel and Michael are fighting the powers of evil.... even if we can't see them.... but they stumble over why bad things happen to good people.
So... what did Jesus do this time to get the Pharisees involved? It doesn't say it was the Sabbath. So it was an ordinary healing. This time is not the problem. The healing was a clue to the whereabouts of Jesus of Nazareth. They knew it was Jesus who did this healing.... and they were looking for Him. They wanted to trap Him or get Him to do something they could arrest Him for.
When the Pharisees and the Sadducees first started looking for Jesus... almost all of them believed that Jesus must be demon possessed. They hadn't received word that God was sending the Messiah. Surely if God was going to send the Messiah... He would have notified them personally so they could spiff the place up... change the bread and candles in the Holy of Holies... and pull out what good china they had left But they didn't get word so they figured Jesus of Nazareth must be a demon.... and demons had to be captured and destroyed.
BUT... these healings were starting to change the minds of some of the Pharisees and Sadducees. This man's physical looks were changed by rubbing the mud on his eyes. People were so use to see him sad and begging... they didn't recognize him! The change was that big! Those Pharisees and Sadducees must have swooped in before he got home. Some must have seen [pardon the pun] Jesus was a powerful healer and they must have realized He wasn't a demon. He never hurt anyone.... He only healed.
Now in the temple [last chapter].. when the Pharisees and the Sadducees were going to arrest Jesus.... they picked up stones but Jesus "disappeared". I believe He played with their minds.... so they didn't "see" Him. Here.... He sent the guy to the pools to wash the mud off of his face.... so even if the blind guy saw Jesus after getting the mud off... he wouldn't be able to tell for sure who put the mud on his face... because he was blind since birth. So once again the Pharisees and the Sadducees show they were really just blithering idiots pretending to love God for the free food and shelter. How inconsiderate of them... to ask a blind man what he "saw".
Jesus told the disciples... this blindness wasn't caused by sin. It just happened. Some times bad things just happen. If we get all hung up on the reason something happened... we loose sight of how we can correct things. Jesus didn't ask the man... who sinned... He just had compassion and did something about it.
Now... Jesus must have known that as soon as this guy got his sight... those Pharisees and Sadducees would have been all over him. Jesus must have also known that this man will probably sin with those eyes eventually... he will see something and want it more than anything else.... worship it... or he will see someone and lust.... but that was on the guy to solve. Jesus gave Him a chance to live a good life.... with both eyes to help him get through it. What he does now depends on him.... and his appreciation of the gift Jesus of Nazareth gave him.
But they were pretty ignorant back in the days of Jesus of Nazareth. They thought every bad thing that happened was caused by sin. They lived their whole lives in terror because they believed that one day a sin is going to come along that will devastate them... and they won't know which sin caused it so they wouldn't know what they had to "purchase" for the sacrifice. Did they have to slay an ox to get the eyesight back or was it as small sin that a cup of EVOO would cover? I guess they thought they missed that special sacrifice that Job used.... the "just in case" sacrifice... Job use to offer it regularly just in case he "forgot" a sin while he was doing his traditional sacrifices. They believed that missing a sacrifice to cover a sin was a sin too!
No wander they wanted to know "who sinned". They wanted to know what to offer as a sacrifice.... they had to judge the sin.... thus the question.
Who did the sin???
