Every culture has its remedies. Home remedies,
these ideas that somebody told you would work
a long time ago, and some of them make sense,
and some of them make you stop and wonder, wait,
what? Butter on a burn? Onions, syrup for coughs?
Potato slices for headaches? Cabbage leaves for
swollen joints? peanut butter for bug bites,
mustard plasters for chest colds. You saw an
infomercial while you were sick from work, and
you just had to know whether apple cider vinegar
could fix everything, whether charcoal could
detox your system better than your own kidneys
and liver, and whether shoe inserts could improve
your circulation through the magic of magnetism.
Maybe you've even tried one of these remedies
before. Maybe it worked. Maybe it didn't. Somewhere
along the way, someone tried these things and
they became part of the wisdom people passed
down. And if we're honest, some of us still remember
a parent or grandparent insisting that one of
them definitely worked. The ancient world had
its remedies too. Roman writers like Pliny the
Elder described the healing power of saliva,
especially for eye diseases. In his work, Natural
History, he records traditions that people believed
saliva could treat certain ailments. And he even
mentions that the saliva of a firstborn son was
thought to have special healing powers. A concentrated
life force, if you will. The idea was that certain
people in particular circumstances could imbue
their saliva with restorative properties. Jewish
traditions preserved in the Babylonian Talmud
also mention saliva as a possible remedy for
some conditions. While the Talmud itself was
compiled centuries later, the discussions that
circulated among Jewish teachers long before
discussions about the ways life, breath, and
bodily fluids could carry God's healing energy
were there during the time of Christ. There were
also debates about using saliva on the Sabbath,
showing that the act was familiar but also morally
and religiously delicate. So when Jesus spits
on the ground and makes mud to heal a blind man,
the people watching would not have thought using
saliva was completely strange, unlike us today.
It was a known folk remedy for some. a practice
with precedent in both Jewish and Roman understanding
of healing. They had seen remedies like that
before, sometimes practical, sometimes mysterious.
What they were prepared for was who was doing
it and what it meant. See, they were not prepared
to see who Jesus was and what He was meaning
by it. Because when Jesus bends down, he spits
on the ground and forms mud, something deeper
begins to echo through the story. This is not
merely some traveling medicine man using common
medicines or mind games to heal simple infections
or aches and pains. This is the Word of God who
had been there from the beginning, restoring
what had never been there in this man's life.
Think back to the creation story in the book
of Genesis. God forms humanity from the dust
of the ground. Dust and breath. Earth and life.
And now Jesus is taking earth and moisture, human
and divine elements combined, and placing it
on the eyes of a man who has never seen. It is
not merely healing. It evokes creation itself.
Think of a potter. sitting at a wheel. A lump
of clay sits there shapeless. But the potter's
hands begin to form it. Slowly, the clay becomes
something new. But when the potter sees something
missing, he reshapes the clay. Jesus doesn't
just repair what is broken. He creates what was
missing. It's not just a remedy. This is creation
itself echoing in a single act. Not merely repairing
what was broken, not simply giving back what
had been lost, but bringing into being something
that had never existed before. The strange part,
though, wasn't actually the mud. The strange
part was what the mud meant. And that meaning
sets the stage for the miracle we're about to
see. It is here that Jesus reveals a new kind
of sight, a sight that does more than open eyes.
it opens hearts. In John chapter 9, Jesus had
encountered this man who had been blind from
birth. Not someone who has lost his sight later
in life. Not someone whose eyes might recover
with treatment. This man has never seen a sunrise.
He's never seen his parents' face. Never seen
the streets that he walked every day while begging.
And the disciples ask the kind of question that
people ask often in that time. Rabbi, who sinned,
this man or his parents, that he was born blind?
They're trying to make sense of the suffering.
If something is wrong, then someone must be responsible.
They don't want to imagine that bad things could
happen to good people. But Jesus refuses that
framework. This happens so that the works of
God might be displayed in Him. In other words,
this moment is not about blame. It is about revelation.
It is about showing who Jesus is and what He
has come to do. Then Jesus performs the miracle.
He spits on the ground. He makes the mud. He
places it on the man's eyes. And He tells him
to wash in the pool of Siloam. He sends them
to the pool that means scent. In the pool that
pointed them to the living water in the wilderness,
the mission of Jesus to bring life becomes even
clearer for this man. So the man goes, and the
man washes, and the man comes back seeing. For
the first time in his life, light floods into
his world. Faces. Movement. Color. everything
that had once been darkness suddenly comes alive.
But here's something fascinating. The miracle
itself, it takes only a few verses. The rest
of the chapter is not about the miracle. It's
about how people respond to it. Because when
God begins doing something new, it rarely fits
the categories that people already have prepared
for it. That is exactly What is happening here?
The miracle happens on the Sabbath. To the religious
leaders, that raises a series of legal questions.
See, we would love to get to see a miracle happening
on a Sunday, but for them, they were concerned
about blaspheming the Sabbath. Spitting on the
ground might disturb the soil, like digging,
which could be seen as work. Mixing mud could
be interpreted as kneading, like dough, which
could be seen as work. Applying a treatment might
count as performing medicinal work, which could
be seen as work. Did Jesus work on the Sabbath?
Suddenly the conversation shifts away from the
miracle and onto the rule book. Instead of asking
the obvious question, If he opened this man's
eyes, then could Jesus be the Messiah of God?
They ask, did Jesus break our rules? They're
staring directly at a miracle, but they're asking
the wrong question. The kingdom of God rarely
fits the categories we're looking for. Not everyone
wants to see what God is doing. In fact, What
happens next is one of the strangest parts of
the story. The miracle is not celebrated. It's
investigated. Because if you watch carefully,
the religious leaders, they begin investigating
the miracle like a courtroom trial. They question
the neighbors. They question the man. They even
question the man's parents, who aren't even sure
if they want to claim him. Then they bring the
man back for more questioning. But something
becomes clear as the conversation unfolds. They're
not really searching for the truth of what happened.
They've already decided the verdict. They've
already decided Jesus guilt. They know Jesus
cannot possibly be from God because in their
minds he has broken the Sabbath. And when you
decide the verdict first, evidence becomes an
inconvenience. I'll give you an example. Some
museums have discovered something interesting
about visitors as they come in. When people walk
into a museum, they often move quickly through
the first room, whatever it is. They assume the
most important works must be deeper inside, so
they hurry past the entrance gallery without
really looking. And in fact, some curators have
experimented with this. They may place extremely
valuable pieces right near the entrance, sometimes
even masterpieces, and many visitors just walk
right past them. It's not because the artwork
isn't beautiful, and it's not because it isn't
valuable, but because they'd already decided
the important things must be somewhere else.
So they never really looked. Something very similar
is here in John 9. The miracle is obvious, but
the leaders cannot accept the conclusion. A miracle
is standing right in front of them a man who
had never seen in his life can suddenly see.
But the religious leaders are so focused on where
they expect God to act that they walk right past
what God is actually doing. Even when the healed
man stands right in front of them, even when
his parents confirm he was born blind, even when
the miracle itself is undeniable. Rather than
question their assumptions, they push the evidence
away. Eventually, they do something remarkable
instead of reconsidering their conclusions. They
just throw the man out. The problem is removed.
The uncomfortable evidence is gone. When truth
becomes uncomfortable, The easiest solution is
to remove the testimony. And I'm sure none of
us have ever ignored something that made us uncomfortable.
You know, psychologists sometimes talk about
confirmation bias, where we naturally notice
the information that supports what we already
believe, and we filter out the information that
challenges it. That's why two people can watch
the exact same news report and come away with
completely different conclusions. We see what
we're prepared to see. You know how it goes.
Something doesn't fit our expectations so we
dismiss it. Something challenges the way that
we've always thought so we look for a reason
to ignore it. Sometimes we label the other side
as wrong just so we don't have to wrestle with
what's right in front of us. Sometimes we shout
a little louder or repeat the same phrases again.
People may yell loudly about human rights but
they don't seem to think about the unborn. Others
yell loudly about the unborn but don't seem to
care as much about what happens after birth.
People sometimes yell loudly about legalities
but they don't seem to provide legal opportunities
to others. But others yell loudly about opportunity
yet they don't seem to care about personal responsibility.
And some yell about their own ministries but
they fight against new opportunities. while others
want only the new opportunities and forget to
bless what is already happening. It turns out
that blindness is not only a problem of the eyes,
it can also be a problem of the heart. But while
the experts argued, the man who had been blind
kept things surprisingly simple. They asked him
theological questions he couldn't answer. Is
Jesus a sinner? Where does he come from? What
authority does he have? And the man finally responds
with the most honest testimony in the chapter.
One thing I do know, though I was blind, now
I see. He does not pretend to know everything.
He simply speaks the truth of what God has done
for him. And in doing so, the man who had never
seen becomes the one person in the story who
actually sees clearly. How often do we make our
Christian testimony so difficult to share because
we want to get caught up in arguments and technicalities
that keep us from seeing the people right in
front of us. But the story does not end with
the man being thrown out. After the leaders cast
him out something remarkable happens. Jesus comes
looking for him. Pause with that for a moment.
The man has lost everything familiar. His place
in the synagogue, his standing in the community,
what little he may have had. Even the protection
of his own parents who don't want to risk being
associated with him. Yet the one who gave him
sight seeks him out. And Jesus asks him gently,
do you believe in the Son of Man? This man's
world had been dark for his entire life. Now,
standing before the light of the world, he answers
with nothing but the truth of what he knows.
Lord, I believe. And he worships. The man lost
his place in the world he knew, but he found
the one who gives life itself. Think about this.
He has found the Son of God. Sometimes the first
step towards seeing clearly is losing what once
made us comfortable. Following Christ does not
always make life easier. Sometimes it makes life
uncomfortable. Sometimes it forces us to rethink
assumptions that we carried for years about what
we think and even about other people. And sometimes
it means letting go of things we thought we understood
about the world, about faith, or even about God.
But in exchange, God gives something greater.
A new life. New sight. A new way of seeing the
world. Because the same Christ who opened that
man's eyes would soon open the way to life through
his cross and resurrection. Christ does not come
to make our old life work better. He comes to
give us a new one. At the end of the story, Jesus
says something very striking. that those who
do not see may see and those who see may become
blind. The ultimate tragedy of this story was
not that a man was born blind. The real tragedy
is that some people still chose to remain that
way. The leaders were so certain of their understanding
that they could not recognize the one standing
right in front of them. The man who had been
blind simply trusted the one who healed him.
He did not have every answer. He did not understand
everything. But he knew one thing. I was blind.
Now I see. And that is the invitation placed
before us as well. Christ still comes to open
our eyes. He forgives the blindness of our hearts.
He frees us from the need to cling to our old
assumptions and comfortable ways of seeing the
world. So are you ready to let go of those old
assumptions? Are you ready to look at what God
is doing right in front of you? Not just in this
congregation, but even in your own experiences?
Knowing that it might not be something you have
always been comfortable with? Are you even ready
to accept things that you're not comfortable
with at all? Because Jesus is calling us, even
now. into a life fuller than anything that we've
ever known. But when He calls us, the question
is not whether everything fits what we expected.
The question is much simpler. Will we trust Him?
Will we follow Him? Because the same Christ who
opened that man's eyes has already done something
even greater for us. Through His cross, through
His resurrection. He has opened the way from
darkness into life. So for those who follow Him,
we discover the same truth that changed this
man forever. We were blind, but now we see. Thanks
be to God.