by Jose Kurian Puliyeril

When some among us or someone known to us might have some or other misfortune, our minds would rush after the cause for the disaster. We might suggest the reasons ourselves. And still if we are not satisfied, we would try to circulate the news among our friends and well wishers.

See the uniqueness of the answer from our Lord. He said “Neither has this man sinned or by his parents. But that the works of God should be made manifest in him”. (Verse-3)

Our Lord’s wish about us all is that we must long for the manifestation of God in us. We must examine ourselves to see how far we are doing justice to the will of God.

In verse 4 we read, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night comes when no man can work” (Kindly read St. John 4: 34, Ch 5:19,36, Ch 11:9, Ch: 12:35, and Ch 17:4 to see what is His work and how He would complete the work.) Our Lord is telling us that we could do his work in the day time only. To understand which day or what sort of day is referred by our Lord please see the verse 5 “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” So it is clear that the day mentioned by our Lord is the time which we would enjoy the abideness of our Lord

Our Lord spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. Then asked him to go to the pool of Siloam. We could have reference about this pool in Nehemiah 3: 15 and Isaiah 8:6. The blind man did as Lord Jesus asked him. He could have raised so many objections. The faith of the blind must have taken him to the pond.

In verse 10 we read, “Therefore they said unto him, how were your eyes opened?” The people who questioned him must have been sure of the incidents that took place there, as they were neighbors and they were sure that he was blind before he came to Lord Jesus. Likewise the Pharisees also did. When they were convinced that Lord Jesus had opened the blind man’s eyes.(refer Verse 16) they started finding fault with our Lord. They could not acknowledge/appreciate the gift of God.

When they questioned the blind man, who got eyesight, he said “He is a prophet”. Let us think what would have been our answer, if we were in his place. In our daily lives, we are enjoying a number of blessings from God Almighty. What sort of confession we could give about the giver of the blessings enjoyed by us? Will we be able to confess that Lord Jesus is the giver?