Faith in Action
Having said, 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 back seeing John 9:6,7
‘Having said, this he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.’ Jesus used saliva two other times while praying for the sick (Mark 7:33; 8:23). Here He mixed it with dirt to make mud. This becomes significant later in the story because the healing happened on a Jewish Sabbath day. Kneading (mixing ingredients together), which technically described making mud from dirt and spit, was one of thirty nine forms of work that violated the Sabbath according to the Pharisees. The word translated here ‘put … on’ (‘and put it on the man’s eyes’) is the usual verb for ‘anointing.’ Anointing was allowed on the Sabbath but only if anointing oil was used. So the use of mud meant two Sabbath laws were broken.
“Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam.” Why did Jesus send him off like this? Why didn’t He heal him on the spot? There are probably many reasons but two stand out. Firstly, the blind man had to exercise his own faith. Jesus had done all He was going to do. Imagine the scene. Here is a blind man, with mud smeared in his eyes, being told to walk the kilometre down the road to the Pool of Siloam. He probably used an old stick to tap his way for every step. If he didn’t believe it would work, he wouldn’t have done it.
The second reason relates to what happened immediately before this story of the blind man. At the end of chapter 8 the crowds were ready to stone Jesus for claiming God-like qualities for Himself (8:58,59). Jesus had just avoided a premature death. To then go on and heal a blind man on the Sabbath who could immediately point Him out would have brought the crowd back with even more vengeance than before. Even after his healing, the formerly blind man couldn’t recognise Jesus when they spoke together (9:35-37).
Why does John particularly mention that Siloam means ‘sent’? Jesus is consistently the ‘sent one’ from the Father in John’s gospel. He wields the Father’s re-creating power. It was not the waters that healed the blind man; it was Jesus, God the Father’s ‘sent one.’
The blind man had to put his faith into action. Faith without corresponding actions is dead faith. Faith that acts on Jesus’ word is living faith. If you believe God’s word, then act on it. When the spies that scouted out the Promised Land came back to the camp, they gave a negative report. They were adamant the nation could not take on the inhabitants of the Promised Land and displace them. God had said they could but the spies said they couldn’t. Now it was up to the people to decide who was right. Israel made the wrong decision. They refused to act on God’s promises. This led to the wilderness wandering until that generation died. Just as the children of Israel had to make a choice, so do you. Will you act on God’s promises? Will you put your faith into action?
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