Mud

Inspired from a sermon I heard in Palau.

After saying 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.” So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

John 9:6-7

John chapter 9 writes the story of Jesus walking with his disciples as He comes along a blind man. Chances are, you know how this story goes. The man is blind since birth and Jesus spits on the ground, makes mud, and rubs it on his eyes. He tells the man to wash in the Pool of Siloam, and afterwards the man can see again. However, a question was asked that I never really considered: why does Jesus need mud?

There is obviously no direct answer from the scriptures, but it made me consider the other miracles that Christ performed: Jesus resurrection of Lazarus by the voice of Jesus, Jesus healing the bleeding woman by touch, and Jesus healing a leper by touching him. Then you get to this blind man in John 9; He was healed when Jesus put mud in his eyes. It sticks out from the other miracles that Jesus performed. What is the significance of it all?

I thought about the story of Creation. One of the few times that dirt had any significance in scriptures was found in Genesis chapter 2. Man was essentially formed by dirt and the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). Something so insignificant was made significant once God’s breath was put into it. Can it be that the reason why God uses dirt in John 9 is because it is a picture of how God wants to use us? He wants to use something as broken and tainted as us, to heal the world and bring sight to the blind. We are the mud.

God could heal people in many ways but He chooses to use nurses, physicians, therapist, etc, to do the job. I don’t think the reason why God chooses to use us is because He doesn’t know how to heal someone from the common flu. But rather, He chooses to bestow upon us the same duty that Jesus had when He walked this earth. It is through this experience of healing that we can learn a little more about compassion and seeing others the way Jesus sees them. It is so easy to forget about suffering humanity as well as the fragility of life. But in moments like this Jesus is taking the mud from the floor and putting it once again in the blind man’s eyes. God allows you to be the dirt in the blind man’s eyes if you allow Him to.

To all the clinicians out there making a difference in such a time as this, cheers to you for you are the mud being used in John chapter 9.