How To Be A Witness Series

Today we will look at the testimony of the formerly blind man. Jesus healed the man born blind. What a testimony that man must have had!

John 9:6–12

Adrian Gonzalez is the first baseman for the New York Mets this past year. He has played on a number of different tesms. He is also a believer. Each of his bats bears the inscription: “PS 27:1. The psalm reads:

Psalm 27:1 (NKJV) The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?

González has spoken about his faith saying, "I don't want to be remembered in baseball. I want to be remembered as a good witness for Christ. ...I'm just trying to use this platform to bring people to Christ." When asked about the inscription Gonzalez replied, “Whenever you’re in a tough moment, you look at that bat and realize it’s not about the moment, it’s about God.” [1]

What kind of witness are we? Are we bold? Are we ready with a testimony? Let’s look at the man born blind. Last week we looked the theological question of who sinned? As Jesus pointed out, that question is irrelevant. Look at what Jesus said:

John 9:5 (NKJV) As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Jesus is the Light of the world. As we will see in the coming weeks, the world is full of blind people, not physically blind, but spiritually blind. But here is one person that Jesus opens their eyes, not just his physical eyes, but as we look at the progression of the man’s faith, we will also see that the man’s physical eyes will be opened, while others are being closed.

John 9:6 (NKJV) When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.

Jesus healed several different blind men in the gospels. One man Jesus just touched and for other man he touch with some spit. We are not going to overly analyze the method and miss the message. The clay Jesus made from the dirt with His spit was not a medicine but an aid to faith.

John 9:6–7 (NKJV) When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

Then Jesus sends the man born blind to go and wash. John purposely includes the meaning of the name “Siloam” as “Sent.” The name “Siloam” comes from the Hebrew word “solah” meaning “to send.” Jesus is the one sent from God, and now Jesus sends man born blind to wash in the pool of Siloam. It is about obedience. Jesus tells us:

John 20:21b (NKJV) As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

It is about obedience. Jesus sends and we go. Jesus sent the blind man and he went. Notice that Jesus never told the blind man that He was going to heal him. The blind man never asked for healing. The man born blind has only known darkness and did not understand sight other than it was a sense that others had that he lacked. But Jesus said: “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” And the man born blind obeyed. So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

We don’t know some of the particulars of this story. Where they were when Jesus said “go.” We don’t know how far the man had to go to get to the Pool of Siloam. When he returns Jesus is nowhere to be found. We don’t see Jesus again till near the end of the story. But he came back seeing. He came back not to beg, but to tell. This was an unbelievable thing that occurred.

So much so that people wondered if this was the same man.

John 9:8–9 (NKJV) Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?” 9 Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.” He said, “I am he.”

How excited this man, who was born blind must have been. To have never seen anything and now seeing everything. His encounter with Jesus changed everything. You have to wonder, when we encountered Jesus and Jesus touched our lives, did people think we were any different? When Jesus touched our lives and we are saved from our sins and the Holy Spirit took up residence in our hearts, something should have changed. No matter how good a person we were previously, something should have changed that our friends and neighbors should have noticed. If something had changed, what is the question people will ask? “What happened?” “Why are you different?” And that’s just what happened here.