The Man Born Blind

“As Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. ...’HH 219.7

“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. 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.”HH 219.8

The Jews generally believed that sin is punished in this life. Satan, the author of sin and its results, had led people to look on disease and death as proceeding from God. If some great affliction had fallen on anyone, that person had the burden of being considered a great sinner. This viewpoint prepared the way for the Jews to reject Jesus. They looked on the One who “has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” as Someone “stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted,” and they hid their faces from Him. Isaiah 53:4.HH 219.9

Christ’s disciples held the same belief about the connection between sin and suffering that the Jews held. After anointing the blind man’s eyes, Jesus sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam, and the man’s sight was restored. In doing this, Jesus answered the disciples’ question in a practical way. The disciples were not to discuss about who had sinned or had not sinned. They were to understand God’s mercy in giving sight to the blind. There was no healing virtue in the clay or in the pool where the blind man was sent to wash. The virtue was in Christ.HH 219.10