There are many kinds of persecution for your faith. The worst must be the kind of persecution of the faithful that we have witnessed in the Sudan this past year where churches have been burned, houses, shops and schools destroyed, thousands of women and girls raped, and eighty thousand people have been killed. The same kind of persecution has happened in a dozen countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in many parts of the Middle East. Last year in fifty countries of the world about 200,000 Christians died for their faith.

Thankfully in Australia we do not have to die for our faith. But many people know the scorn of secular humanists in schools and universities, and ignorant atheists in factories and market places. They make life difficult for us with their scoffing and sneering. Sometimes we suffer from discrimination at the hands of those who do not share our religious commitment. Talk back radio commentators often ridicule people who speak of the significance of their faith and journalists make fun of people who witness to their beliefs. Consequently many Christian people keep silent about their faith and dare not speak of the difference Jesus has made to their lives.

Christians today who want to live successfully in our city must learn from the Siloam Principle how to witness to their experience without being afraid. We find this issue and this kind of persecution in John 9. It was at Siloam that Jesus healed a blind man. But his blindness was nothing to the blindness of those people who saw him healed then attacked Jesus for healing him. They chose not to see even though they could see. The issue of healing a blind man turned into a vicious attack upon all who believed.

Consider the characters in this real life drama. They each represent differing attitudes found today among people in our city. Our response to the blind and the poor, the homeless and the mentally ill, the immigrant and the powerless may be similar to some of those in this true story of human response to people in need.

But first consider the place where this happened. The Pool of Siloam has been clearly known for 2750 years. It is a large oblong pool into which water still bubbles from an underground spring deep beneath Jerusalem. It is at the end of Hezekiah’s Tunnel. The tunnel is an amazing engineering feat: the 1,500-foot-long-tunnel created by King Hezekiah in 701 BCE to protect Jerusalem’s water source, the Gihon Spring, from the invading Assyrians (2 Chron. 32:2-4). Water welled up at three points, one deep underground within the old city walls from which water could be drawn via buckets during a siege, another at the end of the tunnel, and another further down where the overflow went on its way eventually to the River Jordan.

The remarkable early British Army explorer and engineer, Captain Charles Warren, explored the tunnel which had nearly totally silted up by 1867. Inside the tunnel on a wall he discovered an ancient Hebrew inscription describing how a team of diggers started at each end, and listening for the sound of each other’s pickaxes, eventually met in the middle! This was an incredible feat of skill which must have followed flow lines in the underground rock, as the tunnel not only stays on a horizontal track with only a slight fall, but it does meander to the right and left until the two tunnels being dug from different ends met in the middle. I have walked through the tunnel wading in water above my knees aided only by a torch.

Where the water comes out of the tunnel is a large oblong pool. You need to go down about thirty steep steps to reach the pool. The Jews used water from the pool for purification rituals in the Temple during the Feast of Tabernacles. Tourists visit the pool because it is the place of one of the healings of Jesus. A church was built next to this pool by the Empress Eudokia around 450 AD, which was then destroyed by the Persians in 614 AD. Like many underground springs, people testify to the healing qualities of the spring water, and for centuries this has been regarded as a place for healing as are the health spas found all over Europe.

Down stream in 2004, when archaeologists were checking the site for a public works project as is always done in such an historically rich city as Jerusalem, they discovered some large stone steps. Further excavations in 2005 uncovered several flights of steps down to a pool that was in use during the 1st century AD. Scholars now believe that it is this pool and not the upper one that is the actual Pool of Siloam.

Dating of this newly discovered pool is based on some pottery pieces, perhaps from dropped and broken water jugs, and four coins of Judean ruler Alexander Jannaeus who ruled from 103 to 76 BC, which were known to still have been in use in the time of Jesus.

This newly discovered pool probably began to fill with soil during the widespread destruction that followed the capture of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70AD. Soil found in one corner of the pool contained coins dating from this period.

Just as Hezekiah’s Tunnel slowly silted up so this pool, located at one of the lowest spots in Jerusalem would have been filled with mud and debris. Hence early pilgrims in the fourth century found only the upper pool of Siloam about fifty metres upstream. The “new pool” is much larger and monumental, and consists of three flights each of five steps leading down into it. Excavations are continuing to this day as the southern end is silted up and partially covered by a large church. (Hershel Shanks, “The Siloam Pool Where Jesus Cured the Blind Man.” Biblical Archaeology Review 31, no. 5 (September/October 2005): 16–23.)

It is interesting to note the various people and their reactions when Jesus healed a blind man at this pool.

1. One Could See What Others Did Not See (v 1-7)

Many people walked by without seeing the blind man. He begged there every day quietly calling out, “Help the blind” “Help the blind”, the very same words of the blind man who begs in George Street, Sydney. We hurry on our way and do not see the people who wait for our coins. They wait at the top of the stairs from the underground, at the gangway on Circular Quay and by the bus stations. They are there every day, part of the scenery. The sleepy derelict, the dirty street kids, the lady with her plastic bags collecting aluminium cans, and the young unemployed man sitting against the shop-front with his tattered cardboard sign requesting donations. They are there every day. We pass them without really seeing them. Seeing, we do not see.

Jesus saw the needs of people. “As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been born blind.” His action of seeing the blind beggar caused the disciples to ask Him concerning the origin of blindness. It was not a question designed to embarrass the man nor to help him; the beggar was just an example needed to raise a question for discussion. Just as we might pass by some person in the street and ask, “Why don’t these kids go back to their homes?” Or ,”Why must people on adequate pensions stand in the streets begging?” The disciples wanted to know the origin of the suffering of the blind man on the Jerusalem street. Their guesses were wide of the mark. But Jesus replied, “His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or his parents’ sins. He is blind so that God’s power might be seen at work in him. As long as it is day we must do the work of Him who sent me; night is coming when no man can work. While I am in the world, I am the light for the world.”

Jesus met the needs of people. This summary of what He said indicated that He must complete God’s work now. He was light in man’s darkness. Jesus never only speaks. His words lead to deeds of kindness. With Him deeds and words were one. “After He said this, Jesus spat on the ground and made some mud with spittle; He rubbed the mud on the man’s eyes and told him, “Go and wash your face in the Pool of Siloam”. So the man went, washed his face, and came back seeing.”

As we instinctively put our finger in our mouths when we burn it or cut it or scratch it, so the people of the ancient world believed that saliva had curative properties. Saliva is the ointment favoured by animals and man for all abrasions that need healing. Jesus took the traditional means of healing and mixed it with the dust of the earth into clay and placed it on the man unseeing eyes, as if to say: “When God made you, He made you from the dust of the earth. From birth your sight was incomplete. I take some dust and with healing power place it on your eyes to complete your creation as a whole man. Go and cleanse yourself of all impurity and see what God in His glory has done for you.” He meets our deepest need for cleansing, for wholeness, for healing, for being made new. God’s power can be seen in our remaking.

Jesus heard the needs of people. Near the end of this story we read; “When Jesus heard what had happened, He found the man.” (v 35). That is just as remarkable. He went to the man in his need when He heard of the man’s plight. That is His answer to our prayers. He is responsive to our every need. Ask yourself: am I like Jesus who could see what the others did not see?

2. Some Could See But Would Not See (v 8 16)

These were the Pharisees. Some other people in the crowd who had seen what had happened, some of the blind man’s neighbours who had known him for years, and some of the people who believed in Jesus and who respected Jesus as a great Rabbi. All of these people could see, but they would not see how this event could be an example of God’s power. They could see but they would not see! Some argued there must be some mistaken identity: “His neighbours then, and the people who had seen him begging before this asked: Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “He is the one.”, but others said, “No he isn’t; he just looks like him.” “Some of the Pharisees said; “The man who did this cannot be from God, for He does not obey the Sabbath Law.” Others however said, “How could a man who is a sinner perform such miracles as these?” And there was a division among them.”

We need not spend time on their arguments, for each had a different motive and reasoning. Some were out of their depth because never had anyone born blind been healed to their knowledge. That went beyond the limits of their understanding. It was not be acceptable to them. Typical reasoning of small-minded people who think they have scientific objectivity today! Others were just protective of their position and the status quo.

3. Some Could See But Would Not Look (v 18 23)

Of all people the parents of the man who had been blind should have been the most glad. But when the leaders of the Synagogue leaned upon them, they were fearful of their own future well-being and overwhelmed by the weight of the authorities questioning them.

They could only tremble: “We know that he is our son and we know that he was born blind. But we do not know how it is that he is now able to see, nor do we know who cured him of his blindness. Ask him; he is old enough, and he can answer for himself!”

John knew why they kept silent: “His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities who had already agreed that anyone who said he believed that Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue.” Many people cringe because of what might happen. Fear reduces them to trembling. Any weight of authority paralyses any good intentions they may have. They know the needs of the city. They know the power of God. But while they can see they will not look. Their eyes are averted both from the needs of people and from the source of all help. Their blindness was more real than their son’s!

4. One Could Not See But Saw Best Of All (v 24 41)

He was the one who had spent his lifetime in darkness. But a new light had come to him. His life was completely changed and no matter what the argument he was not going to be shaken from what he had experienced. He did not start believing but he came to faith in the One who had brought him from darkness to light. You cannot argue with that kind of experience. He told and retold his story. He saw what had happened and Who it was that healed him.

He said: “The man called Jesus made some mud, rubbed it on my eyes, and told me to go to Siloam and wash my face. So I went, and as soon as I washed, I could see.” “He put some mud on my eyes; I washed my face, and now I can see.” “You say this man who cured me is a sinner. I do not know if He is a sinner or not. One thing I do know: once I was blind and now I see.”

As he was placed under more pressure, he answered with greater strength. It is not easy to silence a man with a first hand experience of a changed life. Dictators in every generation discover when they hammer born again Christians, they strike anvils that wear out hammers!

“I have already told you and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Maybe, you too, would like to be His disciples?” “What a strange thing that is! You do not know where He comes from but He cured me of my blindness! We know that God does not listen to sinners; He does listen to people who respect Him and does what He wants them to do. Since the beginning of the world nobody has ever heard of anyone giving sight to a blind person. Unless this man Jesus came from God He would not be able to do a thing!” (V 27 34)

Cast out of the Synagogue, this man who could see more clearly than any of them, he became the first person to suffer persecution for his faith. Jesus found him and asked if he believed in the Son of Man. The man replied: “Tell me who He is, Sir, so that I can believe in Him.” Jesus said to him; “You have already seen Him and He is the one who is talking with you now.” “I believe, Lord”, and the man knelt down before Jesus.” (V 35 38)

Then Jesus looked at the others: the neighbours, the passers by, the Pharisees, the parents all those who could see but who had chosen not to see, or who would not look, and He spoke of the inevitable consequence of the presence of light among darkness: “I came to this world to judge, so that the blind should see, and those who see should become blind. If you were blind then you would not be guilty, but since you claim you can see, this means that you are still guilty!” (V 39 41)

Terrible words! Those who claim they know the most have the most to fear. Those who claim to see are the most in danger. They have no excuse. The person who has come to see that Jesus is the light of the world, has a personal experience that nothing can shake. We all live with vision dimmed by the glare of our electronic world, by the dazzle of wealth, and the sheen of things.

We who can see are often blind to reality. Pray that by God’s Spirit we may really see. That is what is meant by the old 8th century hymn which prays the Holy Spirit will “enable with perpetual light, the dullness of our blinded sight.” (AHB 308)

When old Blanche Markey died, I did not know how Tom would survive. She had been his eyes for years. Blinded in an industrial accident, Tom had carried a chip on his shoulder for years. Poor Blanche bore the brunt of his frustrated anger. People even hoped he would die to spare Blanche any more suffering. But it was Blanche who died first. I visited old Tom and prayed with him, then buried Blanche. I kept visiting Tom and eventually led him into faith. He loved the old Ira Sankey hymn, “Once I was blind but now I can see!” He used to ask me to sing it to him. That became his own testimony.

Eventually old Tom Markey died a believer. He was blind forty years. But as I shared with him the scriptures he came to know Jesus Christ as his Saviour and friend. The day before he died, he said to me, “I want you to tell everyone at my funeral, “Once I was blind, but now I can see, the light of the world is Jesus.” And I did! Nothing is more significant than a person who is now able to truly see! Jesus still brings people to true sight today. Others may not make it easy for you, but you will never walk in the dark again!

You will learn to live successfully in our city if you do not deny your experience but boldly witness to your faith. That is the Siloam Principle.

Rev the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC

Thursday, 25th June, 2009, 4:48 pm | Bible Studies