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"Having said this, He spat 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 mean
Sent)'. So the man went and washed, and came home seeing" (9: 6, 7).
The Jews believed that saliva was efficacious for eye trouble, but forbade it on the
Sabbath. We do not know why Christ acted along this line. It was not necessary to the
cure of blindness and in other case of blindness He did not use it. Perhaps it was to
encourage the man to believe. John gives us the meaning of the Hebrew word Siloam, for
he constantly had Gentiles in mind who did not understand the language. It means "sent"
and would link the mind with Christ as the Sent One from the Father, though the man was
not in the position to understand this yet.
"His neighbours and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, `Isn't this the
same man who used to sit and beg?'. Some claimed that he was. Others said, `No, he
only looks like him'. But he himself insisted, `I am the man'. `How then were your eyes
opened?' they demanded. He replied, `The Man they call Jesus made some mud and put
it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I
could see'. `Where is this man?' they asked him. `I don't know', he said" (9: 8-12).
There were differences of opinion among the neighbours concerning the beggar who
had been healed. In the verses that follow we can see a growing appreciation of the Lord
on his part. First of all Christ was "A man called Jesus" (11). On being asked the second
time he said, "He is a prophet" (17) and then, a little later, "if this man were not from
God, He could do nothing" (33). Then the Lord spoke to him and asked if he believed on
the Son of God. "Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?". "It is He that talketh
with thee" Christ replied. And then the final saving response is, "Lord, I believe", and he
worshipped Him (35-38).
By these steps this man comes through darkness to light in more than one sense, and
so fits in with the purpose of this Gospel (20: 30, 31). In between these verses the
Evangelist records the words and actions of the religious leaders when the man was
brought to them for their verdict, and the fact that the healing had taken place on the
Sabbath complicated matters still further, for this was largely the bone of contention
between the Pharisees and the Lord as we have seen. In their false estimation they
construed the healing of the blind man as work on the Sabbath day! These leaders had
made their own list of what actions were permissible on the Sabbath and what were
forbidden. On this list was kneading, and the making of mud or clay with earth and
saliva was reckoned to be work, and so was not allowed!
They first of all question the man who tells them that Christ had put mud on his eyes,
and he washed and found he could see! This was not sufficient for them, so they
summon other witnesses (9: 18). Not only the crowd was divided (7: 43) but the
Pharisees were as well (9: 16). Some of them asked the man again:
"Finally they turned again to the blind man, `What have you to say about Him? It was
your eyes He opened'." (9: 17).
The man's answer was "He is a prophet". This did not satisfy the leaders: