Blind faith

John 9 tells the story of Jesus healing the beggar who was blind from birth.

There are some things in this story that don't make a lot of logical sense to me... Why did Jesus make mud with His spit and put it on the guy's eyes? Why did He send the blind man specifically to the pool of Siloam to wash?

But the one thing that makes perfect sense to me is how the formerly-blind-beggar isn't intimidated by the questions he gets asked! It's obvious that he doesn't know a lot about Jesus at first, but he isn't afraid to tell what he does know. Even in the face of the intimidating Pharisees, he stands his ground and defends Jesus.

This man was healed of his blindness, and obviously that had a huge impact on him -- but I can't help thinking that there must have been something else involved.

In John 4, Jesus healed the royal official's son, but he did it from a great distance. He certainly didn't touch the man's son, and there's no indication that he touched the man either.

At the pool of Bethesda in John 5, Jesus told the sick man to get up and take up his pallet... but it doesn't say that He touched the man in any way.

Yet here in John 9, there's no way Jesus could have applied the mud without physically touching the man. I can't help but wonder if that man, still blind, "saw" something through that touch that no one else could see.

When the formerly-blind man meets Jesus again, his heart is clearly open to Him. In his simple faith, He accepts what Jesus says about Himself and worships Him. What an awesome picture!

I want to have that kind of openness to God!