We have been looking at some unique personal encounters with Jesus as He makes His way to the cross.  We have stopped and rested with Jesus at a well in Samaria and met a woman who discovered the power of living water Himself.  We have stood with Jesus over a man in Jerusalem who had been lame for 38 years and watched him stand to his feet, pick up his pallet and walk away healed.  We have leaned over the shoulder of Jesus in the temple courts of Jerusalem as He wrote in the sand while an adulterous woman anxiously awaited her fate at the hands of stone throwers.  Today, we will watch as Jesus heals a man in Jerusalem who had been blind from birth.  

With this fourth personal encounter, we need to begin to draw some spiritual conclusions.  Every day of the life of Jesus was filled with purpose.  He knew His time on earth was limited.  I believe, even in his humanness, Jesus planned each step of His ministry to teach, to confront, to heal, to challenge hypocrisy, to connect the dots of the Old Testament in proof that He was truly the Promised Messiah.  Each of these encounters screams volumes about Who He was and what He came to earth to accomplish: our salvation! 

The shady lady from Samaria:  I am the Living Water springing up from within.  Drink!
The crippled man in Jerusalem:  I am the Healer.  Leap for joy on strong legs!
The adulterous woman:  I am Forgiveness.  Look for Love in all the right places! 
The man born blind:  I am the Light of the World.  Oh, say, can you…see?????!!! 

In this encounter, Jesus came across a man who had been blind from birth.  His disciples wanted to talk about who sinned and “caused” this to happen.  The bible makes it plain that sickness and death are a part of the lives of all of humanity since the fall in the Garden of Eden.  If we blame ANYONE, it would have to be our first set of parents.  The 12 missed the point altogether UH-GIN.  But, as they looked on, Jesus spoke to them in the hearing of a man who could not see. 

Jesus spoke of being the light of the world. 
In John 8:12, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” 
In John 9:12, Jesus said, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 
In Matthew 5:14, Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.”  

Note the progression…I am the light with no equals or rivals.  While I’m here on earth, I am the provision for bringing light into a dark world.  When I am gone from this earth, YOU are the light.  This man who was blind his entire life would see light for the very first time, would come to fully understand the light, would receive the light and become a light shiner for Jesus! 

Jesus would use clay from the earth and His own spit to make a muddy irritant to apply to the eyes of this blind man.  He was told to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam.  He obeyed and went and washed in that pool and came back seeing for the first time in his life.  I’m certain that he had to be led to the pool but ran back joyfully to his daily begging post and laid eyes on a spot he would never have to sit in again!  

The people who saw this blind beggar day after day were trying to figure out if this was the same man.  “Yes!  This is me!  Jesus healed me.  I don’t know who He is.  I don’t know where He is.  I’ve never laid eyes on Him before!”  

These on-lookers took him to the Pharisees.  Ever since the healing of the lame man, they were grasping at ANY excuse to trap Jesus and get Him out of the way.  Jesus had once again chosen to heal on the Sabbath. They were hopping mad.  They interviewed the blind man.  They interviewed his parents.  They called the healed man for a second round of questions.  Instead of rejoicing, there was complete bedlam. 

“One thing I do know and can testify for certain, I once was blind but now I see!” The Pharisees kept asking HOW questions when they needed to swap the “W” to the beginning of that word.  You don’t have to know the HOW when you know the WHO!