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CHAPTER V A Man Born Blind
Bethany had been a good place to relax.
Lazarus returned home that evening and insisted that we stay. The afternoon of the third day we set to return to Jerusalem.
As we were approaching the city we came upon a blind man who had with him a companion that helped him get about. Jesus stopped to speak to the man. "How long has he been blind?" he inquired of the man's companion. The blind man's sightless eyes did not turn toward the voice that had asked the question. There was no smile on his face. He seemed disengaged, distant, perhaps a bit annoyed at being stopped, at being questioned.
His friend responded, "From birth," he replied. Since the blind man's demeanor was something less than amiable, Matthias asked Jesus, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" No doubt, this man's disgruntled disposition invited questions of this sort.
Still, Jesus smiled at the absurdity of the question. "How could someone yet unborn sin? If he was born this way, how could it be a punishment for something he had done?" Matthias was noticeably embarrassed. "This man's sin did not cause him to be born this way nor did his parents' sin." Odd how the human mind perceives the pain of others. It evermore gravitates toward finding fault. "This poor man is blind," said Jesus, "so that the goodness of God might be displayed in his life." At this, the blind man laughed bitterly.
Then his expression softened. Perhaps it was the tone of Jesus' voice. Perhaps it occurred to him that the voice belonged to the man about whom he had heard so much and in whom he had dared to secretly hope. It is not known. The man's expression changed.
Jesus spit on the ground and made some mud with the saliva. This was now the third time I have seen him do something like this. I wondered what he would do with this vulgar concoction. He spread the mud on the man's closed eyes. "Now," he told the man, "Go and wash away the mud in the Pool of Siloam."
The towers of the Temple could be seen in the distance to the north. The pool of Siloam was not far, maybe a hundred paces. We could see the light of the deepening sky reflected in the waters of the lower pool.
The man in whose care the blind man had placed himself looked hesitatingly at Jesus, not quite sure of what he should do. Jesus motioned with his hand for the man to lead his friend to the pool. He led him to the upper pool, an oblong reservoir cut in the rock, about fifty feet long, sixteen feet wide and eighteen feet deep. At the southwest corner a crude flight of steps descended into the pool. The blind man stepped cautiously into the water, descending the stairs until he was about knee-deep and then, cupping his hands, dipped them into the water, bringing the liquid to his eyes. Still unable to see, he did it again. He repeated this until every trace of the mud had been cleansed. He brushed the water from his eyes, blinked a few times and peered into the heavens. Venus shone brilliantly against a purple heaven. He gazed a few moments as a child would at seeing a constellation for the first time. "There are lights in this soft darkness!"
He turned first to the man who had led him about for so many years, his closest friend. He had never seen his face. He gazed, trying to connect familiarity with recognition. His friend, realizing what was happening, spoke his name, "Ezion?" The man who was blind looked at his friend in wonder. "It is me, Ezion! Rissah!" "Rissah? Rissah!" Instantly Ezion reached out and held his friend's face in his hands. "It is you, Rissah . . . I see you!" he shouted with tears of elation. The two men embraced. Rissah looked back gratefully at Jesus still standing some distance away. His friend followed his gaze but did not understand. Ezion seemed agitated. "Rissah!" he exclaimed. "It is all so . . . so bright! It is more than I can bear. Rissah, you must take me home. I do not know the way. Take me home to my family, Rissah. We must go immediately. My Mother. My Father. We must show them!" His friend took his arm, as he had always done, to lead him away. As they moved through the streets of Jerusalem, those who had seen Ezion a thousand times in the Temple begging, stopped them and asked, "Isn't this the beggar?" "The same," spoke Rissah. "Yes!" Ezion cried, "It is me! I am no longer blind! I see! I see!" "I don't believe it," said one of those who had stopped them. "This man is not blind, although I must admit he resembles that old beggar. Good joke," they laughed. "Good joke." Ezion responded angrily, "I am the man!" Everything he said was an exclamation. "Of course you are!" they responded derisively, "But tell us, how can you now see?" "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes." Then he realized how improbable this story must sound. But he persisted, "This Jesus . . . told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and now . . . I . . . I see!" Their faces sobered. They knew about Jesus. "Where is this Jesus?" "How should I know?" he said.
"The priests will want to hear about this." So they forced Ezion and Rissah to go with them to the Temple where the officials were immediately summoned. Now (as one might expect) the day on which Jesus had made the mud and healed the man's eyes was a Sabbath. A priest examined Ezion from a distance, then stepped forward and peered at his eyes. "I've seen you in the Temple begging." He paused, contempt mixed with condescending curiosity on his face. "How is it that you can now see?" "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see." "Who put mud on your eyes?" Ezion did not answer immediately whereupon the question was repeated. "Who put mud on your eyes?" "I think his name was Jesus . . . of Nazareth." "Ah!" exclaimed the priest knowingly. "This man is not from God," his voice rising. "He does not keep the Sabbath." Someone made the mistake of whispering, "How can someone who is not from God do such miraculous things?" His inquisitor continued, "What have you to say about him? It was your eyes that he healed." Ezion replied, "I don't know. Maybe he is a prophet."
The Jewish leadership did not believe that the man had been blind. They suspected him to have been faking blindness so that he could survive by begging rather than working. They concluded that he had never been blind and that he and his friend had formed a conspiracy to bilk the public of alms. They conferred among themselves. "So now, what does this man stand to gain by revealing that he can see? What is he trying to prove?" "It isn't him," said another. "It is that self-styled prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth." "Nazareth? That community of fools and thieves? There is not a soul of character among them. Why would anyone follow a man from Nazareth?" "It doesn't matter. This man Jesus is a maker of trouble. He disregards the Law. He exploits people. He conspires and concocts seeming magic to gain a following. And he is succeeding. That is the reason for this thing among us today. This man was not born blind. He has never been blind in his life. This is yet another instance of Messianic chicanery." "There is a way to expose this thing once for all." "How?" "Locate this man's parents. Put the 'fear of God' in them and make them swear that this man is their son. And we shall see if he was born blind." This stratagem was agreed upon, and they brought the man before the priests.
"State your name!" they demanded. "Ezion ben Achor." "Where do you live?" "I have been blind my entire life. My parents . . ." "You live with your parents? You are a grown man. How can you so burden your mother and father?" Ezion hung his head. They had touched on the greatest pain of his blindness. He hadn't minded begging in the Temple. He had grown accustomed to being led about. He didn't miss what he had never known. He had never felt sorry for himself. But the pain he had caused his parents was more than he could bear. He could only say, "Until today, I could not see." "Where do your parents live?" He told them. They nodded their heads to the Temple guards who turned and left. In less than an hour, the guards brought the parents of the man and presented them to the authorities in Jerusalem. "Is this your son?" they asked. "Is this the one you say was born blind?" "Yes," said the frightened parents. "How is it then," they pressed, "that now he can see?" They looked at their son and for the first time saw his eyes open and blinking. They looked back at each other in wonder and amazement. His mother caught her breath. Her eyes welled with tears. They approached him tentatively, not knowing what to think. "Ezion?" "Mother? Mother!" the man replied. "You are more beautiful than I imagined."
"This is our son," spoke Achor, shakily, "and we know he was born blind. But how he can now see or how his eyes were healed, we cannot explain." Achor looked again at his son, examining him closely. He was met with the gaze of healthy eyes. A smile creased his lips as joy invaded his heart. Turning to the inquisitors, he said confidently, "Go ahead. Ask him! He is of age. He can speak for himself." Someone in the crowd snickered. "He is afraid," they laughed. It was well-known that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be excommunicated from Temple worship. But they were mistaken. Achor and his wife came and stood next to their son. It was clear that they intended to share whatever befell him. They spoke to Ezion, "Then give credit to God. As for this Jesus, we know that he is a sinner." "Sinner?" questioned Ezion, surprise in his voice. "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was born blind, but now I see!"
Word of what happened was brought to Jesus by Rissah, the one who had spent much of his life leading Ezion about. "Take me to him," said Jesus. When at length he arrived at the family's home, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" The compassionate voice was unmistakable. Just to be certain Ezion inquired, "Who is he, sir? Tell me so that I may believe in him." Jesus came and stood directly in front of him and said, "Look at me, Ezion." The man stared at Jesus quizzically. Then Jesus stated flatly, "I am he." "Lord," said this man who was born blind, "I believe!" and he sank to his knees. "I have come into this world," responded Jesus, "so that you, Ezion, and others like you, may see and those who see but refuse to believe may become blind. This is the judgment of God." Some of the Temple authorities had been watching Rissah's movements and had followed him to Ezion's house. They witnessed this exchange. When they heard Jesus say this, they asked, "Do you refer to us? Are you suggesting that we are blind?" Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, but since you claim you can see, your guilt remains." He left them, their mouths opened as if to speak; yet nothing came forth. Utterly confounded, there was no way they could win. It is impossible to reason with this man.
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