The Blind Man at the Pool of Siloam
CHAPTER 56
ON A SABBATH morning, which was not Sunday, but Saturday, the Jewish day of rest and church-going—Jesus and his disciples were on their way to the service in the Temple, when they passed a blind man. They had seen this man before and knew that he had been blind all his life. He had come into the world without eyesight, to the great sorrow of his father and mother; and he lived upon the little coins that people gave him as they were on their way to the Temple.
The Jews believed that every disease was caused by some act of sin; that if a man became ill, it was because he had done some wicked deed and was being punished for it; and if a child was born blind, or dumb, or crippled, it must have been because either its father or mother had sinned against God's law. Some of the scribes, who were the teachers of the law, said that each soul lived many times on the earth; that when a man died, his soul went into a body that was born at that moment; and if the new-born baby was blind, or diseased, it was because it had done wrong in some life before that one. None of these things are believed now since Christ has taught men, but they were held by nearly all people while Jesus was on the earth.
As the disciples were passing by this blind man, one of them said to Jesus:
"Teacher, whose sin was it that caused this man to be born blind? Was it the fault of his parents? Or was it his own fault?"
"It was through no fault of his, nor of his father or mother that this man was born blind," answered Jesus. "It was that God might show a wonderful work in him. While daylight lasts, we must be doing God's work; the night will soon come when we can work no longer. As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world, and give light to men."
As he said this, he spat on the ground and mixed the spittle with dust, making it into mud, and smeared it on the man's eyes. He said to the blind man:
"Now, go down to the pool of Siloam and wash."