THE MAN BORN BLIND

This is the funniest chapter of JOHN's Gospel and of the bible as a whole. this would serve as a very entertaining T.V.sitecom or a drama comedy; a satire a kind of drama or novel that makes people laugh by criticizing; making ridicule of a person or system.

The blind mas was really a character, intelligent bold and blunt as he was. But his parents were timid and evasive. The Jewish authorities were mad out of their wits, mean and unreasonable, contending with the man; this time not directly with JESUS. The argument was between the authorities and the "lay people" the man healed and his parents.

The authorities driven out of their wits had to resort to abuse, fallacious reasoning and "blackmail" to keep their heads above water.

THE CURE
The disciple put forward a curious question about the metaphysical (evil) situation of the blind man to Jesus "WHO SINNED; THIS MAN OR HIS PARENTS THAT HE SHOULD BE BORN BLIND"

In the biblical trading as the ancient Jewish beliefs were, doctrines or popular beliefs of many kinds exist. One of them is the attempts to explain the lot of man in life. indeed they can be conflicting as much as they are "puzzles" of life. In this, we recall the pronouncement of God regarding being a jealous God who visits the sin of the fathers on the children from the third and fourth generation of those who hate him (ex. 20:25; cf. Ex 34:7 Deut 4:24f). As such, the Jews had a parable among them as in Jeremiah which God kicked against: " what do you mean by making this proverb, our father have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. 'from now on this proverb will not be said in Israel. Everyone that sins shall die for his sins." But in Psalm 50 is says: " in guilt was i born, a sinner was i conceived" so for the disciples, it seemed legitimate to ask where the sin responsible for the unfortunate situation came from?

The answer Jesus gave did not necessarily bring out his stand on the matter except that it is a fact of life that we have to live with. Sometimes what God wills must not be questioned. Besides, Something better comes out of it and God is glorified eve in the mere instance of the situation alone; for instance, a reason to fear God. For one thing, we know that Jesus believes that Sin can bring out sickness and other evils upon a person. we see this in the case of the "paralytic" he cured. with the one by the pool cf. chapter 5) Jesus later told him "now you are well again; sin no more or something worse will befall you." Then with the one brought from the roof he said " Cheer up my son, your sin are forgiven you." in affect then curing the man of the problem from its roots". you can see that sin can make you sick.

The manner of cure is interesting to note. Jesus had to make paste with spittle and rubbed the eyes, with the instruction that he should go and wash in a pool called Siloam.

ARGUMENT:
It is quite amusing how the people started to argue about the identity of the blind beggar now cured, asking, "Isn't this the man who used to sit band beg? then some one would have looked closely (even to the embarrassment of the man) to make his own observation and say "yes he is the one." and his faith saved him .