We continue watching Jesus deliberately antagonize the Pharisees even while doing good. It’s one of my favorite stories, and I love the way it starts:

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. (John 9.1, ESV)

A great story, and “Jesus saw a man” is a lesson of its own. As you read the rest of the chapter, you’ll see that the Pharisees hadn’t seen him. Even his neighbors had never looked at him closely enough to know whether the seeing man was the same as the blind man.

Then what happened? Let’s take a close look at the means Jesus uses to heal him:

And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. (John 9.2 – 7, ESV, emphasis mine)

“He spit on the ground and made mud…” and…wait for it…

Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. (John 9.14, ESV)

You’ve got to be kidding! Again? Nearly the same sentence as in John 5 that we read yesterday.

Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. (John 5.8, 9, ESV)

“We must work the works of him who sent me…” whether it’s the Sabbath or not! And I’ll even heal him by working: making mud. There’s probably a rule against that somewhere!

It’s the religious people who missed Jesus. “He came to his own, and his own received him not.” Let’s not make the same mistake, elevating our traditions above ministering to real people. Chuck Smith, founder of Calvary Chapel, set us a good example. Jesus said:

I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders. (Matthew 9.13, MSG)