Why Did Christ Use Mud To Heal The Blind Man??......

[Tim Myers]

I understand that, if any sort of thread develops from this post, it will be comprised of pure speculation from all of us.......

But, I hoped that we might discuss a story in the ninth chapter of the Gospel of John.....

In John 9, Christ encounters a blind man and, after saying a few words to His disciples; He squats down, spits on the ground and makes a bit of mud with His spittle.

He then wipes the "spittle mud" across the eyes of the blind man and heals him with it........

I have wondered for as long as I have known this story, why did Christ use spit and dirt to heal this blind man??

In all of His other healings recorded in the Gospels, Christ always healed someone by merely speaking the word or touching them.....

Why did He need to create a mud salve and put it on the blind man's eyes to heal him in this story??

Is there some obscure meaning behind the method He used to heal in this particular instance??

Like I said at the top, I know that all we can really do is speculate about it, but I would like to discuss this, if we can.....

 

[pehkay]

The clay in 9:6, as in Romans 9:21, signifies humanity. Man is clay. We all are clay. What is the spittle? Spittle here, as something “that proceeds out of the mouth” (Matt. 4:4) of the Lord, signifies His “words which...are spirit and life” (John 6:63). Figuratively speaking, the spittle is the Word, which is spirit and life, that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. The Word that proceeds out of the mouth of Christ is spirit. Thus, to mingle spittle with the clay signifies the mingling of humanity with the Lord’s living Word. The word “anointed” proves this, because the Lord’s Spirit is the anointing Spirit (Luke 4:18; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 1 John 2:27). The spittle, then, signifies the Word, the outflow of the very element or essence of the Lord Himself. The clay was mingled with the spittle. This signifies that the Lord mingles His essence with us by and even with His Word. We are clay by nature, and the very essence of the Lord in the Word is the spittle. Formerly, when we were sinners, we were dead. When we heard the Word of the Lord, His Word came into us as those made of clay. When we heard and received the gospel, it was actually the spittle of the Lord that came into us, men of clay. In other words, the clay received something that proceeded out of the mouth of the Lord and was mingled with it.

The mingling of divinity with humanity is the most prevailing ointment on the whole earth. No other ointment can surpass it. The Lord anointed the man’s blind eyes with the clay that was mingled with spittle. This signifies the anointing of the Spirit of life. The anointing of the Spirit of life follows the mingling of the Lord in His Word with the clay. Immediately after you receive the Lord through His Word, there is the anointing of the Spirit of life. The Lord’s anointing the blind eyes with the clay made of His spittle signifies that by the anointing of the mingling of the Lord’s Word, which is His Spirit, with our humanity, our eyes, which were blinded by Satan, may have sight.

 

[ghendricks63]

Another interesting fact is that the act of making mud, even with spittal, was specifically prohibited on the sabbath by the Pharisees in one of their many examples of legalism run amok. Jesus was deliberately violating their interpretation of the keeping the Sabbath holy by using this method.

 

[ElijahW]

I think it’s to make clear that the power is coming from faith. He wasn’t healing with any fancy medical ointments.

From Mark “51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. 52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.”

 

[visionary]

I understand that, if any sort of thread develops from this post, it will be comprised of pure speculation from all of us.......

But, I hoped that we might discuss a story in the ninth chapter of the Gospel of John.....

In John 9, Christ encounters a blind man and, after saying a few words to His disciples; He squats down, spits on the ground and makes a bit of mud with His spittle.

He then wipes the "spittle mud" across the eyes of the blind man and heals him with it........

I have wondered for as long as I have known this story, why did Christ use spit and dirt to heal this blind man??

In all of His other healings recorded in the Gospels, Christ always healed someone by merely speaking the word or touching them.....

Why did He need to create a mud salve and put it on the blind man's eyes to heal him in this story??

Is there some obscure meaning behind the method He used to heal in this particular instance??

Like I said at the top, I know that all we can really do is speculate about it, but I would like to discuss this, if we can.....

No eye balls in the sockets.. needed creative material [dust of the earth] to do His creative work..

 

[dcyates]

I understand that, if any sort of thread develops from this post, it will be comprised of pure speculation from all of us.......

But, I hoped that we might discuss a story in the ninth chapter of the Gospel of John.....

In John 9, Christ encounters a blind man and, after saying a few words to His disciples; He squats down, spits on the ground and makes a bit of mud with His spittle.

He then wipes the "spittle mud" across the eyes of the blind man and heals him with it........

I have wondered for as long as I have known this story, why did Christ use spit and dirt to heal this blind man??

In all of His other healings recorded in the Gospels, Christ always healed someone by merely speaking the word or touching them.....

Why did He need to create a mud salve and put it on the blind man's eyes to heal him in this story??

Is there some obscure meaning behind the method He used to heal in this particular instance??

Like I said at the top, I know that all we can really do is speculate about it, but I would like to discuss this, if we can.....

In the ancient world, when a temple was constructed and then dedicated to the god or goddess which the temple was to house, the idol of the god/goddess was ritually 'brought to life'. Part of this process was to ritually 'open' the eyes, ears, mouth, etc. of the god/goddess. The eyes were thus 'opened' by the priest mixing spittle with clay and then smearing it across the idol's eyes -- presumably to make them 'glisten' as real eyes do.
Given that humans were created in God's image, and that, as Psalm 115.4-8 states, "Their (i.e. pagans') idols are mere silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but they can't speak; they have eyes, but they can't see; they have ears, but they can't hear; they have noses, but they can't smell; they have hands, but they can't feel; they have feet, but they can't walk; with their throats they can't make a sound. The people who make them will become like them, along with everyone who trusts in them" (see also Ps 135.15-18; cf. Isa 44.9-18). In other words, all those who worship idols will become like the idols they worship; that is, having mute mouths, blind eyes, deaf ears, leprous hands and lame feet, etc.
I think it's highly significant that Genesis tells us that we're created in God's image at the same time that it depicts God as speaking creation into being, seeing that his creation is good, sculpting the man out of clay with his hands, hearing the voice of the man, walking in the garden during the cool of the day, and even that he smelled the soothing aroma of Noah's sacrifice, and so forth. (All this is even given in roughly the same order as it's presented in Psalms 115 and 135.)
When we couple this with the Gospels' testimony that, although we can be sure that people suffered from other physical ailments in ancient Palestine, and we know that Jesus healed all types of illness, we're specifically told that he healed the blind, the deaf, the leprous, and the lame. Moreover, the language used is that Jesus 'opened' such eyes and ears, etc. Put another way, Jesus was redeeming the image of God within humanity.