“And said unto him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation, Sent. He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.” John 9:7
There is great power even in the simplest words and phrases that the Lord Jesus uttered while He walked and ministered on this earth. There was one blind beggar whose name was Bartimaeus, who, inspite of the opposition of those around him, would cry out to Jesus in the crowd: “Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” (Mark 10:48) The result of this cry was that Jesus stood still and called for him. He came to Jesus, and the Lord asked him this simple question: “What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?” (v.51) The man would respond in like simplicity, “Lord, that I might receive my sight.” It is then that the Lord pronounces a very simple commandment to him: “Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.” (v.52) The call of Christ by a very simple phrase, spoken in the power and authority of His Father, was a call to faith, a call to receive by faith. The man was healed from that moment.
On another occasion, while Jesus was passing through Samaria, He was confronted by ten men who were lepers. Hearing that Jesus was near, they “…lifted up their voices, and said, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.'” (Luke 17:13) There was no long discourse by Jesus in speaking to these men, only a very simple word, command, which would require a response of faith. He said, “Go shew yourselves unto the priests.” To obey these words would require an act of faith, one that would declare that these men believed in the authority and power of Jesus, as a witness to the priests who Christ’s identity. These ten leprous men were all healed, however, only one came back immediately to Jesus, falling on his face at Jesus’ feet to thank him, giving glory to God. To this one in particular Jesus would say definitively, powerfully: “Go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” (v.19)
When we come to the pool of Bethesda, which was in Jerusalem, we find Jesus looking at a great multitude of sick folk, those who were blind, crippled, paralyzed, but hoping against hope to be healed. Their hope resided in the coming of an angel who would go down into the pool at a certain season. The first person who stepped into the pool after the “troubling of the water…was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.” (Jn. 5:4) In that multitude of sickness and helplessness, there was a particular man who had been sick for thirty-eighty years, a man who was totally incapable of getting to the pool at the right time, before another would enter. Therefore, he was a man, though knowing his helplessness, was honestly believing in God. Jesus saw the man, and knowing his heart, asked him, “Wilt thou be made whole?” (v.6) After briefly telling Jesus that his plight was a hopeless one, Jesus would pronounce a very simple phrase, or command, which evoked in the heart of this man, faith. He said: “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” (v.8) With this command came the very power of God, quietly making the man whole, so that he would indeed take up his bed and walk. “The Lord would then tell the man, “Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” (v.14)
To the pool of Siloam Jesus sent a man who had been blind from birth. Why? The Lord said it was, “…that the works of God should be manifested in him.” (Jn. 9:3) In confronting this man, Jesus, knowing his attitude of heart, and of faith, “…spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.” The man’s faith would be tested, not only by the unconventional way Jesus employed with him, but by the simple command he was to respond to: “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.”
Dear Father, Strengthen us to obey. In Jesus’ name, Amen.