The Authority of the Healer: Healing Stories in the Gospel of John
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To get a perspective on Jesus’ healing ministry, John might not be the best gospel to study. For a broader interpretation on miracles performed by Jesus it could be better to also look at the other gospels, because each miracle story often brings a different insight into Jesus’ healing ministry. The problem with confining oneself to John’s healing accounts only, is that John only included only two: the invalid (Jn 5: 1-18) and the man born blind (Jn 9). So, when a healing miracle appears in John one may wonder why?
These two healing stories may require the reader to look beyond the words of John’s text. In John 5, the healing of an invalid man whom Jesus met at Bethzatha pool, could be about more than a man being healed from his physical infirmity. Perhaps it is also about the authority of the Healer and His awareness of Israel’s history. To gain more understanding of the message in this story, there are two questions to be examined. Why did Jesus select this particular invalid to heal and, why did Jesus seek him out after his healing?
It might seem that this invalid was randomly chosen by Jesus, considering that there were many others at the pool seeking healing, but Jesus seems to have taken special interest in him perhaps because he had been awaiting healing at the pool for 38-years (Jn 5:2). Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be made well?" (Jn 5:6). Gerard S. Sloyan, in John, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, points out that mentioning this man’s 38-years of affliction might make the reader draw a parallel between his story and Israel’s wilderness story in Deut 2:14. Note that the Old Testament story specifies the length of time it took for the generation of warriors, who refused to take the land as God commanded (Deut 1:26-2:14), to perish. Deuteronomy 2:15 notes that these warriors had to be rooted out. It is as if the Israel rebellion made them invalids, and in need of healing. After 38 years during their escape from Egypt, God commanded Israel to start walking toward the Promised Land, where they could finally rest from their wandering. In both cases each group suffered for 38 years, and in both cases God allowed their suffering to stop.
So later in the story, Jesus found this man at the temple, which was not unusual because it was customary to bring an offering to the house of the Lord, after a deliverance. Ps. 66:13-14, says, “I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will pay my vows, those that my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.” This man after so long was able to participate in a religious rite. Jesus tells him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you (Jn 5:14).” This phrase has a soteriological feel to it, because telling him“…you are made well,” and “Do not sin” indicates that Jesus granted him salvation―his sins were forgiven and his body restored.
When Jesus was confronted about his works, he reaffirms his authority when he states that “My Father is still working, and I also am working (Jn 5:17).” John continued to show Jesus’ works as a healer in John 9, the healing of a blind man. Like the invalid at Bethzatha pool, there is something distinct about this blind man. He was blind from birth. “Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.” (Jn 9:32). Maybe John wanted the reader to recall the healing of blind people in the First Testament, to draw attention to the uniqueness of what Jesus was about to perform. Before Jesus performs this miracle he declares that He is “the light of the world (Jn 9:5).” This man who lived in darkness, can now live in the light, because Jesus, the light of the world, continues to do the work of the one who sent Him.
Unlike the healing at Bethzatha pool, there was no conversation between Jesus and this man. He did not ask him if he wants to be made well. Instead, Jesus informs the disciples that this man was chosen for God’s work to be revealed (Jn 9:3). So Jesus went about that work by creating a remedy to put on this man’s eyes, “…he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.” (John 9:6-7). According to Raymond E. Brown, in The Gospel and Epistle of John: A Concise Commentary, the action of using saliva and mixing mud was in direct violation of rabbinical rules for the Sabbath. In both cases the blind man and the cripple―Jesus broke rabbinical Sabbath rules. Nonetheless, Jesus was going to give sight to this blind man.
After, he smears the mud on the man’s eyes, he sent him to wash at Siloam, which means “sent.” It is interesting that John decided to define the name of this pool. Maybe, he wanted to draw attention to the apostolic nature of the text. It is apostolic because Jesus had a mission, which was to do the works of the one who sent him, and He had authority to represent the One who sent Him. So the man went to wash himself in the pool, and his sight was restored. In addition to being healed from blindness, this man was to receive salvation as well. Similar to the story of the invalid man, Jesus found the blind man after his healing, and engaged in a conversation with him. The man was able to acknowledge the authority of Jesus, when he confesses by faith that “Jesus is Lord.” Jesus grants this man salvation because He has the authority to conquer darkness.
In both stories Jesus healed the men of their disabling infirmities and granted them eternal salvation. Jesus was able to do what the First Testament prophets could not do–forgive sins and grant salvation. The Gospel of John opens with the definitive statement about Jesus’ background and eternal authority: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God (John 1:1).”
