JESUS' healing of the man blind from his birth must have made a deep impression on at least one of the disciples, for John has recorded it in detail in the ninth chapter of his Gospel. But the question which the disciples asked Jesus showed that they had glimpsed but faintly the truth about God and man. "Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" They had learned that disease was often the result of sin, but it is evident that both disease and sin were still very real to them. Jesus knew this, and he strove to lead them farther into the realm of Truth. His reply expressed a great truth, which, like a penetrating light, must have pierced the dense materiality of the disciples, as well as that of the afflicted one, and cleared their spiritual vision even as it opened the eyes of the blind: "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."
What wondrous love—this love that was ever conscious of man as the image of the Father, sinless and perfect! This is the love which lifts the load of false condemnation from our brother and ourselves, and which heals both disease and sin. Jesus not only freed the man from the condemnation of sin, but he also denied any real power to the theory of heredity. Man, as the child of God, cannot inherit anything but good from his divine Parent, the Father-Mother God.
Jesus never condoned sin; he was unsparing in his condemnation of it; but he never attached sin to the real man. He did not temporize with matter; and in this case he spat upon it, thus showing his contempt for it. He then applied his understanding of the nothingness of matter to the problem at hand. He looked through the illusion of matter and saw the manifestation of a son of God; and his clear seeing restored to the blind his sight. To Jesus this was an opportunity to prove the immediate presence and power of God. He did his work so thoroughly that not only was the man's sight restored, but his spiritual vision was quickened; for he perceived the power of God working through Jesus, and he acknowledged this Christ-power. His sense of gratitude was also awakened, for he publicly testified to his healing.
