0317 THE FIRST APOSTLE

THE FIRST APOSTLE

over the course of three years, we seen Jesus heal a lot a folk. Sometimes He’d go into a village, n spend all day healin everybody in town. Or, sometimes He’d go outa His way just to find that one somebody He knowed needed healin. But one thing I can say about Jesus’ healings:  He never healed the same way twice. Ever’ healin was like a snowflake er a fingerprint, unique n personal for that one needy soul. I’m pretty sure He did it that way on purpose.

lack I say, we seen Him do a lot a healins: sometimes we seen Him just speak a word, n somebody miles away’d get healed at that very moment. Sometimes, He’d touch somebody, or somebody’d touch Him, or He’d spit or speak or tell a man to get up or to reach out. We even seen Him bring folk back to life.

but I think if we was takin a vote on which healin was the strangest, we’d all recollect the same feller: the first apostle, that blind man from Siloam.

i gotta tell you a story about Siloam. If’n you remember you’re hist’ry lesson, then you remember about how the Assyrians wiped out S’marya. Well, when Hezekiah was king of Judah, they was zeroin in on Jerusalem, too. Them Assyrians was the most fiercest, most strongest fighters in the world at that time. You might say the sitiation was as Assyrian as a heart attack. 

everybody knowed the routine: lay seige for months until the people is dyin a thirst n hunger, build ramps n then run over the wall n conquer the city, easy as pie.

well, Hezzy knowed the routine, too. So he decided to reroute the water supply to the city. ‘stead a havin a stream run outside the walls, he dug him a tunnel ’neath the city, n the water run there n gathered in the Pool a Siloam. Then he built him a second wall outside the city to enclose the pool.

pretty smart, huh?

so when them Assyrians come n lay seige to the city, they was having to haul water in from sumwhar else, whal the citizens was sneakin down through the tunnel n drinkin from the pool.

now, on account of that hist’ry, the Pool a Siloam had become something of a place a pilgrimage for folk.

in other words, it was a tourist trap. Folks’d come from miles around to drink from the well, n to get a tour through Hezzy’s tunnel, thankin God for sparin the city way back yonder.

you know it’s dark in a tunnel, right? who do you think would be the best guide in a pitch black tunnel? somebody with a light? well, yep. But what I was gettin at was two words:  “born” and “blind.” yes, I am aware that there are three words there. You gotta ignore the little one in the middle. 

I’m tryin to say that somebody who was borned blind  is as comfortable in of that tunnel as he were outside it. In either place, he’s countin steps n rememb’rin turns n such. Fact, through most of the tunnel, he can touch both walls, so he’s actually more secure there than most places.

so this feller is part beggar, part tour guide, n he’s somehow survivin.

only big problem for the pool a Siloam is, it’s at the foot a Mt. Zion, whal the city a David sits like straight above it. So it ain’t no walk in the park for nobody.

wellsir, this blind man hears that Jesus is in town, so he leads his final tour group of the day up through the tunnel, where they come out near the temple, an he spends the night right there. First thing in the mornin he starts lookin for Jesus. Which ain’t easy for a man what’s never seen. What would Jesus sound lack? how would he reconnize Him?

well, it just so happens that Pete catches a glimpse of that blind man, n he n the rest of us boys have us a friendly theologizin wager. Pete asks Jesus another of his deep theological questions: “Lord, see that man who’s been blind from birth? who sinned to make him like that? was it him, or was it his parents? me n the boys got a pool started up, n we figgur You know the answer. can You hep us out? I’m saying it’s his parents, since it was from birth.”

Little Jimmy’s voice cracks as he says, “n I’m saying it’s him, on account of God don’t punish a child for the sins of his parents.”

we all start in on our speculations, all talking at once. Jesus lets out a sigh, the kind He makes when we all done something stupid again. When He talks, we all feel like we’re back in kindygarden all over again.

“boys,” He says, “not ever bad thing in life is the result a sin. It weren’t his sin. It weren’t his momma’s nor his daddy’s sin. That feller was born blind so God could be glorified. Right now. Today. While I got a chance, I’m here to be light, n this is his time to see it.”

Jesus walks up to the man and don’t say a word. In silence, He spits on the ground n makes Him some mud. Then He smears the mud on the man’s eyes. (kids, don’t try this at home.)  then He says His only words to the man:  “go wash in the pool of Siloam.”

now’s where I come to callin that blind man the first apostle. The word “apostle” means “one who got sent.” the twelve of us was all called disciples, an soon we’d become apostles, but this feller was sent out by Jesus before we wuz. (now, don’t be gettin “apostle” confused with “epistle.” an epistle ain’t the wife of an apostle. It’s a letter, dontcha know. An what happens to a letter? it gits sent. That’s right. So, an epistle and an apostle is, uh, never mind.)  so Jesus sends the man away to wash his face at, of all places, Siloam. Now get this: want to guess what the word “Siloam” means? “sent.” that’s right. I’m not just makin this up, you know. 

what kinda strange healin is that? sendin a blind man off on a mission, with no clear word a what that mission is. Jesus never e’en toad the man that he’d be able to see if’n he washed.

well, we figgured we’d prob’ly never see that man again. An we was even more sure that he’d never see us, if you know what I’m saying. He went away, n so did we, scratchin our pointy little heads over what we just seen.

thar’s a whole lot more story to all this. But here’s the quick version:  shore nuff, it worked. The man went, he washed, n he saw. If’n he’d been a blind carpenter, i’d say he picked up his hammer n saw. But he weren’t. So I won’t.

what’s especially odd about this here story is that the man never seen Jesus, had barely heard His voice, n by the time he was healed, Jesus n him was long separated. for some reason, that’s the way this one had to go.

oh, yeah. The zinger:  “and it was the Sabbath.” surprise, surprise, as Pete might say.

so this feller not only is the first to be an apostle, but he also about to be the first martyr, of sorts. The Phar’sees is hoppin mad about him workin on the Sabbath. Mad at Jesus for making mud. Mad at the man for washin it off. Don’t seem like either of them acts was much work to me, but I ain’t no expert. They knows the rules.

Pete asks the Lord, “hey, Jesus? how come you up n break all them Sabbath traditions? is we supposed to keep that there commandment er not?”

Jesus answers, “Pete, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. We’s to keep it holy. That means takin a break from work once a week. It means givin extra time to prayer n doinggood. But listen: since the creation my Daddy’s always been workin, keepin the universe goin. Ain’t cha glad of that?”

“shore. But why not just say the word n tell that man to see, instead a drawin attention to makin mud and makin him walk n all?”

“Pete, if you had you a cow, n she fell into a gully on to Sabbath, would you leave er there til the next day?”

“i guess not.”

“so, do you think it’s better to do good for somebody on a Sabbath, or to do em harm? don’t cha know that if I don’t hep this man, I’m doinghim harm? besides, how much work do you think I did there?”

(ya gotta know that the Phar’sees had all the measurements for what constitutes “work.” it’s a tricky subject. for example, if you want to give a man some bread, ye can only do it if the man is in his house, n iffn he don’t reach out the winder to ya. You can reach in the winder to him. Then it ain’t work. Or how’s this:  if a chicken lays an egg on the Sabbath, you can eat that egg, but only if you kill the chicken, cause she done worked on the Sabbath. Otherwise, don’t eat no egg layed on the Sabbath. Got it? that’s why it takes a smart man with the rule books in hand to know whether or not the Sabbath’s been broke. Them Phar’sees is sorta like Sabbath umpires. Okay, now back to the story.)

so, they call the man n his parents in, and interrogate em. In the end, they kick the man outa the synagogue on account of he identified Himself as a foll’wer a Jesus. That’s how he got to be the first martyr, see.

a couple days later, Jesus sees the man in the temple. there, Jesus introduces Himself as the Messiah, n the man believes n worships Him. 

the Phar’sees could see, but they was blind as bats. The man hadn’t never seen nothin, but he saw clearer than all of em.

imagine that.