Messiah in Simchat Torah Chapter 4
- On Simchat Torah the Messiah Heals the Man Born Blind
- Controversy over Healing the Blind Man on Shabbat
- Spiritual blindness among our Jewish religious leaders
On Simchat Torah Messiah Heals the Man Born Blind:
On the day of Simchat Torah the Messiah had left the Temple Courts and was walking along in the city of Jerusalem As he passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And his talmidin (disciples) asked him:
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”
Yeshua – The Salvation of Adonai answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of Him who sent me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” When He had said this, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam,” which means “Sent.” So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?” Others were saying, “This is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one.” So they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man who is called Yeshua made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.” They said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”
Controversy over Healing of the Blind Man on Shabbat:
They brought to the Separated Ones (Prushim) the man who was formerly blind. Now it was a Shabbat on the day when the Salvation of Adonai, Yeshua, made the clay and opened his eyes. Then the Prushim also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them:
“He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”
Therefore some of the Prushim were saying, “This man is not from the Almighty, because he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.” The leaders of the Yehudim then did not believe it of him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, and questioned them, saying:
“Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?”
His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the leaders of the Yehudim; for their (religious) leaders had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Ha-Mashiach he was to be put out of the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” So a second time they (the religious leaders) called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God ; we know that this man (Yeshua) is a sinner.” He then answered:
“Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become his talmidin too, do you?” They reviled him and said, “You are His talmid, but we are talmidim of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he is from.” The man answered and said to them:
“Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes.”
We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone fears God and does His will, He hears him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him:
“You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out.
Spiritual blindness among our Jewish religious leaders:
The Messiah of Adonai, Yeshua, heard that they had put him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “Who is he, Master, that I may believe in him?” Yeshua said to him, “You have both seen him, and he is the one who is talking with you.” And he said, “Master, I believe.” And he worshiped Him. And the Salvation of Adonai – Yeshua, said:
“For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”
Those of the Prushim who were with him heard these things and said to him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Yeshua, said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”