How would you feel if Jesus spit on you?
I know, it sounds kind of gross. But once Jesus spit on a blind man who had come to him to be healed.
If you were that man, it must have been quite a shock to hear that tell-tale guttural sound coming from Jesus’s throat and then suddenly feel the warm gooey mess in your eyes.
Spitting was a sign of contempt and rebuke. Was Jesus showing contempt for this man?
Not at all.
By the way, the man was healed and could see clearly.
Not a bad result from getting spit on.
In this week’s episode I answer this question and explain what Jesus was really spitting on.
Why did Jesus spit?
There’s another time Jesus healed a blind man by spitting. Really, it does sound odd doesn’t it?
But Jesus never had a cookie cutter approach to prayer, healing, or how to deal with a given situation.
In this case the man had been born blind. Jesus’s disciples thought that perhaps the man’s parents had sinned and their son was being punished. They even were wondering if the man himself had somehow sinned before he had been born, which caused his blindness.
Jesus addressed these misconceptions head on in what he said and did. And once more he spit, this time on the ground. He made a little mud from the spit and then anointed the eyes of the blind man and told him to go wash it off.
The man did what he was told. And when he came back, he could see clearly!
Why did Jesus spit on the ground?
Why did he put mud on the man’s eyes? And then tell him to go wash it off?
What did all this odd behavior have to do with the man being healed?
This week’s episode explores this in detail.
And of course the next question is: Can we imbibe the spirit of Jesus and pray with the same spiritual authority he did? Can we expect the same results?
Jesus has given us an example and expects us to follow him in our words and actions.
DISCLAIMER: This does NOT mean you should go around spitting on people to heal them. But when you pray with the spirit of what Jesus was doing when he spit, you will see the healing power or God in your life.
Thanks so much for listening and for sharing this with a friend.
If you have any questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment below or contact me via email.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Here’s the link for the Bible workshop: Praying with the Mindset of Jesus. Yes, it is still available.
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Blessings,
James
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Bible references in this week’s episode
Mark 8:22-26 ESV
22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.
23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”
24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”
25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
Luke 4:39 ESV
39 And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.
Matthew 4:17 ESV
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
John 9:1-7, 34 ESV
1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud
7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
Psalm 100:3 KJV
3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
