Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-06
Sunday School Lesson

use stimulated his faith. They also
served to impress the fact of his cure
upon the eyewttnesseS, who, probably
ridiculed him at 1.-The unsightly patches
of clay" when they saw the beggar
en- route to the pool Of Sloan. The
cure came through his faithful obedi-
ence to ChriSt's commands. There
was nothing medical in the gushing
waters of Sloan, which was "a mag
nificent pool. 70 feet square. sur
rounded by an arcade" During the
Herodian period. It was used as bath
house by both men and women. 1t Is
the only pool mentioned in the Scrip
lures which has retained its name
until this day, although It's appearance
has changed considerably since the day
the blind man washed his eyes with
its waters and was healed. the cure
was from tho Lord who sent the
blind man away from His presence IN
the performing of this miracle Inc
blessing was given the man because
OF his obedience to Christ's command.
Faith Develops Courage.
In n few hours the city was fuled
with the knowledge of tho sensational
healing. The changed appearance OF the
mans face, that was refcctlns the
influence of tho giories OF the CITY
temple and palaces, which he saw for
the first time when he returned from
Sloan seeing. filed the people with
establishment. Some doubted that IL
could possibly be the veteran beGgar
He settled the debate by declaring. Il
am he" Replying to their questions
as to how he was cured he gave MS
first public testimony to the Master,
telling briefly how that q man, called
Jesus. had healed him using clay.
Evidently he had no knowledge OF the
Christ. He did not know where lie
could be found. The only thing he
knew was that, whereas he had once
been blind, he now could see. He had
no theory that would explain his cure.
He knew Jesus. the gracious ElVer OF
his marvellous vision. as a man.
1t was not long before the religious
leaders learned of the cure. In mani
Testing His Superhuman power, they
held that He had disregarded the Sab
bath day and the laws relating to It's
observance, because Jesus had per-
formed manual labor when he wetted
the clay with saliva and applied 1t to
his eyes They differed as TO how they
would explain this seventh miracle
that the Master had performed on the
sabbath They claimed that God
could not have done It because it was
performed upon that day. some In
sist ed that he had not been born blind
Tho parents identified him as their
son and proved his blindness, but they
lodged the religious questions by re
ferring the leaders to their son.
In the argument that followed the
blind bcggar proved that he was n
shrcWd, cautious and courageous man
He appealed 10 the fact OF his cure
and defeated the Pharisees in the argu
,ncnt. that proved conclusively that
Jesus. whom He confessed as
prophet, was from God" He pressed
home with invincible logic that the
greatest miracle was not that he could
see, but that they. the religious leaders
of Israel, could not give u satisfactory
answer concerning Jesus. when the
ordinary Jew knew that God did not
hear sinners. Beaten in argument. in
their madness, they expelled him from
the synagogue. services. The man,
who was born blind was the first one
Of a long line of martyrs, VINO were
excluded for their faith in Christ ana
His church from participating In their
former religious practices. 1t was not
until after the Lords death that
others were excluded.
When the Master learned Of the
coura geous stand taken by the one
whom He had healed and how he had
been communicated, Jesus immedi-
ately risked His life by approaching
the former blind beggar with a ques-
ton, asked in an effort to remove his
spiritual darkness: ''Dost thou be-
lieve in the Son of God?" The mans
mind was open and ready for an ad-
yanced step When the Lord revealed
Himself unto him, as the true Messiah.
the man that was born blind acknowl-
edged Him by Immediately worship
ing Him as the Christ. His bitter eX-
perience of trial had prepared him for
the recognition of Jesus as the Son of
God. the Light of the World
The last part of our lesson is q rec
ord of the Judgment upon the Phar-
isees, who, although they claimed to
see clearly, were made blind by their
prejudices, pride and desire to make
facts fit into their theories and theo-
logical teachings. They ought TO have
been convinced by this miracle and ac-
cepted Jesus. as the Light of the
World If we follow the example of
the man born blind. we will follow the
Lord and do His will, then we will not
walk in darkness but have the Light
of Life.