Evening star., 1932-02-13

Blind beggarS greet you in the East,
| especially near any place of Worship.
/ Next to Egypt. where one IN every
: hundl ed is blind" comes Palestine with
, its great blind population, who swell
! the number appealing for aims. TWO
months after the events that We con-
sidered last week Jesus returned to
Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication
| that had been instituted by the Mac
/ G. bees and was observed III December
Passing by a blind beggar, the Master
| saw one who had been born bDnd. HIS
locking upon the blind beggar attracted
| the attention OF His disciples, who tried
! to obtain from the Lord an eXplana-
! tiOn as to the cause of the mans con-
dition They believed with the Jews OF
| their day that there existed a close re-
! latiOnShip between sin and disease.
Although the disciples had consider
able Scripture for their position. Jesus
! did not agree with them that the beg
! garS blindness was due to either the
sins of the blind man or his parents.
Evidently the Master saw in him not
a question Of speculation but a sum-
mems to service The case OF the beg
gar did not require so much social
analysis of the cause OF his atf1ictlon
as it did the extension of sympathy.
| Our tirst duty to the needy is not in
veStlsation. but assistance that Will help
| him to overcome the handicapS OF lie.
Having won his confidence Of our SYM
pathetic service, we may be compelled
| TO ascertain the cause of his trouble
| before We complete the cure.
Healing the Blind.
| When friends carried the man suf-
yrIth
kSSsus the Master assured him that his
| Nns were forgiven before He cured
| him. When He started to heal the
| blind man Jesus sought to arouse a
spirit of faith in him by pointing out
| to His disciples that the blind mans
condition furnished the Master an op-
portunity to demonstrate how Gods
works could overthrow evil He also
| impressed upon them the time for them
to manifest Gods light of the world
was limited Our opportunity to help,
| aid, and assist suffering. sorrowing and
struggling humanity does not allow US
to waste our time in specializing as to
the cause The emergency requires i'm
mediate relief Gifts of money to
philanthropic organizations do not free
us from our personal obligation to do
something ourselves Without being
asked, the Master decided to heal the
blind man
Jesus followed up His declaration that
He was the light of the world. by
making a paste of Spittle and clay. He
then anointed the blind mans eyes,
Saliva was commonly regarded as a
remedy for diseases of the eye. Its use.
! united with the Masters touch and
speech encouraged the blind man. for
he started Immediately for the pool OF
| Sloan, that is located in the south
eastern part of the city in the Valley
of Kidron. 1t probably was larger then
| than now for at present. it is ''reser-
voir SO feet long. l8 feet broad and 10
feet deep with water in it 3 or feet
deep" No doubt a crowd followed the
blind man. whose face was smeared
with the clay and spittle. until he
reached the pool of Sloan. where he
washed his eyes in obedience to Christ S
command and for the first time in his
life could see.
Cure Investigated.
The Transformation in the mans face
raised the question among those who
had known. him that possibly 1t was
another person. He assured them that
| it was he, and no one else who had
been cured OF his blindness. Although
he was seeing the glories of Jerusalem