Recently I was studying the book of John and I found myself struck by the story of Jesus healing the blind man at the beginning of chapter 9. This man had been born blind and spent his life begging near the temple. He catches Jesus’ attention and Jesus does heal him, but here’s the thing – Jesus could have healed the man with a thought, a word, or a touch.

Instead, Jesus spit on the dirt and made mud with it.

Jesus spit.

Into the dirt.

To make mud.

And then He put it on the guy’s eyes.

Spit-mud on the guy’s broken eyes.

In the ESV, it says that Jesus anointed the man’s eyes with the mud. Jesus didn’t just slather it on like some first-century spa treatment.

He anointed the man.

Anointed – consecrated, made sacred, sanctified, taken for use, called for divine service

With mud made from spit.

Jesus used gunk to make this man sacred, to call him to the divine.

This man had a choice when Jesus applied the spit-mud to his eyes. He could freak out and run away or he could trust Jesus and see the situation through. He could get angry at Jesus for the gunk, blame Jesus for the gunk, and allow the gunk to separate him from Jesus. Or, he could choose to let Jesus transform the gunk into an anointing, into something that would make him sacred.

We are all broken. We all have gunk.

You have gunk.

What choice are you making with your gunk? Are you freaking out, running away, getting angry, blaming Jesus, and letting it separate you from your Savior? Or, are you trusting Jesus, seeing it through, letting Jesus transform it into your anointing?

If you read the story, you will find that the gunk did not heal the man’s brokenness. The gunk was the anointing.

What healed him was his trust and obedience.

Jesus anointed the man’s eyes with the spit-mud and then told him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. Siloam is the Greek variation of the Hebrew word Shiloah, which means Sent. This particular pool is actually a mikvah near the temple. It was used to cleanse, purify, and make holy those who washed in it so they could enter the temple.

It was a baptismal pool.

And this pool was fed by the Spring of Gihon, which means bursting forth. It is fed by living water that is bursting forth.

The man was cleansed and purified of this gunk in the baptismal pool of the Sent that is fed by Living Water that is bursting forth. He was made holy, not so that he could enter the Jewish temple, but so that his brokenness could be healed, his blindness removed, his eyes opened. So he could become the temple.

When the disciples asked Jesus why this man was born blind, Jesus said that it was so the works of God could be displayed in him (verse 3). So that he could be anointed, made sacred, called into use.

This man’s brokenness prepared him for the gunk that would be his anointing.

We are all broken. We all have gunk. Our brokenness prepares us for the gunk.

The gunk is inevitable. We live in a gunky world. But, for those who trust and follow through, Jesus can use this gunk as an anointing that leads to a purification that makes us into a temple of the Holy Spirit.

God’s presence dwelling within you.

You are broken. You are blind. You have gunk. And you have a choice.

You can freak out and run away from Jesus or you can trust Him, let Him use it as an anointing, and see it through until He purifies you of it. He is the Living Water bursting forth. We are the Sent.

Here’s what it ultimately comes down to…

We all need Him.

Many of us want Him.

But few of us choose Him.

What will you do with your choice?