John chapter 9 describes a significant event when Jesus heals a man born blind. "And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth." There could have been visual evidence the man was blind, but I like to think of this describing how Jesus views us from the inside looking out. Jesus sees how this man sees only darkness.
His disciples ask, "Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" This verse tells us Jesus must have previously taught something about the premortal realm. The parents obviously had committed sins, but the man himself was born innocent, unless he had sinned in premortal life.
After the Savior points out that this is the wrong question anyway, He heals the blind man. The description of this miracle is very interesting. The scripture records,
"He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
"And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing" (see John 9:1-7).
The Savior creates some mud, and in a sense, recreates the man. This echoes the creation of man in Genesis, where it states, "But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Genesis 2:6-7). The same elements are repeated. The ground is watered and newness of life is created. And the same Creator is present in both accounts.
The man has his eyes anointed. Here is an interesting choice of words. It could have said rubbed, smeared, placed, or daubed, but this is an anointing. We begin to see the spiritual implications as we compare this with Enoch and his calling. Enoch did not suffer from physical blindness, nevertheless his eyes were anointed. In the Pearl of Great Price we read,
"And the Lord spake unto Enoch, and said unto him: Anoint thine eyes with clay, and wash them, and thou shalt see. And he did so.
"And he beheld the spirits that God had created; and he beheld also things which were not visible to the natural eye; and from thenceforth came the saying abroad in the land: A seer hath the Lord raised up unto his people" (Moses 6:36).
Jesus then commanded the man to wash in the pool of Siloam. Now we have both a washing and an anointing. This passage in John has several temple themes. The Pool of Siloam is situated near the temple. Besides the ordinances of washing and anointing, there are other temple concepts conveyed.
The water from the Pool of Siloam originates at the Gihon Spring. Gihon in Hebrew means to "gush forth" or "burst forth." King Hezekiah created a tunnel bringing the water from the spring inside the city walls and into this pool where enemies could not access the water supply.
Solomon was anointed king at the Gihon Spring. In the Old Testament we read:
"So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride upon king David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon.
"And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon" (1 Kings 1:38-39).
At this location one could be anointed to become a king (or a queen), and a priest was also present.
It is rare that we get an interpretation of a verse within the text, but we have one here. The word Sent (and note the capitalization) is the Greek word apostello, where we get the English word apostle. It describes the Savior's mission and means "one sent forth."
We now have a pool of ordinances giving new life and enhanced vision. We have a pool of keys and ordinances administered by those "sent forth" who hold apostolic keys, enabling us to become washed and anointed with the potential to become kings and queens and priests and priestesses.
This event in the Savior's ministry is so typical of mortal life. How easy it is to get a little mud in our eyes, and the waters are muddied with the mortal and the mundane. But if we receive of gospel ordinances and keep our covenants associated therewith, the muddy and the mundane can be washed away and we can see the things of eternity more clearly.
After the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood and after receiving the ordinance of baptism, similar to a washing, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery related the following:
"Immediately on our coming up out of the water after we had been baptized, we experienced great and glorious blessings from our Heavenly Father. No sooner had I baptized Oliver Cowdery, than the Holy Ghost fell upon him, and he stood up and prophesied many things which should shortly come to pass. And again, so soon as I had been baptized by him, I also had the spirit of prophecy, when, standing up, I prophesied concerning the rise of this Church, and many other things connected with the Church, and this generation of the children of men. We were filled with the Holy Ghost, and rejoiced in the God of our salvation" (Joseph Smith--History 1:73).
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