As [Jesus] went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was blind?” – John 9:1-2
One of the most difficult questions that a Christian faces when they’re talking to an unbeliever about Jesus is the question why.
“Why do bad things happen to good people?” “Why do good things happen to bad people?” “Why did God allow me to be sexually abused by my neighbor growing up?” “Why did God allow my small child to die of cancer?” “Why is my husband leaving me?” “Why is my business failing?” Why, why, why….
In the few times this has happened to me, and as much as I truly care and try to empathize with them in that moment of their suffering, there is no response I can offer that would justify the pain they’ve endured. And I know this because I’ve experienced that same pain and I’ve asked those same exact questions. And I’ve done this all the while believing in Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
We know that there is a reason for everything that happens, there are no such things as coincidences. And even if there were, it still wouldn’t change anything. We’d still want to know the reason. And as harsh as this may sound, we’d still want to be able to point the finger of blame at someone.
One day Jesus was traveling and he saw a man who was blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Teacher, who sinned? Was it this man or his parents that he was born blind?” Even Jesus’ own disciples wanted to know why.
Of course, it couldn’t have been the sin of the blind man because he was born blind. But was it perhaps because of his parents? This was a common belief back in those days, that blindness, illness, and disease was punishment handed down from God because of sin. And not that this is completely unreasonable logic, because sometimes innocent people are impacted because of other’s sin.
But Jesus told them no, it wasn’t because of his parents. “This happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (v.3)
Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that God allows people to suffer so that He can be glorified through it? That doesn’t sound like a nice God, does it? In fact, that sounds pretty cruel, especially for the people who don’t know God and don’t understand who they are in the light of His righteousness.
But the truth (something we tend to run from these days) is that we humans tend to forget that we are created by a Creator, and His name is God. And all of us tend to overlook how selfish and sinful we are, that even on our best days we are undeserving of God’s grace and mercy, and that the only thing that changes that is the blood that Christ shed for us on the cross at Calvary.
I don’t know about you, but it’s not that often when something good happens to me and my first instinct is to ask God why. I just take that blessing and run with it, as though I somehow deserve it. But when something bad happens? I’m quick with the why and looking up to the sky.
Jesus spit in the dirt and made mud with his saliva, and then rubbed it in the blind man’s eyes. (The humorous side of me can’t help but envision Peter smiling as this is happening, looking over at his fellow disciples and saying to the man, “Hey buddy, how about now? Can you see?) Sorry, couldn’t help myself…
“Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam,” Jesus said. The man did as Jesus told him and for the first time in his life the man could see. “His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, ‘Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?’ Some claimed that he was. Others said, ‘No, he only looks like him.’ But he insisted, ‘I am the man.’ ‘How then were your eyes opened?’ they asked. He replied, ‘The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see” (v.8-11).
The man they called Jesus. The man who restores sight to the blind, in more ways than one.
If just one person in that man’s neighborhood saw what had happened and became saved through faith in Jesus, something tells me that man would consider it an honor to see God glorified. You see, that man didn’t get stuck on his years of suffering.
What might it look like for us if neither did we?
Former Blackout Artist 