"As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him." John 9:1-3
One of the hardest things in life is suffering that we both experience and see in those we love both in terms of intensity and duration. I am asked frequently about this issue. Why is this happening to me or why is this person suffering?
How do I answer this deep question? What would I do as a pastor if I had to face these things with a Bible that said nothing about it? What if all I could do is think up ideas on my own about suffering and disability? What if all I had was human opinions? I thank God that this is not our condition. The Bible is permeated with suffering and sorrow. This is one of the reason why I love the bible so much and what makes it so believable and applicable to my daily life. The bible is filled with things that God has said and done to shed light on suffering and sorrows.
In John 9 Jesus sees a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples ask about the cause of the blindness. They say in verse 2, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" In other words, what is the cause of this blindness? The man’s sin? Or the parents’ sin? Is this blindness a punishment for the parents’ sin or a punishment for his own sin, some kind of inherited sinfulness already in the womb?
The disciples assume a direct correlation between a specific sin and the man’s disability. Either he sinned in the womb of his mother, or his parents sinned. The disciples have reduced his suffering to two possible options. In logic we call it a false dilemma, an either /or proposition Those are the two explanations the disciples can think of. The notion that sin is the cause of suffering has been perpetuated through the years in many segments of the church. Even if this is not taught directly by the church, those who suffer often feel it is projected upon them by other Christians who delight in identifying the cause of their affliction. And even if we don’t hear this view from others it is a perspective that we hear continually from within ourselves. This kind of thinking is not unlike the way Job’s three friends thought about suffering.
Jesus rejects both of them. So Jesus answers their question, but the answer he gives is not about the human who the blindness came from, but what it is leading to. Jesus turns the question around and says, in effect, human causes are not decisive in explaining things that are happening to us. The purpose of God is what really matters.. Verse 3, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents [human causes], but that the works of God might be displayed in him [God’s purpose].”
The reason past causes are not the ultimate explanation for suffering is because God is not ultimately a responder to suffering but ultimately a planner in suffering. I do not understand all of this and I know that it raises many questions. As Deuteronomy 29:29 says, "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever". But it seems to me that Jesus is saying that God is not ultimately responding to human causes for suffering. He is ultimately planning a purpose.
The implication of this for your life is profound. No matter what mess you’re in or what pain you’re in, the causes of that mess and that pain are not decisive in explaining it. What is decisive in explaining it is God’s purpose. If God foresaw and permitted a conception that he knew would produce blindness, then He must have reasons for this permission and those reasons are called His purposes, His designs, His plans.Exodus 4:11 and Psalm 139:13 say, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?’” “You formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” Job 42:2 says, "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted". Psalm 138:8, "The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me." Proverbs 19:21, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand". Isaiah 14:27, "For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?".
God never has met a child from whom he had no plan. There are no accidents in God’s mind or hands. Now I am not saying that there are not causes to to our suffering. We know some of the things that happen are our fault and some of them not. Ultimately, suffering came into the world because of sin. That’s plain from Genesis 3 and Romans 5:12-14; 8:18–25. If there never had been sin, there never would have been suffering. But... it seems to me that Jesus is saying that those causes are not decisive in determining the meaning of whatever suffering is going on in your life. “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (verse 3).
God’s purpose for your mess and your pain will be for a good purpose. It will be worth everything you must endure. We know this is true because God says so. Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
When Jesus says, the purpose of this blindness is “that the works of God might be displayed in him,” He assumes the manifestation of the works of God, has a value that outweighed for the man who Jesus healed, years and years of blindness; both for the man and his parents. That truth is that suffering can only have ultimate meaning in relation to God. Jesus says that the purpose of the blindness is to put the work of God on display. This means that for our suffering to have ultimate meaning, God must be supremely valuable to us. More valuable than health and life.
Many things in the Bible make no sense until God becomes your supreme treasure. For Jesus, blindness from birth is sufficiently explained by saying: God intends to display some of his glory through this blindness. In this case, it happens to be healing, the glory of God’s power to heal. But there is nothing that says that it always has to be healing. When Paul cried out three times for his thorn in the flesh to be healed, Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). I will put my power on display, not by healing you, but by sustaining you. In other words, healing grace displays the works of God in John 9, and sustaining grace displays the works of God in 2 Corinthians 12. What is common in the two cases is the supreme value of the glory of God. The blindness is for the glory of God; the thorn in the flesh is for the glory of God. The healing is for his glory, and the non-healing is for his glory
In order to embrace that, we have to believe in our hearts and minds that the manifestation of the works and glory of God is of more value than in the case of the man who suffered blindness, we value seeing. Indeed, more than we value life itself.Psalm 63:3 says, “Your steadfast love is better than life.” And Jesus said to the prisoners in Smyrna, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). Being loved by God, and being with God forever, is better than having eyes and better than being alive in this world. If we don’t believe that, then saying that God has wise and good purposes in all our losses, will be an empty and meaningless truth and not be much comfort in our present suffering. But if we do believe it, not only will God’s purposes comfort us and strengthen us, but they will make us able to patiently, and gently help others through their times of darkness.
I pray you will ponder this deeply, reverently, and prayerfully so that you will be a living manifestation of the works and glory of God as you endure suffering and trials.
Pastor Bill
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