John 9:1-7, CEB
As Jesus walked along, he saw a man who was blind from birth. Jesus’ disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned so that he was born blind, this man or his parents?”
Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents. This happened so that God’s mighty works might be displayed in him. While it’s daytime, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” After he said this, he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and smeared the mud on the man’s eyes. Jesus said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (this word means sent). So the man went away and washed. When he returned, he could see.
This is the beginning of a longer section of John that needs to be taken into account as we talk about smaller chunks of the larger whole. The healing of this blind man is the subject of the following discussions that continue into chapter 10. But even before the healing occurs, an important question is asked of Jesus by His disciples. The question stems from a common belief held at the time that one struck by an ailment such as blindness is being punished for sin. Often, the question surrounding the ailment was whether the sin was the responsibility of the one afflicted or their parents/ancestors. So Jesus’ disciples simply ask a question aloud that many would have pondered silently.
Jesus’s answer probably has contributed greatly to the now common belief that asking such a question is ludicrous – God doesn’t send afflictions to indiscriminately punish sinners. If God did so, we might all be blind. Jesus rejects the question altogether – it is not sin that has caused the blindness. Further, Jesus does not diagnose the cause. He implies that, regardless of the cause, the result will be for God’s glory.
It’s important for us not to universalize this story. Just as every person born blind isn’t healed, neither is every ailment experienced by humanity end in glory. It is this man and this particular healing that will teach us more deeply about the ways of God. So let us listen over the next several reflections as Jesus teaches us.
It should be noted here that this man doesn’t asked to be healed. The reality is he doesn’t even speak before Jesus restores His sight. He is a passive recipient of the healing just as Jesus has confirmed that he had no part of bringing the ailment upon himself in the first place. In telling us the story this way, John is telling us that what is important here is not the restoration of sight itself, but what it represents, that is important. This is the sixth of Jesus’ seven signs given in John. Each is given to reveal more fully who Jesus is. Who Jesus is the question being answered, not who the blind man is.
For now, let us hear this. God is not an arbitrary punisher of people who have done wrong. That idea is not only refuted here but in several other places in scripture. Though many can’t shake the idea even now in modern times that their misfortune is somehow God’s response to their shortcomings, this belief is not supported by Jesus. We are invited to see Jesus as the source of good things – living water, the bread of life, everlasting life, truth, and now light – not condemnation and punishment. If punishment is the voice you hear in your head, please know that the voice does not belong to Jesus.
Question: Have you ever thought you were being punished by God for your mistakes?
Prayer: Help us O Lord to know that Your true disposition towards us is love, not condemnation, eternal life, not death, and healing, not eternal affliction. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray for those who are afflicted by disabilities today.
Song: In My Life, Be Glorified – Bob Kilpatrick
Weekday Word w/ Eric 
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