Who sinned that he was born blind?
Tue, 19 December, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.
1 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. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
The disciples saw a man who was born blind, and they are puzzled. They thought that all suffering is a direct result of sin. So, there must have been some terrible sin to cause God to strike this man with blindness. But how could a child sin that badly before birth? Maybe the sin was by one of the parents. And so they ask Jesus to settle this mystery. They ask Him, Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?
But Jesus doesn’t accept their premise that all sin is a direct result of someone’s sin, and so He tells them the man’s blindness is not due to the parents sin, nor the man’s sin. Instead, the man’s blindness is so that God’s work could be displayed to the world.
What do we learn from this?
Not all suffering is the consequence of sin. We can’t assume every time something bad happens to a person, that is the sign that the person is guilty of some sin. This faulty idea is not unique to the disciples. Job’s friends also believed the same thing, and I dare say that quite a few people today believe the same thing.
But the really surprising thing here is that God sometimes allows suffering so that He might show forth His own glory. God can take situations of pain and evil and use them for His own glory (and, according to Romans 8:28, to the good of His people).
Where is Christ in this passage?
This man’s blindness was intended for God’s glory as Jesus Christ would heal him. And even today we know about the power of God as displayed by Jesus Christ in the healing of this blind man.
