When something bad happens, I speculate on the cause. The cavities in my teeth result from too much sugar and not enough brushing. My expanding waistline results from too much sugar and not enough exercise. So, I should take a look at my sugar intake, but I’d rather find something else to blame.

Jesus and his disciples walked up on a man born blind. The disciples asked Jesus, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

The disciples revealed a bleak view of God, assuming someone did something bad enough to deserve blindness. It seems ludicrous to question the man himself—what sin might he have committed prior to birth to deserve blindness?

Jesus shut down their ramblings. “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, 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.”

Jesus spit on the ground and rubbed mud into the dead eyes. The man washed off in a nearby pool and returned seeing for the first time. Immediately neighbors and those who knew the man noticed. The ruling council of Pharisees brought him in for questioning. Certainly the work of God shone from him.

Often bad things happen because bad things happen. This world lives under the curse of sin, groaning until the Lord returns to set things right. This child was born blind through no cause of his own or his parents. Our world’s a broken place.

But in this broken place the works of God still shine. The blind man felt the touch of Jesus and experienced light for the first time. I set aside my assumptions and do the work the Lord puts before me. It’s still day, and blind people still need the touch of Jesus.

John 9 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Erika Fletcher