Why Oh Why Do We Humans Have Afflictions As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind? Jesus answered, It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world. When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, Is not this the one who used to sit and beg? Others were saying, This is he, still others were saying, No, but he is like him. He kept saying, I am the one. So they were saying to him, How then were your eyes opened? He answered, The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, Go to Siloam and wash; so I went away and washed, and I received sight. They said to him, Where is He? He said, I do not know. They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind. Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see. Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath. But others were saying, How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs? And there was a division among them. So they said to the blind man again, What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes? And he said, He is a prophet. The Jews then did not believe it of him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, and questioned them, saying, Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see? His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself. His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, He is of age; ask him. So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner. He then answered, Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. So they said to him, What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes? He answered them, I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you? They reviled him and said, You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from. The man answered and said to them, Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing. They answered him, You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us? So they put him out. Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, Do you believe in the Son of Man? He answered, Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him? Jesus said to him, You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped Him. And Jesus said, For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind. Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, We are not blind too, are we? Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, We see, your sin remains. (John 9:1-41 NASB) * There are so many incredible lessons in this chapter! * So the man was born blind and so Jesus disciples asked Jesus, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind? First, if the man was born blind, how did the disciples think his sin caused his blindness (unless they were unaware that he was born blind). I think most educated people today would think the question the disciples asked Jesus was kind of silly and would know that it wasnt anyones fault that the man was born blind because people today know and understand what physical blindness is. Its a physical condition. But...there are many afflictions that we humans can experience that are not understood and not so easily diagnosed and I believe our human nature wants to assign fault to those who are afflicted simply because we dont understand. So I believe what Jesus answer can apply to many different afflictions we humans may be having to endure, including emotional, mental, social, etc: * Jesus answered, It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. * Perhaps we experience various afflictions in our lives in order to display the works of God! Perhaps its not a miraculous healing that Jesus wants to display through our afflictions but perhaps it is to show how we can love and accept each other even when it is difficult, or maybe it is to show how Gods Spirit can give us the ability to persevere and be hopeful even in the face of pain that does not seem to want to go away, or maybe God wants to show how His Spirit can enable us to forgive others when they seriously wrong us, judge us, ostracize us, and misrepresent us, or maybe God wants to display what faith looks like when people truly believe that when we die, we are going to heaven, or maybe God wants to use our affliction to educate people about our very affliction so we can all understand and help others who are afflicted with the same affliction we are afflicted with, etc. * To be continued...
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 13:15:51 +0000
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