May 28, 2023
Suffering
“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.’” John 9:1-3 (NASB)
Suffering is common to human life. We may not know why. Other times we know the source of suffering but still have no control. We still ask the “why” question though. Questions like this are asked daily. We don’t know the answers, but Jesus does. The disciples questioned Jesus about the blind man source of blindness, and He answer them. He helped the disciples understand His purpose of being on earth. It would be more than just another miracle too.
“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?” These questions were not asked in ignorance by the disciples. The reality of judgement for sin in a person’s life wasn’t an unknown concept to the Jew. Judgment could be carried from parents producing judgment into the third and fourth generations. This thought came from Exodus 20:5, “…for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,” It couldn’t have been the man’s personal sin either that brought forth the judgment because he was “blind from birth.” MacArthur explains some other possibilities: “There are times when children are forced to suffer the natural consequences of their parents’ sinful choices. For example, the eyes of babies born to women who have gonorrhea can become infected when they pass through the birth canal. If the babies’ eyes are not treated medically after birth, blindness can result. A baby’s health can also be negatively affected by the mother’s smoking, excessive drinking. or substance abuse during pregnancy.”[1] Then there are other times where apparent judgment is seen in Scripture. In the Book of Job we see Job’s alleged friends ideas about his alleged sin(s). What was seen as judgment was allowed by God for a purpose. The journey Job took brought him into a deeper understanding of God.
The disciples’ questions are the same type of questions we ask today. We try to assign blame for suffering. Borchert says, “Human beings generally seek for answers or a rationale that can help them deal with the hard questions of pain, suffering, and evil. Like most confused human beings, the disciples assumed that the problem would be more tolerable if they could probe the questions of why. Accordingly, they sought to assign blame for the man’s unhappy state in life.”[2] Today we do the same thing. We want to assign blame for the suffering. We see it is an unrighteous act against a righteous person, and we want to become judge. This is a totally unbiblical stance. We aren’t. The Bible tells us “… there is none righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10). We are unrighteous, and there is only One who is righteous. There is also another way to look at this too. The late Howard Hendricks said once, “Without adversity, few will grow.” But in this case, Jesus had another reason, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” Jesus had a greater purpose for meeting this man… “so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
[1] (John MacArthur, 2006),391-392.
[2] Gerald L. Borchert, John 1–11, vol. 25A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 312.