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 was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not
that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be
displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day;
night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the
light of the world.” Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made
mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to
him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed
and came back seeing (John 9:1-7).
The
crowd that followed Jesus was made up of many different people. There were the
proud and the humble, the wealthy and the poor, the prosperous and the needy,
and of course, the saint and the sinner. Jesus, the Living Word, certainly
had His hands full with His mission to reveal the grace and truth of God to the
world… “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through
Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s
side, he has made him known” (John 1:17-18), to raise up crowds of
followers… “And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the
signs that he was doing on the sick” (John 6:2), and to challenge
followers to become disciples by believing in Him and embracing His word… “So
Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are
truly my disciples” (John 8:31). He was persistent. In today’s text the
Holy Spirit inspired John to record an event that accomplished all three of
Jesus’ disciple-making goals. In the way He healed “a man blind from birth”
Jesus invited the crowd to embrace the truth that God’s glory is displayed
in the midst of suffering.
Have
you ever caught yourself in the middle of a difficult time saying or thinking,
why me Lord? Have you pondered the seeming contradiction between the
sovereignty and goodness of God and the suffering of humankind? Join the crowd.
But keep in mind, there are both followers and disciples in the crowd.
Followers demand that God act swiftly on behalf of the needy. If He does not
heal the sick, deliver the oppressed, or meet the needs of the needy, followers
are quick to demean, doubt, or desert Christ. Disciples on the other hand are
confident in Christ’s ability and desire to show the glory of God in every
situation… “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee,
and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11).
Disciples are hungry to know Him better and therefore see trials as
opportunities to know Jesus on a deeper level and they wait for Him to answer
their prayers… “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Disciples
see every trial as an opportunity to increase faith, and Jesus taught that God’s
glory is seen through the faith of His disciples in the midst of their
suffering… “Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed
you would see the glory of God?’” (John 11:40).
In
today’s text Jesus revealed the glory, grace, and truth of God by healing a man’s
life-long disease… “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but
that the works of God might be displayed in him”. In today’s text Jesus
gathered crowds to witness the glory of God by sending the man to, “Go,
wash in the pool of Siloam”. The man went away from Jesus still blind.
He could not even identify the man who healed him, but hundreds saw and followed
the man born blind being led to the pool called Sent and returning again to
Jesus completely healed as, “he went and washed and came back seeing”?
Finally, Jesus challenged what followers believed about the relationship between
sin and suffering. He confronted them with the truth that not all suffering is
the direct result of sin… “It was not that this man sinned, or his
parents”. Jesus echoed the truth that even the righteous suffer… “Many
are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all”
(Psalm 34:19). The Spirit reveals the truth that even the Son of God
suffered, and He learned obedience through His suffering… “Although he
was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).
In today’s text Jesus invited followers to become disciples who reveal His
glory by trusting Him through their own suffering and by serving others who
suffer… “That the works of God might be displayed in him”.
As we grow
up into Christ our faith grows and we learn to serve others through
suffering because…
God’s Glory is Displayed in the
Midst of Suffering.
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