As he [Jesus] walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in [through] him.
John 9: 1-3
I come from a culture where someone’s wholeness, physical or mental, is inextricably linked to something that they or someone in their family had done. Western theologists might think better than to believe such a thing, but I rarely hear the explanation along the lines that Jesus gave in any teaching or sermons I have been present at. A difficult subject to speak on I don’t doubt, but not one that isn’t easily broached in a few sentences as Jesus demonstrated.
When Jesus explained that the man’s disability was given to him so that “the works of God might be displayed in him,” he was not only breaking the assumed link in the religious norms of the time, but ushering in a new approach to evangelism for all time. Healed or not, it was the man’s subsequent exchange with the Pharisees which not only showed that his former blindness had nothing to do with sin: ‘God didn’t perform miracles for sinners!’ It provided an early demonstration of the spiritual ‘Gift of Knowledge’ that Jesus could do nothing without God (v31-33): A pronouncement that got the man thrown out of the temple just minutes after being allowed to enter it for the first time as a healed man. And all in the face of what I can only imagine was overwhelming opposition, causing him to be disowned by his family, neighbors and the religious authorities.
As a Christian, disabled from birth, I can relate to this story. Bringing calamity on my family for being born in the first place; and my faith questioned because I’ve not accepted prayer for the physical healing many in faith communities believe I should be seeking is something I have had to live with. Here Jesus makes it clear that disability is neither a curse nor a measure of faith, but a lens through which God’s spiritual gifts to a broken world can be seen and used. In doing so Jesus is getting his disciples to think outside the box by breaking the bonds of generational thinking, challenging the prevailing theological model and daring to do the work of disciple-making differently.
REFLECT…
PRAY…
& STEP OUT
Can a person be made ‘whole’ without physical healing? How does this affect our understanding of the ministry of the church?
For insight into the value of disabled Christians and their the potential they bring to contributing to your community.
“Who sinned?” Jesus implies by this response, “Wrong question guys? What change in your thinking would you make in the light of that?