John 9:1-7
Find a place and time free of distractions for the next 7-10 minutes. Sit comfortably and breathe deeply for a few seconds before you begin. If you haven’t read the Introduction to John’s Gospel, read it here.
Today’s passage is the first section of the story of Jesus’ healing of a man born blind. Read John 9:1-7 paying particular attention to the disciple’s questions and Jesus’ answer.
Life in a world gone wrong is often hard. Inevitably we will all encounter sadness, illness, relational disruption, meanness, injustice and ultimately death. The man born without sight did nothing to deserve his condition, and his blindness had nothing to do with his parent’s behavior. He is simply living in world wrecked by rebellion against God’s good and perfect ways.
The disciples have a faulty view of suffering and hardship. They believe that it must be the result of sinful behavior. While it is true that sin, or rebellion, distorted God’s good ways and unleashed evil into the world along with the consequences of evil – sickness, war, broken relationships, and the like – it is not always true that a direct correlation exists between an individual’s sinful behavior and their suffering.
Stop to contemplate this for a moment. When you suffer or face difficulty, what or who are you likely to blame?
Read John 9:1-7 again imagining that you are the blind man.
Try to imagine what it would be like to have been sightless your entire life. Your other senses would probably be sharper, so you would be able to hear the conversation about the source of your blindness. What would it feel like to listen to people talk about you in your presence as if you were not able to hear?
The disciples are blind to the full humanity of this man, but Jesus sees him clearly. Jesus smears mud over the man’s sightless eyes and then sends him to a pool (the name of which means “sent”) to wash away his blindness along with the mud. Stay with this image for a moment and see if you sense any message in Jesus’ actions.
God is a God of redemption whose ultimate plan is to illuminate the darkness of a sin-sick world and set all things right. In the light of Jesus our suffering and hardships become vehicles for God’s redemptive power to be displayed either through God’s intervention or through our faith-filled response to difficult circumstances.
For the last minutes of this meditation, get quiet and acknowledge the presence of Jesus with you. Then contemplate and discuss this question with Jesus: How is Jesus sending you to be a witness to his redemption and light through your difficulties?
Write down anything that comes to mind and begin to take action today.
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