John 9:1-5, A Man Born Blind

1As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

The ninth chapter of John consists of one story and is the most unified in his gospel. The story is the miraculous healing of a blind man on the Sabbath and its setting is a continuation of the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus' disciples are looking for a simple theology of suffering, expecting Jesus to lay the blame of the man's blindness since birth on the prenatal sin of this man or his parents. Jesus says, however, it is neither but is a work of God for their benefit, and what they should do is to look at him for understanding because he is the light of the world.

The Bible is clear that we live in a fallen world afflicted by sin, suffering, and death. Occasionally, suffering is tied directly to one's sin. Yet here Jesus says the man was born blind so that Jesus can work a miracle and produce yet another sign of his divinity. This situation is like that of Job, where his friends try and blame him for committing some sin that led to all his misfortunes. Here Jesus will simply have nothing to do with this kind of shallow theology, one that is more like the concept of karma in which a person has to work out the consequences of his or her actions. Instead, he says to his disciples, "Focus on me." Bishop Leslie Newbigin concludes, "We can 'make sense' of a dark world only by believing in the one who came to be the 'light of the world.'"

O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, you are our only help in time of need. Visit and relieve those who suffer today for whom our prayers are desired. Look upon them with your eyes of mercy. Comfort them with your goodness and preserve them with patience during their affliction. In your good time and for your glory, restore all for whom we pray to health and unto salvation, and grant that finally each may dwell with you in life everlasting through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.