John 9:1-12
“Notice what you notice.” It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. (v. 3) This verse intrigued me, but not in the sense in which it was written. That is, the following verse seems to explain that the man was blind so that Jesus could heal him – We must work the works of Him who sent Me… (v. 4) That never made sense to me, that a man could be blind from birth until adulthood just so Jesus’ works could be displayed. So there must be some confusion there.
However, as I read that verse this time, what I saw was that each of us is created exactly as we are so that the works of God might be displayed… in US! We know that we all have gifts that are to be used to God’s glory, so it must be the case that we also have handicaps or limitations that are to reflect His glory. None of us is perfect – not in our physical, mental, or emotional makeup. But we move on in spite of those shortcomings. Isn’t it strange that so often when we see the phrase “in spite of”, it is used to reflect something that someone has done “in spite of” his or her physical limitations?! For example, she ran the marathon in spite of wearing a cast on her foot to heal a broken ankle.
But more to the point, to reflect God’s glory… Carol and I once met an old man who had terrible tremors that he had had for many years. As I recall, he may have been a preacher or a missionary. However, in spite of his tremors, the markings in his Bible were perfect – straight underlines, words written perfectly legibly!! This man reflected God’s glory – in spite of his handicap!
We are made just as we are, folks, to reflect God’s glory, in both our gifts and our limitations. GLORY!!
I really appreciate the thought it was simply the man as he was, that would display the works of God, presumably both before and after his healing. I too couldn’t imagine God creating a disability so that Jesus could heal it.
I also picked up on: “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” After his resurrection, I think he means that he turns this over to believers to be that light – US.
I must respectfully disagree with fudging what Scripture actually says in order to fit our preconceived notions of how God “should” be — that we can’t imagine God doing this or that, even though Scripture explicitly states that He does. We’re dead set on a notion of “free will” so we do mental gymnastics and twist the Scriptures to work around the LORD’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, directly contrary to Exodus 7:3, 9:12, 10:20, 10:27, 11:10, 14:4, 14:8, 14:17, as well as Romans 9:14-18. We don’t like the notion of a God who actually causes disabilities, so we ignore Exodus 4:11 and twist John 9:3.
Let’s not “create God in our image.” Let’s not make Him out to be something other than Who He says He is. Let’s not elevate our reasoning and our “modern sensibilities” above His Word. Let’s not bow down to a false “God” just because that “God” makes us more comfortable. Instead let us submit ourselves and our understanding — uncomfortable as it may be — to the Truth of Scripture.
Don’t get me wrong. I do not particularly like the notion of disabilities coming directly from God’s hand. It’s much easier to blame such things on sin — either the sins of “this man or his parents” or the general state of sin in a fallen world. But the fact remains that God is ultimately sovereign over all. It takes humility and real faith to recognize the enormous reality of evil in the world and yet trust God to deal with it in His own way and in His own time.