Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”
This is one of the horrible theologies that I’ve heard, since becoming the caregiver of someone with a significant brain disease. What did they do to deserve this? Was it drugs? Maybe it was the sins of their mother! She had a sordid past, and certainly sinned. Or maybe it was a sin in their upbringing?
As someone involved in the upbringing of my loved one, I did worry that it was something we’d done, or not done – things known and unknown. Maybe it’s a sin of a lack of faith. Anyone who’s been through any sort of crisis knows this line of thinking, either because it’s gone through their own head or because others have asked implicating questions.
Neither this man nor his parents sinned. This I’ve understood and held firmly to. But I have struggled with the next part – that God’s works might be revealed in him. Did God make this man blind just so God’s works might be revealed? In this story, Jesus made the blind man see. God’s works were revealed. But what about for my loved one? Or for all of the other people with illness, death, or other crises? If they’re not healed, resurrected, or crisis diverted, where’s God’s works then?
Again, I’m grateful for the accompanying reflection. Brennan Manning writes about ‘ruthless trust’, where we hold on to a trust in God, against all common sense.
He writes “The enormous difficulty of pain, suffering, and evil remains, heartache lingers, and there are certain wounds of the spirit that will never close. . . . However, a fleeting, incomplete glimpse of God’s back—the obscure yet real, penetrating, and transforming experience of his incomparable glory—awakens a dormant trust”
Perhaps God’s glory revealed is that with only a glimpse of God’s back, we are given enough mercy to continue to trust, continue to have faith.
This morning, I’m thinking about the many ways God’s glory is revealed, and how it is revealed through the ‘miasma of pain, suffering and evil’ we live in. God’s glory isn’t always the quick answer of the removal of the pain or suffering, but it’s always there. I just need to be watching.
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