[This is a repost while I am away on leave]
My children are great at blaming me for whatever goes wrong in their world. A recent example of this has to do with the polystyrene plane that our dog chewed up. Now my kids enjoyed playing with this plane, it flies really well, and it is a great toy. However, it is also part of their responsibility to make sure they put away the toys they play with. On this particular day, for whatever reason, the kiddos left the plane outside on the lawn and our new dog thought it looked like a wonderful chew toy. Long story short, when I came home in the afternoon I found a very happy dog and a very deformed plane. When the kids found out their plane had been destroyed, I was told that it was my fault the plane got destroyed, because I bought the dog. Now while I appreciate the kind of cold logic that sat behind that thought, their conclusion missed the mark. They failed to take into account the whole picture. Now the disciples do something similar in our text today when they draw a direct connection between suffering and sin. Let’s have a look.
Scripture Reference: John 9:1-7 (ESV)
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
So we find Jesus and the disciples walking along and they see a blind man. Now the disciple’s understanding of suffering is that suffering is directly connected to sin. So they ask Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”. They’re convinced someone is at fault. We see this same kind of faulty understanding in other places in the Bible too. In the story of Job for example Job’s friends make the same mistake, and they keep trying to convince Job that it was his sin that caused all his suffering.
Sadly this kind of thinking is still present even today. How many testimonies have you heard of the hurt and damaged caused by well-meaning Christians who tell other suffering believers that the reason they have cancer or sickness is because they have unrepentant sin in their lives? I think that directly connecting sin to suffering is a mark of spiritual immaturity. It fails to take the whole picture into account. I think we tend to want to do this because it makes us feel better about ourselves (“If I don’t have suffering then it must mean I am fine with God”), or maybe we do it so we can feel in control of life (“If I just repent of my sins, then I can prevent suffering from coming my way”).
But Jesus corrects this line of thought. “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him”. Do you see what Jesus is saying? He shows his disciples that God has a purpose in this man’s suffering. This man suffers not because he is being cosmically punished by God, but because his suffering has purpose. His suffering has set the scene to showcase God’s glory.
I think that is the spiritually mature way to see suffering. It sets the scene for us to glorify God. We can get so stuck asking “Why is this happening to me?” when we could instead be asking “What is God doing through this?” or “How can God be glorified in this?”.
Where do we get the power to do this well? In Christ Jesus. He is the one who took on our sin and suffered in our place and through his suffering brought great glory to God. When we suffer we are united with Jesus in a way that not suffering never could. Suffering shapes us to be more like Jesus more powerfully than perhaps anything else.
And because Jesus suffered for us, we can in turn suffer well for him.
Prayer
Lord, I confess that I am not good at thinking about and living with suffering. Help me see that I can glorify you through my suffering. Help me look to the cross for the power and strength to suffer well.
Spiritual Challenge
Today, when you go through something difficult, ask God how you can glorify him through the experience.
Revealing God’s glory through suffering