This is the account of Jesus healing a man who had been blind from birth. In this brief passage, there are three significant misconceptions that we must address.
Seeing the blind man, the disciples asked, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”. This question assumes that the answer must be one or the other. Behind this inquiry lies a basic premise regarding God’s justice and power. As we all know, there is a cause and effect for everything, and the God who rules the world is absolutely just and almighty. Thus, the understanding is that good causes should lead to good results, and evil causes to evil results. In the case of this blind man, since an “evil” result was evident, their logic dictated that someone’s sin must have been the cause. However, looking a step deeper, any answer based on this logic is irrational. If it were his own sin, how could an unborn life commit a sin?. If it were his parents’ sin, why should an innocent baby have to suffer the unjust punishment of blindness for a choice they didn’t make?.
It is true that God is just and almighty. However, it is also true that there are countless misfortunes and absurdities in this world that we cannot understand or explain by the law of cause and effect. Since the Fall of humanity, not only has human nature been distorted, but nature itself has been out of joint. By God’s grace, humans are being partially saved, and nature is being partially restored. Yet, God’s salvation is not yet complete. One day, the Lord Jesus Christ will return and bring salvation to completion. Until then, as Paul states, “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21, NIV). Living in a distorted world among distorted people, incomprehensible misfortune and absurdity can occur, even if they aren’t necessarily anyone’s fault.
To the disciples’ question, Jesus replied, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3, NIV). This answer can lead to a second misunderstanding: Does God use human misfortune as a tool to flaunt His own glory?. Being born blind is a tremendous misfortune from a human perspective. If such a great suffering is used merely as a momentary tool to show how good and glorious God is, then that person’s life feels utterly futile.
Of course, this is not the case. God’s glory is not so trivial. It is not the kind of glory that He barely receives by performing a “show” of healing a man after making him blind—much like the character Nolbu in Korean folklore who broke a swallow’s leg just to fix it. Rather, if our spirituality is awake, it means we can find God’s glory in every situation, even in those that appear evil.
Now, Jesus heals the blind man. However, the process is somewhat messy and cumbersome. He spits on the ground, makes some mud with the saliva, puts it on the man’s eyes, and tells him to go wash in the Pool of Siloam. This process triggers a third misunderstanding. Why use such an unconventional method when He could have just spoken a word?. When this happens, many people begin to study the efficacy of Jesus’ saliva, the components of the mud, or the pharmacological effects of the Siloam water. This is all in vain. Jesus simply wants obedience. He seems to expect obedience to be like the “priming water” for a miracle. A rational miracle might require only rational obedience. However, a miracle that transcends rationality may require obedience that also transcends rationality. (I say “may require” because this isn’t necessarily a fixed law; we cannot bind spiritual matters into human rules). Consider the miracle where Jesus turned water into wine. He first required the obedience of fetching water before making the wine. The water was the “priming water” for the wine. In any case, the content of obedience required is very individual, so one case cannot be substituted for another. Therefore, we should not try to apply specific methods other than holding onto the broad principle of “obedience”.
Once these three misunderstandings are resolved, the conclusion becomes clear: “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:4-5, NIV) . While there is time, I must do what I can to reveal God’s glory. In every situation, there is room to work in this way. If a man born blind had the opportunity to live that way, then we certainly do as well . Rather than dwelling on the conditions and clinging to the question of “Why?”, we should consider “How” we can display God’s glory in the midst of it all.