I had this sort of humorous, kind of ironic moment, last week, when I wrote the wrong commentary! However, it was the right commentary for today, so there's that... John 9...
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We all struggle with the problem of evil—particularly
in light of pain and suffering, perhaps most visibly when the pain and
suffering are unmerited. We want
answers. When we read about “a man blind
from birth,”[i] we
want to know why. But we’re not looking
for medical explanations. The question
is not how did this happen but, instead, why does the world have to be this
way.
Historically, the religious community had it all
figured out. Pain and suffering were the
result of sin. Even today, many religious
communities offer the same answer. Pain
and suffering are consequences of the fall.
Humanity somehow deserves this anguish.
Suck it up and realize that this is the way the world works. Admittedly, sometimes this makes sense.
But in this case?
When we’re presented with a man who was blind before he took his first
breath? What could he have possibly done
to deserve such a lot? Did he sin? Was it his parents? The disciples are working from a
cut-and-dried, cause-and-effect philosophy.
It certainly affects their theodicy, which in turn affects their
theology. Lucky for them, God incarnate
is standing in their midst. Perhaps
Jesus can clear this up, since he’s right there.
Jesus immediately offers some incredibly upside-down
teaching. The Pharisees, and even the
disciples, assume that the blind man is steeped in sin from birth, or at the
very least his parents have caused this great calamity, because this is all
they’ve ever known. But Jesus sees this
altogether differently. In fact, as this
passage comes to a close, Jesus declares, “If you were blind,
you would not be guilty of sin; but
now that you claim you can see, your
guilt remains.”[ii] Well, that surely throws a wrench in things…
Jesus takes a severe deficit and
turns it into an asset. Being born blind
is not the problem. Jesus can work with
that: Jesus can even squeeze something good out of it (and he does). As the disciples seek the rationale behind
this tragedy, Jesus redirects their attention to the ways in which, “the works
of God might be displayed…”[iii]
I got a little caught up in verses 3-5… and I didn’t
originally write about this in the commentary, but I think it’s something worth
talking about.
We have these words, “Neither this
man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in
him. 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.”[iv]
And then Jesus goes on with the
miraculous healing.
I read in another commentary that
in verse three, there may be an ellipsis, and I use ellipses ad nauseam in my
writing, so this struck a chord. If
that’s the case, instead of, “but this happened so that the works of God might
be displayed in him,” we might have, “but this happened (dot… dot… dot…
ellipsis… appropriate pause, wait for it…) Jesus takes a deep breath and
continues, “so… that the works of God might be displayed in him…” and then the
rest.
It’s not necessarily a cause and
effect statement. Instead, this may be
Jesus giving voice to the fact that genuine evil, suffering, and pain are
present in the world, but this is not orchestrated by God. Instead, these things exist outside of what
God actually wants, but God is still somehow able to bring some good out of
them.
The man is blind. OK.
God can heal that. Here’s some
dirt and some spit (perhaps reminiscent of God’s creative work in the
beginning). Go wash yourself (oh, that I
had time to consider how this might relate to baptism and initiation into the
people of God). Sight… Restoration… Redemption… It’s all there. But, of course, this is not the end of the
story. The trouble has just begun…
In truth, on the heels of this
beautiful account of renewal, the rest of John 9 is at least a little bit
exasperating!
The fact that the Pharisees don’t
believe the previously blind man’s story is par for the course, albeit
frustrating. This is the way of the
Pharisees, who are often portrayed as attempting to catch people in their words,
to manipulate the narrative. It should
come as no great surprise to us when the Pharisees question the man about Jesus
and determine this miraculous act must not be ascribed to God. We should expect the Pharisees to attempt to
discredit the man and his story, his very identity.
But neighbors who have presumably
known this blind beggar for his entire life are suddenly unsure whether or not
it is him, at all! It’s somehow easier
to believe he might be a completely different person than to accept a
miraculous account. And the previously
blind man’s own parents? We are told
that they are afraid.[v] Undoubtedly, they have already lost much,
because the Jewish community has likely blamed their son’s affliction on the
sins of the parents. They can’t risk
being kicked out of the Synagogue, altogether.
The people (the blind man’s
people!) go silent.
The man who has been healed,
however, takes the chance. His
experience with Jesus speaks to the truth of who Jesus is, which is,
ironically, exactly what the Pharisees ask for when they assert that he must, “Give
glory to God by telling the truth,” (δὸς δόξαν τῷ Θεῷ).[vi] In the Greek language used here, the
Pharisees are not looking for praise or adoration of God but for a factual
account, a truthful testimony. Later, Jesus will allude to the issue of
spiritual blindness, but as I re-read this passage I stopped to wonder whether
the problem might be more directly linked to ears than eyes. The Pharisees refuse to listen to the report
for which they asked. Although it is
difficult to argue with first hand encounters, it is not impossible. They can claim that the man lied. They can claim that the work of Jesus is
outside the scope of what may be acceptably accomplished on the Sabbath. But they cannot take the man’s newfound
sight. His sight is worth alienation
from those who blamed him for his own
suffering. In the end, he is rejected, but having lived his whole
life as a blind beggar, this is nothing new.
He can see! The Pharisaical
religious community has nothing to offer him that trumps this new reality.
The man’s final words to the
Pharisees speak volumes regarding who now has the upper hand:
Now
that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he
opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to
the godly
person who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of
opening the
eyes of a man born blind.
If this man were not
from God, he could do
nothing.[vii]
The Pharisees have lost their power
in this man’s life. Even though they subsequently insult him,
judge him, and kick him out; it hardly matters.
When Jesus hears about the man’s rejection, he finds him. Jesus cares about his story. Jesus has already made a remarkable
difference in the man’s life. The
Pharisees didn’t listen to him, but God did.
Their claims are void.
So, back to the problem of evil…
We don’t partner with God to
alleviate the pain and suffering in the world when we neglect to listen to the
other; to attentively discern who is speaking, what he or she has experienced, what
great needs exist, and what we might
learn from their narratives. In this passage, Jesus offers us the ultimate
example of how to work redemptively in the world. Perhaps the next time we are tempted to ask,
“Why does the world have to be this way,” we should consider an
alternative.
Perhaps we are the answer… not the cause, but the solution—God’s agents of change, working together to realize the
inbreaking Kingdom.
L.
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