032220 Who Sinned?

 John 9:1-7 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ² And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁶ 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 ⁷ and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

It is very natural for us to ask the same question the disciples asked when we see bad things happening, especially when they happen to good people. Who caused this? Was it the sins of the parents? Or is it possible that this man sinned even before he was born? These questions are based on the belief that many people still hold that God punishes us for someone else’s wrongdoing or He punishes someone else because we had done wrong. God is a better shot than that. He will not hurt an innocent person to get to you or to make your life more miserable.

The people in Jesus’ crowd knew the Old Testament really well. They would have known that the law of Moses said, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.” (Deuteronomy 24:16)

This shows very clearly that each person is responsible for their own actions and not for the actions of others. Yet people continue to hold such opinions against all good sense. Perhaps a child would become very sick, or even pass away, and the parents would wonder, “What did we do wrong? How did we cause this to happen?” Or, “Why is God punishing us?” This places a lot of responsibility on the parents. In such a situation I can say that I do not know why the child was sick, or even died. The older I get the more often I have to say, “I do not know!” when I am asked, “Why?” about most anything. My opinion, of course, does not change the situation in any way at all.

There are things that we are responsible for. These are always things that we had some choice in. If we did what caused the bad thing that happened then we are responsible to that degree. For instance, when someone becomes addicted to drugs or alcohol and has an automobile accident resulting in someone else’s injury, or death, then they have responsibility for that action. But, if they are doing the very best they can with a clear head driving down the road and someone pulls in front of them and there is a collision resulting in someone else’s injury, or death, it is not their fault! It was an accident and no one should ever be grieved over it as though they had caused it to happen.

With regard to the man born blind in John chapter 9, many people hold the opinion that God allowed this man to be born blind so Jesus could heal him! There were many blind people in the land during Jesus days. He did not have to cause someone to be born blind. If the point of the story is to simply heal the man there are many people already blind who could have been healed by Jesus. Possibly the questions of responsibility were made worse by the fact that the man was born blind.

God did allow the man to be born blind and He could have prevented it. In fact any of the bad things that happen in life could have been prevented by God anytime He chose. At the same time, everything that we see as bad can have a good result. Or, could have happened simply because they happened. 

Some people who believe in God still say that bad things happen to us simply because God doesn’t care one way or the other and it is all circumstantial! It just happened! That would be the view of a person we might call a deist. A deist believes that God is there but is unconcerned about our day-to-day activities. Is it possible that God placed us here and yet does not care about us? Jesus had another way of making this concept go away. Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ³⁰ But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31) There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus is saying that God cares about everything in our life.

We usually do not know how God uses the bad things that come into our lives. We only observe that they happened and usually complain about them. I have wondered many times how much God has protected me from. When someone says that they had difficulty getting to their destination on time, for instance, they may have had engine trouble, or a flat tire, or some such thing, I have learned to say to them, “I wonder what God protected you from?” Once when I was a very young man I was driving alone in the city of Orlando. I turned onto a side road in an industrial area. The building on my right was right up against a railroad spur. If I were talking to a group of young people I would have to explain what a railroad spur is. But I’m pretty sure most of today’s audience knows what I’m talking about. There was no crossing gate, or warning lights, just the railroad track. I didn’t even think about its presence. As I drove forward, without warning, there was a switch engine on the tracks coming my way. It was so close that a railroad worker who was standing on the front of the engine ran towards the back because he was sure I was about to be crushed. Had I been one or two seconds later there is no doubt in my mind I would’ve died that day. God had other plans for my life and I arrived at that spot just in time to clear the train. I’ve often thought about that experience. I would like to say that it made a much safer driver out of me but I doubt that that’s true. I am sure there were many other times that only a slight difference in my schedule could have resulted in a serious accident. I am glad that we are more valuable than many sparrows.

Now let’s get back to the problem found in John chapter 9. There was no doubt in the minds of Jesus’ disciples that someone sinned in order for the man to be born blind. Almost all translations of the Bible doesn’t help us understand the situation.

The problem is, in the original languages, there were no punctuation. In fact in many of the early copies of the Biblical text there are not even spaces between the words. We would think that would cause real difficulty. It really doesn’t. If you’re accustomed to all the words being together your mind soon sorts them out as you read. Now, with that explanation, let me give you an idea of the passage with a different punctuation.

Rather than saying, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God but be displayed in him.” Let me present it this way, “it was not that this man, or his parents sinned.” By putting the period after the word “sinned” we find Jesus making no opinion about the reason for the man being born blind. Then we go on with a new sentence, “That the works of God might be displayed in him we must work the works of him who sent me…”

No one sinned causing the man to be born blind. But since the man is in front of them, and Jesus has direction from the Father, Jesus was prepared to do the work of God in this situation. Then Jesus healed the man.

Does this mean that Jesus healed every person that He met that was in need? I can answer that very clearly, “No He did not!” How do I know?

Let’s look at a couple of examples. The first is from John’s gospel Chapter 5:2-9. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. ³ In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. ⁵ One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” ⁹ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Parts of this story is difficult question understand. Apparently a five roofed pool was surrounded by invalids. They were there waiting for a stirring in the water.  Some other translations, including the KJV, include some information concerning this stirring all the water. In verse four of the KJV adds “For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.”

Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be healed. In effect the man said that he had no one who would help him into the water. The crowd of similar sick people kept him from the healing. Jesus had looked around at the crowd and in obedience to the Father’s command told him to get up and take his bed and go home

A second example is found in Acts 3. Peter and John were going to the Temple to pray. As they approached the Temple they saw a man who had been lame all his life and who was more than 40 years old. That man was brought to the Temple gate to beg every day. If he came there every day, and we know he did because the Bible says so, Jesus would have seen him many times.

I have often imagined to myself what Jesus might have done as he approached the man. I think that every time Jesus saw a need he immediately consulted the Father. It might’ve gone something like this, “Father, do you want to heal this man now?” To which God the Father might have replied, “Not now.” You see God had a plan that involved this man. Who, like all of us, was worth more than many sparrows. God intended that Peter and John would be the instruments He used to bring healing to the man. Jesus left lots of work for His disciples to do by the power of God after He was gone.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.