John 9:1-3 1And as he was going away, he saw a man blind from birth. 2And his disciples asked him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, so that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “Neither this man sinned nor his parents, but so that the works of God might be revealed in him.
Chapter 9 continues some of the themes from chapter 8. It opens with a story about light and seeing that builds on Jesus’ statement in 8:12 about being the light. The dialogue or argument with the Jews had ended and Jesus had moved out into the people of Jerusalem. The controversies of chapter 8 have not ended but will only intensify in the following chapters. John is vague about specific times and places except those related to Jewish feasts, so the specific time and location of the following story is not clear. As with all societies, there was a disabled man who was blind from birth. In that time and location, there was not much hope for the blind and lame except to either beg on the streets or rely on the generosity of family.
The disciples look at this man and ask Jesus a loaded question with a strong assumption. They use the title Rabbi both as a sign of respect, but it also reveals how they saw Jesus as a teacher. There is no back story for how the disciples knew the man was born blind, though perhaps the man was a well-known beggar or had the obvious looks of someone who had never seen. The disciples assume the man’s blindness was due to sin. Physical ailments and disabilities can be the result of sin, but as modern science and medicine have shown, people are born with different disabilities for genetic reasons, gestation challenges, and sometimes for no known reason. To the observant Jew of that time, a disability like this only had two causes: either the parents sinned or the man sinned. However, it makes little sense to think the man sinned as an unborn child in the womb that he was born that way. Many Jews also thought that sickness and disabilities are caused by sin, as the story of Job and his friends indicates. The discples’ thinking was wrong in many ways.
Jesus responds in verse 3 by correcting this wrong thinking while also using this as a teaching opportunity for the disciples. His response poses a theological challenge. The first part of this verse is easy to understand and accept. Suffering is not always due to sin. Blindness and other disabilities happen in the fallen world in which we live. The second half of the sentence is the more difficult part. The Greek is in the form of a purpose clause (hina) that shows the reason for the man’s blindness was as a way that God’s mighty power could be seen. Does this mean that God as the sovereign creator is the cause of the blindness? If so, it seems like a cruel way to show his power and love. Is this a timeless truth, that all physical disabilities are caused by God? Or could this be a one-time situation specific for Jesus’ ministry? These questions cannot be answered with certainty because of the mystery of God’s sovereignty and purpose. What Jesus makes clear is that this man’s blindness was not due to sin. God can work in a difficult situation like this to turn it to something that will glorify him.
Those with disabled loved ones or who may be disabled themselves do not have to blame God, themselves, or their parents but can look to God’s plan and purpose for them. We cannot know in this lifetime why certain things happen to us. Sometimes they are accidents or due to genetic abnormalities. One of the most difficult things to do is to trust God when what appears to be bad things happen to us or in our physical bodies. The story continues in the following verse and shows how disable can become God is able.
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