“1As 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.” -John 9:1-7 (ESV)
When you read this passage, what’s the first thought that crosses your mind? The awesomeness of the guy being healed right? Another miracle occurs right before our very eyes (well, in the text at least) and we still miss the point. No, seriously, if that’s what you take away from this passage, you missed everything. If John wanted you to focus on the blind guy, he would have told a story about Jesus having compassion on someone, healing them, forgiving them, and then imploring them to love God and love others, but that’s not the point of John’s story here. In fact, the blind guy doesn’t really even matter in this story. Like, at all.
Knowing that Jesus is a Jewish Rabbi, and that Jewish Rabbis and their disciples are known for asking profound questions, it might be important to start by looking at the question asked in verse 2, “who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Coming from a group of teenage disciples (I know, I know. I’ll explain some other time…), this question makes perfect sense; mankind is a sinful people, God is holy and perfect, things have gone wrong in the world because of our sin, therefore, the man is blind because of his (or his parents’) sin. If Jesus had good Christian theology like we do, He would have said, “YES” and then healed the guy and keep on walking, but he doesn’t. Instead, He says, “NO” and shatters the disciples’ narrow understanding of theology of sin and God’s sovereignty. Yes, the man is a sinner (Romans 2-3), yes, he needs Jesus’ salvation (John 3:16), but no, his physical ailment is not the direct result of past sin, thus bringing God’s judgment on him as punishment for breaking some OT Law.
The reason I think this passage has nothing to do with the blind guy is because of what happens right before this incident. In 8:31-59 two of the most important passages in the entire Gospel of John can be found, “and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (8:32), and “before Abraham was, I Am” (8:58). In the verses following 8:31 Jesus explains the truth of sin: if you commit a sin, you are a slave to it, you are bound by it, and need God’s salvation to be free from it. Man cannot free himself, but is a slave forever, only the Son is free from the slavery of sin and can free the slave. Worse than this, remember David in the Psalms, “…and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:1-5) Once Adam and Eve sinned, the rest of humanity was born in the slave quarters, not in the master’s house and then maybe later sent to the slave quarters as punishment. The first time man sinned, he was kicked out of the house and made to live in a shed out back. That’s what the whole ‘getting kicked out of the Garden’ is all about. We sin against God because we are born in it. So the disciples’ question, “who sinned?” is kind of stupid and irrelevant. Now the next passage, 8:58, is huge for obvious reasons: Jesus is claiming the identity of the I Am from the OT narratives. Before Abraham can claim any sort of existence in this world, Jesus claims eternality as equal with the Father, thus giving himself the title of ‘God.’ So man is born in sin, and a slave to it, and Jesus is God in the flesh, eternal and holy just like the Father in heaven. Now, let’s review the passage again.
Verse 1, the man was blind from birth, so regardless of what sin he commits after he’s born, the blindness is there. Remember Jesus statement in 8:32, “know the truth and it will set you free”? This truth is that man is a slave to sin and only the Son (Jesus) is free. It does not matter whether the blind guy or his parents sinned or not, he was born with it, Jesus has something else on His mind. At first you might be thinking that I’m claiming that Jesus is denying the doctrine of Original Sin because of verse 3, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” I thought this too the first time I read this passage differently, but that’s not what he’s doing. Instead of approaching this text by saying that Jesus will either uphold original sin or deny it, he does the clever Jewish Rabbi thing and creates a new third option, He changes the subject. His response does not address their question, because He doesn’t want to talk about the guy’s sin, not yet anyway.
The point I’m making is this: Jesus knows this man is a sinner, so do the disciples, and the blind guy later in the chapter doesn’t deny this fact about himself. This is irrelevant. It’s not the purpose of the story. The point is that the Father wants to do some amazing things through His Son Jesus and this guy was born blind so that could happen. The Father had a plan for this guy long before he was even born a slave to sin. Jesus was always free, and has never been a slave to sin. He wanted to set the guy free as well.
God is bigger than sin.
God is bigger than your sin, even before you commit it. He thought about you before all this began. The man was born blind so that God could perform a miracle in his life. He wanted to set him free, and in the process show the whole world how gracious and loving God is. The message of Jesus’ salvation was further spread throughout the whole world because of the reversal of this man’s condition. God wanted something amazing to happen through his healing.
You see, the disciples were stuck in a blind theology that looks at humanity as the victim of a scam, the workings of a conman. That when the serpent in the Garden told his lie about God, we somehow were innocent victims caught in the snare and therefore should be exonerated from any punishment because it’s his fault things went bad and not ours. Yes, the serpent told the lie, but we fell for it. Yes the serpent laid the bait, but we took it and ran with it. Yes, the serpent tempted us, but we gave in and made the wrong choice. He’s punished for his crimes, and so we’re punished for ours as well.
I’ve spent most of my life, and still do just ask my wife, playing the victim card. It’s always someone else’s fault. I spend too much time trying to blame my way out of my sin and then try to fix my faults so God and others won’t be able to accuse me, but that’s not the reality of God’s world. I was born a slave before I had the chance to blame someone else. You can like this or not, but a slave born into slavery can’t pull the “THAT’S NOT FAIR!” card expecting to be released at the ‘snap’ of his fingers. I don’t like it any more than the next guy, and I’ve had my share of shouting at God, but I’ve learned to accept my state of slavery. It was rough the first time my eyes were opened to the truth of this enslavement to sin, but I’ve moved on now. I didn’t have to stay in the slave quarters because Jesus came and freed me, just like he freed the blind guy.
God is bigger than your sin. Jesus is free, and can set you free. My headaches can hurt and ache all they want but in the end, I’m free and that’s all that matters. Blind or not, headaches or not, I’m free from the ultimate demise of sin (even though I occasionally stumble back into my sinful ways every now and again). God is good, and he’s making me good. Accept the reality of your slaveness and then ask Christ to free you. It’s worth totally worth it.
I finally set an appointment to see a neurosurgeon…for July. Apparently these guys (in my case a girl) are a big deal so they’re making us wait until then to start the conversation. Until then we play the waiting game. Stay tuned for more weekly posts about the intersection of the spiritual and physical in my daily life as a Christian pastor. Thanks for hanging out with me.
Emergence of the Soul 
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