Episode Transcript
CONSECRATE
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
HEAR
John 9:1–3 NIV
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
CONSIDER
Who sinned?
Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. We know it as the law of cause and effect. There’s another interesting word to describe this universal law: karma. Karma is cause and effect raised to the level of religion.
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Something about our own insecurity demands we ask the question, whether we are conscious of asking it or not. “I wasn’t born blind,” the disciples reasoned, “either me or my parents must have done something right along the way. We are good people.”
These days, we don’t so much think this way about people who have a physical or mental disability. When it comes to the poor or the imprisoned, it’s a different story. We tend to think people are living in poverty or are in jail because of their own fault or the fault of their parents. After all, the thinking goes, one reaps what they sow.
Jesus dealt a death blow to this whole system and approach to life:
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
So, was Jesus saying just the opposite, as in, this tragedy is not a result of someone’s sin; rather, God caused this to happen for a reason, and that was so God could get glory from what Jesus was about to do? This would make God out as some kind of monster, wouldn’t it? God caused this man to be born blind so he could suffer untold hardship and constant community shame for forty years or so until Jesus arrived on the scene. . . . Does this sound like God?
What if it’s more like this? Every broken place in every broken life holds the possibility for the glorious works of God to be put on display. Everything that happens in life does not happen as a consequence of some prior choice or action. Nor does God plant every tragedy and hardship in the world because he has a reason for it. At the risk of oversimplification, let me state it simply: everything that happens is not God’s will, but God has a will in and through everything that happens.
How about cancer? Who sinned? Was it the genetic code of his parents, or was it because he was a chain smoker? That’s the wrong question. Cancer is not bad karma. Cancer, in the hands of God, can become one of two things: (1) it could provide an opportunity for the demonstration of the miraculous healing power of the Holy Spirit to eradicate cancer, or (2) it could provide an opportunity for the demonstration of the miraculous healing power of the Holy Spirit to transform the life, character, faith, and even the family and friends of the sick person who is given the extraordinary gift of faith in the face of fear—come what may. In either instance, cancer always creates the opportunity for the display of the works of God through the ordinary yet supernatural conspiracy of the love of God for a person through his people, the church.
The cross crushed karma, fatalism, and fear. As they looked upon Jesus on the cross on that Good Friday so long ago, so many were asking the question: “Who sinned?” After all, doesn’t the Bible say everyone who is hanged on a tree “is cursed by God” (Deut. 21:22–23 ESV)?
As we look upon Jesus on the cross, we know the answer to the question, “Who sinned?” It was me and you. In an act that forever crushed karma, fatalism, fear, and, yes, the curse, Jesus held out healing for all who will receive it: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Gal. 3:13 ESV).
We are all pretty sure why bad things happen to bad people. Allow me to turn this equation on its side just a bit. This whole system of thinking has compounded over the centuries to culminate in the question of all questions of the modern age: Why do bad things happen to good people? It is yet another misguided question, pointing to the epic fail of karma. The real question we must all come to grips with is this one: Why do good things happen to bad people (a.k.a. sinners)?
Answer: grace.
PRAY
Abba Father, we thank you for your Son, Jesus, who is beyond amazing grace. How can we fathom this love who would take our place and crush our curse and redeem our lives? Come, Holy Spirit, and heal our blindness, that we might see Jesus and, so, see ourselves. We pray in Jesus’s name, amen.
