No Simple Answers

Moving into a new chapter in John does not mean that we are moving away from the issues at stake in chapter 8. They remain–particularly that of Jesus’ identity.

The chapter begins, however, with Jesus addressing an idea that has not gone away even today: the belief that suffering is always a result of personal sin. The question asked by the disciples is still asked in different forms (2), but Jesus’ response firmly resists this idea (3). The book of Job is also a biblical corrective to such a view. Jesus miraculously heals this man using a mud pack made with his saliva and sends him to the pool of Siloam (6,7). In other instances, of course, Jesus healed with a simple word, thus defying our attempts to put him into a box about how he might choose to heal. Following the healing, there begins a series of interviews as to how the man was healed and who carried this out. The first comes from his neighbors who struggle to believe that this is the same man, and when he is asked how he is now able to see, all he can tell them at this point is that it was “the man,” Jesus (11).

Who has not uttered at some point the words, “Why me?” It is an understandable response to suffering, but Scripture teaches that there is an aspect to suffering that cannot be neatly explained. The nearest we can come is at the cross, but even there a “Why?” could not be denied (Mark 15:34). Sometimes, all we can say is that we do not know, but we do have a Savior who has suffered and asked that question. Let’s make sure that when we talk about suffering (if we dare) we give the full picture and resist a simplistic theology of suffering.

What hard questions do you have about life? In spite of them, are you able to affirm the basic spiritual reality, “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see”?