Better Questions- Muddy Hands

As Jesus walked 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?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. “ John 9:1-2

People back then just assumed that when bad stuff happened, it was because God was getting back at them. We still will ask,  “What did we/he/I do to deserve this?” when bad things happen to us? Another way of asking it is, “Whose fault is this?” Which translates into, “Let’s find someone to blame so we can deal with our anger/frustration/anxiety/grief about what has happened.” Jesus shows his friends (and us) that there are better questions to ask and be answered in the face of suffering. 

Standard answers to the aforementioned questions are:  “Well….. it is God’s will” or “Well… so many people were led to Christ because of X” or “everything happens for a reason.” All of these answers are human, honest, and healthy. However, they come from assumptions that Jesus completely blows apart in John 9. When Jesus says, “This man was made blind so that God’s good works might be shown in him” it seems as if he is saying,  “God did this to him so I could heal him and show off for God" (which would contradict what I just wrote). I think he is getting at something entirely different, however. 

What he really means is made clear when the Gospel of John says:

“When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. “

"God's works being revealed in him" means that God is present in that man who is blind—even before Jesus heals him. God is also present in Jesus’ healing him. God has not blinded the man to show off, or punish, or make some kind of evangelistic statement. Jesus reacts to suffering in front of him by getting his hands dirty, and reminding the disciples that God is at work in all things. 

So, if Jesus came to show us, definitively, that God loves and heals, maybe we can, after our initial shock when bad things happen, know that we can someday ask better questions that can lead us to a better place. God is a God who “gets her hands muddy” for us and, even in the midst of our blindness, suffering, and pain, is always creating something new in us and the world.

Tim