As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” (John 9:1-2)Have you ever had something bad happen to you and wonder if God was trying to tell you something? Or if he was punishing you for something. Or worse, have you ever seen a child that was born deformed and heard someone say that the parents had sinned and God was punishing them?
These things are not true. You suffer for what you have done because of the fact that you have done something bad. and, of course, your children suffer because of the fact that you have done something wrong. But that is because they are deprived of your presence or the support you can give them.
We are not punished by God because of things other people do. While those things might affect us, it is the fault of the person. You are not in jail because of something your parents have done, but because of your actions.
In John 9, Jesus’ apostles believed one or two things that were part of he common perception. One was that the man who had been born blind had parents that had done something bad before he was born. Therefore, he had been born blind to punish them. The other was that God had looked at the life this man might have lived if he had not been blind and turned out to be a jerk so God punished him in advance.
Both of these ideas were wrong. He was born blind because of some problem in the physical make-up of him and his parents. But Jesus also said that that being born blind was going to be used to show his power.
He was blind from birth, Jesus came along and healed him and everybody saw it. Whether they wanted to see it or not, they saw it.
And of course the religious leaders did what they always do when faced with something they disagree with: they ignored it and tied to turn it around.
They first tried to say that Jesus and the man both were sinners and such a thing couldn’t happen. But when they saw it had, they tried to call the man and his parents liars. He really hadn't been born blind, they said. It was all a hoax. The man’s parents were so afraid they were trembling and finally told the authorities they could ask the guy himself. They were afraid to commit themselves, even with their own son.
Then when everything else came out that the man was blind and had been healed by someone they didn’t like, they hollered at him and threw him out for having the gall to try to teach them.
It just went to show that you cannot convince some people, no matter how innocent or how sincere you are. Some people are going to believe what they want to believe no matter what you say or do, or what the facts are.
Even Jesus had this problem.
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