So That God's Works Might Be Revealed in Him
Posted by tom | Mar 12, 2011As [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?" (John 9:1-2)
If you have chronic illness or a disability of any sort, you have probably had people ask you questions like this one that the disciples asked Jesus. For some perverse reason, outsiders want to blame us for our maladies. It is horrible theology — that our diseases and handicaps are direct punishment for our sin or someone else's.
I am forever grateful that Jesus firmly rejected this erroneous theory when he answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him" (John 9:3). The proper question is not "Who is to blame?" but "What good might God reveal through this affliction?" — and the answer to that question might not even be known in this life. It is a mystery that we will only fully understand at the end of time.
But in the meanwhile, we can be well intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually because we trust the words of Jesus that through whatever illnesses or impairments we might suffer "God's works" will be revealed in us. God's work might be to take us home to be with Himself, but what better work could we imagine? Or the LORD's work might be to reveal his sustaining grace throughout our afflictions. No doubt God has some surprises in store for us as to how the Trinity might act in partnership with us to accomplish divine purposes. The endless possibilities enable us to be well in trust and hope.
—Marva Dawn, BEING WELL WHEN WE'RE ILL: WHOLENESS AND HOPE IN SPITE OF INFIRMITY. Minneapolis: Augsburg Books, 2008, p. 67. ISBN 978-0-8066-8038-5. Highly recommended.
Thank-you to Chip Stam, Director, Institute for Christian Worship, School of Church Ministries, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, for drawing posting this quote at www.wqotw.org. Praying for God's blessing and healing upon Chip as he wrestles with cancer and various resultant health complications.
