John 9:1-41
Once, when I was working as a hospital chaplain, I was called to talk to a tearful patient. I pulled up a chair next to the bed and simply allowed her to talk. She proceeded to tell me that she had Stage IV cancer. “I’m a good person,” she said. “I’ve worked hard to help other people and to make sure I’m doing the right thing. Why is all of this happening to me? What have I done to deserve this? There are a lot of bad people out there who do horrible things, yet nothing ever happens to them. But I go to church and pray. So, why me?”
What we have with this story of the blind man, and with my hospital patient, all happened because, as Jesus says, “so that God’s work might be revealed.” It will always be a mystery to us as to what exactly God is up to when we are either born with, or are diagnosed later in life, with some major disease or handicap. What we can be assured of is that Scripture is that in times of affliction and tragedy, God is always at work for good. Even though it is very hard for us to understand, God does use our circumstances in order to provide blessings to both those suffering and to others around them.
When we get caught in bitterness and despair because of afflictions in our lives, may our eyes may also be opened to the love that God has for us, to the power of prayer as we take our bitterness and hopelessness to God, and, most of all, to needs of the world around us, so that we may carry the love of God to those who need to hear and feel it.
Pastor Sean
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