Hope for the Unseen

John 9:1-7

I have oftener wondered what life was like for the man in our story.  It must have been pretty crappy. After all, he was:

Blind. No way of working.

Living on handouts. No government assistance programs, dependent on the niceness of strangers.

Possibly homeless

Most people think it’s probably his fault.

In a nutshell, his situation seems pretty hopeless. I wonder if he ever wondered if God even cared? Or if he was plagued by doubts that maybe he did do something to deserve it.

It’s easy to find ourselves sometimes feeling like our own situation is hopeless. Wondering if God cares or if we’ve someone done something really wrong.

Financial problems

Health concerns

Family struggles

Who hasn’t felt like they are fighting a “no win” battle?

If you’ve ever felt that way, this story has a lot of hope for you. The good news is that Jesus has launched the kingdom of God for those who have run out of hope. Let me pull three things out real quickly.

Life happens

It’s clear from the question the disciples ask that this man has lived under a stigma his whole life. The way people thought then, and the way we still sometimes think today, is that is something bad happens to you, you must deserve it. Maybe they did this, maybe they did that. Somehow we all just get what we deserve. 

There is some truth there. The Bible says that we do reap what we sow. We can do things that have consequences. 

But there is another truth here. Sometime the reason we find ourselves in hard and hopeless situations is simply that life happens. It’s nobodies fault. It’s simply the consequence of living in a world that is broken. The point is that Jesus does not heap condemnation on this man for the place he’s in. I have a feeling that whether the man was there through his own fault or not, Jesus would still extend grace.

Jesus sees

I wonder how many people passed this man every day without so much noticing him?  Maybe occasionally some pious person would drop a coin in his cup. But I have to think that for the most part he is simply unseen. 

Then Jesus comes walking by. But he doesn’t only walk by. He notices and he stops. 

This is tremendously hopeful to me when I’m in the midst of what feels like a hopeless situation. That Jesus is not unaware of my circumstances. He sees me, he has compassion on me, and even when I can’t see it or don’t know it yet, he’s working on my behalf. He has a plan to restore what is broken. The one thing Jesus can’t do is walk by and ignore you.

God’s kingdom brings hope

Jesus sees this man. He doesn’t judge him. Instead he brings the power of God’s kingdom to bear on his life. 

One of the reasons these stories have been recorded for us is to show what it looks like when the kingdom of God invades our present reality.  They show what life will be like when Jesus returns and establishes God’s rule and reign on earth. No more blindness, sickness, or lack. Complete healing and flourishing. Everything broken made new.

While God’s kingdom isn’t here in its fullness, Jesus did launch it. His coming has started something. The new world has begun to break into this old world. That means that we can expect that sometimes God will come and intervene just like Jesus did with this man. And sometimes God maybe doesn’t do it just like that, but intervenes in other ways.

I wonder if Jesus is walking by here this evening? That he doesn’t condemn us but instead looks on us with compassion, ready to unleash his kingdom in us.

However God chooses to do it, we believe that when we ask him to come, to bring his kingdom into our life, he comes - and our hope is restored with him.