John 9:1-12

Introduction

There is a question that everyone asks at some point in their life, and if you have not asked it yet, I promise you that you will one day ask it. I have asked it, I’m positive the other adults have asked it, and I am fairly certain some of you have already asked it.

The question is this: Why do bad things happen to good people? If I were to ask you this question, what would you say to me? This week I spoke with a coworker who has an unbelieving uncle. His uncle does not believe because his brother crashed his car into a tree. The car caught fire, and rather than the police pull him out of the burning car, they let him sit in the car and burn to death. That uncle says that he does not believe there is a God because how could a God allow such a terrible thing to happen to a good person? And if there is a God, he does not want to serve a God who would allow such things to occur.

What do you say to this man? Obviously we have sympathy and offer our condolences, but what else do you say?

As you live longer, you’ll see people who are struggling to get by. You’ll look to your right, and you’ll see a single mom who’s husband passed away trying to raise her kids as best as she can. She’ll be working double shifts at work and exhausting herself for her children - sacrificing everything as a good parent does. And then she’ll one day be diagnosed with cancer, or one of her children will pass away suddenly in a car accident.

And then you will look to your left, and you will see a man who lives only for himself. He is rude, prideful, always angry, and manipulative of other people. And he will have the dream life. He will have a beautiful wife, a nice car, go on fun and exciting trips wearing the best clothes while eating the nicest food in the most lavish places.

And you’ll ask yourself why nothing bad ever seems to happen to that guy, but why the single mother can’t seem to catch a break.

Why do bad things happen to good people? Well the Bible has something to say about that, so let’s take a look at it.

John 9:1–12 ESV

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

1. God uses trials for his glory

John 9:1–5 ESV

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

A. The thinking of the day

The belief of the day was that if you had some kind of disease or defect, it was due to either your sin which you were being punished for, or it was due to your parents sin who were being punished through the pain of their child. If it was congenital (from birth) then it meant you sinned in the womb.

How you answer this is question seriously impacts your theology and the way you think about God and interact with him. Think about where this thinking takes you

If you are living righteously, and you have a disease, you are wracking yourself to think of a way in which you have sinned. You are constantly confessing sin, and your disease is not going away, and your getting frustrated and ultimately angry at God because you are so devoted and yet going nowhere.

And then others are telling you that you just need to believe and have more faith and stop holding onto your sin - all of which you feel you’ve already taken care of 10x over. And then someone else might be cured from their illness which seems to validate the thinking that sin is causing the issue.

You become, tired, frustrated, and angry. You ask yourself if God loves you, or does he enjoy watching you suffer. You come to think of him as a cruel taskmaster who is never happy, and you are the object of his wrath.

b. Let’s say you determine that your parents sinned. You might ask them to repent, and they say they have but you are still sick. You begin to resent them and get angry at them -blaming them for your problems. You know you have no unconfessed sin, so it must be them. You grow to hate your parents and resent them. Meanwhile your parents who love you and want the best for you are heartbroken as they see you drift away from them and are equally distraught as they are unable to repent enough in order to earn your cure from God.

In the end of both of these paths is frustration, anger, and hatred. You either hate God or your loved ones. You grow tired and frustrated of trying to repent yourself or get others to repent who seemingly won’t, and you find yourself asking “what is even the point?” Why should I follow God if all that he offers is pain? “Why should I follow him if I do my best and still do not get what I want?” Others look down on you as if you are willfully rejecting God, and so you become viewed as the black sheep or outcast.

B. The Purpose of the blindness

Jesus clearly states that the reason for the man’s blindness is not his sin nor his parents sin, but so that “the works of God can be displayed through him”

Why do bad things happen to good people? For God’s glory

Let’s think through where this logically leads

Question: Did God cause this person to be blind? Answer: Yes

Isaiah 45:7 “I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.”

God creates good times and hard times. He brings blessings and he brings trials.

If so, does that make God evil? Does it mean that he created evil?

James 1:13 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.”

God is not tempted with evil. It is completely opposite of God. I once heard sin described as anything that contradicts the nature of God.

So God did not create evil, and he cannot be tempted to do evil things therefore creating a person with blindness is not evil.

Isaiah 45:9 ““Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’?”

It is not our place to question God and talk back to him about how he handles his creation. We are arrogant if we think we can talk back to God and tell him how he has messed up his creation.

Why?

Because God is sovereign, and we are sinners.

Does this bother you? Why? I think it is because we do not view ourselves properly.

Psalm 8:4 “what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”

Romans 3:10 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;”

Ecclesiastes 7:20 “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.”

The question “why do bad things happen to good people?” is actually a bad question. The premise of the question is wrong. The premise is the assumption that there are good people in the world. There are no good people.

“The correct question is, “Why do bad things happen to bad people?”

That changes your perspective does it not? Because now you do not feel so entitled to have good things happen to you. You are actually a bad person who deserves bad things. You deserve eternal punishment in hell. The reality is that anything good we experience is actually a demonstration of God’s mercy and grace because we it is too good for us.

We deserve death as a just result of our sin.

C. The urgency of Jesus

John 9:4–5 “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.””

Jesus is not handling this as if there is time to spare. He knows there is work to be done, and time is limited.

“Night is coming” refers to the death of Jesus. His ministry on earth will be mostly wrapped up after his resurrection. He is only around for a little over a month before ascending into heaven.

Jesus is the light of the world always, but he is brightest while actually in the world.

Jesus is going away, but there is work to be done beforehand, and that work must be done while he is still on earth.

2. The Miracle

John 9:6–7 ESV

Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

A. The Physical

There is nothing special in the way that Jesus heals this man. He could have easily spoken his healing into existence. So why didn’t he?

Jesus could have told him to spin around three times, pat his head while rubbing his belly, do 20 pushups, and then burp the alphabet to be healed.

I think Jesus varies the way in which he performs his miracles so that we do not get too caught up on how they are performed. If every blind person or leper was healed by spitting in mud, covering the eyes, and washing in the pool at Siloam, then don’t you think people would look at that as his secret sauce?

The source of Jesus power is the Father. The “secret sauce” is not in the method, but in the source. And so Jesus heals the person of his blindness.

B. The Spiritual

Jesus has spent the last chapter and mentioned again how he is the light of this world.

Jesus heals this man’s physical blindness, but it is representative of the spiritual blindness that all people suffer.

This man lives in darkness, and Jesus gives him light.

Spiritually, we are all born blind. We are all sinners - spiritually blind from birth. Jesus is the only way to receive vision. He is the light, and unless you look to him, you can never see the light, but only know darkness because that is your natural condition.

It is a beautiful picture of what salvation looks like.

“This account of Jesus’ healing of a blind man beautifully illustrates the salvation process. Blinded by sin, lost sinners have no capacity to recognize the Savior or find him on their own. The blind man would not have been healed had Jesus not sought him and revealed himself to him. So it is in salvation; if God did not reach out to spiritually blind sinners, no one would be saved. And just as the blind man was healed only when he obeyed Jesus’ command and washed int he pool of Siloam, so also are sinners saved only when they humbly and obediently embrace the truth of the gospel.”

3. The Aftermath

John 9:8–12 “The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.””

A. People talk

After he is healed, people recognize him and realize who he is and more importantly that he is no longer blind. People talk and word gets around that this famous blind man has been healed by Jesus.

What do you think that does for Jesus? That gains him publicity and interest in the public eye. People hear about this, and they are going to want to know more. They will seek out Jesus hoping to see him do another miracle.

This miracle is generating buzz and interest in Jesus who will is sharing the gospel with all he comes into contact with.

B. God is glorified

What else does this do? It brings God glory!

Jesus rightfully receives credit for the miracle, and now people desire to see him and listen to him. This is an opportunity for Jesus to use for his glory and the Father’s glory.

He has demonstrated compassion, power, and gentleness through this miracle.

This man shares his testimony of what Jesus did for him. God is being glorified as this story is told over and over again.

The rest of the story that we’ll get to next week contains a more thorough outworking of how Jesus is glorified through his miracle, but he will be glorified through this miracle

Application/Conclusion

When something bad happens to you, remember two things:

I am a sinner, and I only deserve hell. Anything good that I receive is by God’s grace and kindness and totally undeserved. I am owed nothing except the punishment I rightfully deserve.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

2. Whatever trial or hardship I am facing can be used by God even for my good and his glory

God did not make this world sinful. Mankind made it sinful when they rebelled in the garden.

God is so powerful - so much greater than the evil that is in the world - that he is able to take something sad and awful like lifelong blindness and turn it to his glory.

Romans 8:28–32 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

We serve a powerful God, and if you suffer from something, anything at all, then be comforted by knowing that this trial is not catching by God by surprise or foiling his plans. It is actually going to work for good if you love God, and God’s goal is to see you glorified with Jesus Christ. And if God gave up his own son for you, why will he not help you in the midst of your trial? God is actively working out your good and his glory.

Be encouraged by that.