Afflicted For His Glory

We find recording in the scriptures, on numerous occasions, how the Lord Jesus made a remarkable difference in lives of the afflicted. There were many, as in our generation, who were blind, deaf, crippled and diseased. These are all trials and sufferings that are great in number in every generation.

Throughout time, millions upon millions have died of vicious outbreaks of disease. Six hundred years ago, the bubonic plague, infamously known as Black Death, wiped out close to half of Europe’s population. During the Civil War, twice as many soldiers died of disease as were killed in combat. In 1918 -1919 close to 50 Million people died of the influenza epidemic. Today, the AIDS virus continues to kill thousands, the swine flu killed hundreds of thousands world wide, now, as we sit here, we are living with a worldwide Corona Virus. And of course we still have heart disease, various forms of cancers, drug and alcohol addictions, and countless forms of birth defects and abnormalities.

While we have made great progress in the field of medicine, and we hold our medical physicians and health care providers in high regards, and rightfully so, we still can not deny the inevitable. Despite all of the sophisticated technologies that they utilize, modern medical professionals are limited in the amount of healing they can ultimately offer. We know that humanity is limited, but God on the other hand, is NOT!!!

God IS SOVEREIGN!!! No sickness or disease is too challenging for Him to heal! He has more than enough power to do “whatever He pleases.” In fact, it has been said that Jesus virtually banished disease from Palestine in an explosion of miraculous healings during His earthly ministry.

This He did to fulfill messianic prophecy,

This He did to authenticate His messianic ministry,

This He did to glorify God,

This He did to demonstrate His deity.

We often ask the question Why? Why must there be suffering in this life? And How? How are we to respond to this suffering?

Early in Chapter 5 of Johns Gospel, we learn of a man who had been a paralytic for 38 years, who laid among a multitude of sick, blind, lame and withered, by the sheep gate at the pool of Bethesda. Jesus asked the paralytic man, “do you wish to get well?” Then Jesus said to Him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” And so he did! Jesus found him in the temple afterword and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.”

Now, in Chapter 9, our Lord and His disciples are walking along apparently in or near the city of Jerusalem, likely near the temple where a beggar might sit and ask for alms. They encounter a man who was afflicted with blindness, so the scriptures say of Jesus....

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 9

1 As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.

2 And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”

We know that our Lord is Sovereign in His works. His passing by was not by happenstance or coincidence. Just like your being here right now is not by happenstance or coincidence. You are right where your supposed to be at this moment!

He saw a man blind from birth. To be blind from birth means that this man never had the ability to see. He had been in darkness his entire existence, without seeing the light of day.

It is worth noting that this is the only recorded instance in the gospels of Jesus, where He healed someone who has a congenital condition.

The disciples raise a theological question as to why this man had been born blind.

“Was his blindness due to this man or his parents sin?”

If your like me you might be wondering, “why would these men assume that sin was the cause of this mans blindness?”

Well popular theology held that sickness was a punishment for sin. In the case of a person born blind, this posed a theological riddle.

So the disciples were curious about the providential reason for the man’s affliction!

Was a baby born blind and punished for sins he would commit as an adult?

Or were sins of the parents being punished in the son?

Or as some rabbis believed, the baby must have sinned while still in the womb.

Jesus’ answer is important.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 9

3 Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

We know that suffering in general is ultimately a result of The Fall of mankind.

We know that on numerous occasions in the scriptures, men suffered as a consequence of their sinful behavior.

But we find that God has another purpose in this man’s disability.

It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents

Well then, why had this man endured blindness throughout his life? Some may even go so far as to say, “This isn’t fair.”

May I say to you, that you and I were created for His glory and not our own?

Believer, you were not created to be better than anyone else. We were not created to make a name for ourselves…that’s precisely what the people at the Tower of Babel set out to do! To make a name for themselves!

God created you in all your perfect imperfectness... for His glory!

Even when we don’t understand it, even when it doesn’t seem to be “fair”, we must come to the realization that trials and sufferings are a part of this life, because they bring about the glory of God.

But there isn not always a direct link between suffering and personal sin.

The truth is that the blind man was afflicted so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

God in His sovereignty, chose to use this man’s affliction for His own glory.

Our Lord continues by affirming as His priority, the matter of doing God’s work. HE says...

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 9

4 “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.

We must work the works of Him who sent Me. As you know, Jesus came to do that which the willed Him. Jesus had a purpose and so do His disciples. Likewise, you and I, His church has a work to do. Our mission will not be completed until our departure from this realm.

For as long as it is day, in the brief time that we have on this earth, we have the works of God to do.

In the case of Jesus, there remained only a few months until His death at Calvary.

Time is precious and it must be used wisely. For the night is coming when no one can work.

New American Standard Bible Jesus Foretells His Death

35 Jesus therefore said to them, “For a little while longer the light is among you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness may not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. 36 “While you have the light, believe in the light, in order that you may become sons of light.”

After witnessing the crucifixion of Christ, His disciples would be overtaken by darkness and unable to work.

Why would His disciples be unable to work? Because they would be overwhelmed with fear of the Jews.

It would not be until the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, that His disciples would be emboldened and empowered to continue the work of ministry.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 9

5 “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”

While Jesus was in their midst, while He was with them in the world, there was a strong sense of mission. But fear struck them when Christ was taken to be crucified.

But Jesus says again, “I am the Light of the world.” And He must shine that light, which is a spiritual light, until the time came for Him to return to His Father.

Having finished His dialogue with His disciples, then John tells us...

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 9

6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes,

7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing.

The man who had never seen the light of day, having been in darkness from his beginning of existence, on this appointed day, is given eyes to see the physical.

For the first time, he could see the difference between physical light and physical darkness.

The One who is the spiritual Light of the world, who provided this man physical light, can also provide spiritual light and spiritual sight to a lost soul wondering blindly in the darkness of this world.

It is worth noting, that the name of the pool of water is Siloam. In this verse, we see John’s parenthetical note stating that Siloam, transliterated in Hebrew, means Sent. The Pool of Siloam was fed by water “sent” from the Gihon spring. It was used in the Feast of Tabernacles symbolizing the blessings God sent to Israel. But here, it symbolizes God’s ultimate blessing to the nation: the One sent from God, Jesus the Messiah.

The blind man obediently made his way to the pool of Siloam, he washed the mud from his eyes, and came back seeing.

Jesus certainly didn’t have to make clay for this miracle to occur. He could have spoke it and the man would have been healed. But for some reason, the Lord used clay as an object lesson, for reasons we can only speculate. Perhaps its a reminder, that man was created from the dust of the earth and that Jesus is the Potter and we are the clay and no two clay vessels are identical, but are different, yet each one is a one of a kind master piece.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 9

8 Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?”

9 Others were saying, “This is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one.”

You see? A physical transformation took place. Not only in his ability to see, but apparently, in his countenance. He was seeing colors that he had never seen, faces he had never seen, a sky he had never seen, a world he had never seen. He no doubt, had a smile on his face that made him unrecognizable to the people. Because the people were not certain if he was the same man who used to sit at the temple entrance begging for alms, he kept saying, to them in newfound joy... “I am the one.”

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 9

10 So they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?”

His response could have been, “I went, I washed, and I received.”

Instead, he fully responds with acknowledgment that it was all at the direction of and by the power of a man... by the name of Jesus.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 9

11 He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.”

It was as simple as that. He told it just like it happened!

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 9

12 They said to him, “Where is He?” He *said, “I do not know.”

Ask the blind man…he saw it all! Right? It actually appears that Jesus had left the scene while the blind man went to the pool to wash his eyes.

This man had not yet seen Jesus, he could not have identified Him even if He had been standing in the crowd.

All he knew was that a man named Jesus passed by his way, and gave him the gift of sight and brought light into his world that was once dark.

I hope you see how Jesus’ healing of a blind beggar, beautifully illustrates how salvation finds us.

Jesus opened the physical eyes of this blind man. As we continue in this chapter, we will find that through this miracle, the Lord also opened this man’s spiritual eyes. Again and again, the Bible uses the metaphor of blindness for people who have never perceived the truth of Christ. The eyes of their hearts are blind until God the Holy Spirit opens them, without the help of spit and clay. And you know what? The sight that He gives not only brings the view of the light of day, but the spiritual eyes are able to see the light of Jesus.

Saint of God? Aren’t you glad that the Holy Spirit opened your eyes to see?