John 9:1-5 It’s time to grow up
Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
John 9:1-5 NKJV
Sin and sickness can be related
There is a real and very powerful connection between sin and sickness. When Jesus healed, he related one to the other.
Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” —He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.
Luke 5:23-24 NKJV
Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
John 5:14 NKJV
There are sins that affect your children. The Jews presumed that those born with defects or blindness were because of the family’s past wrongdoing. Moses connected sin and obedience with consequences that would last generations:
You shall not bow down to them [idols] nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me”
Deuteronomy 5:9 NKJV
Honor your father and mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
Exodus 20:12 (NASB)
The Jews at the time of Jesus were quick to link any sickness, poverty, or calamity with sin. Jesus spoke of it in Luke 13.
There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
Luke13:1-5NKJV
Sin — or doing something harmful — is the gateway through which every sort of stress, trauma, and sickness is given an opportunity through weakness in my body. When Adam sinned, Satan took advantage of the opportunity and a torrent of harm rushed into the earth and took dominion. Since then, all men have been in a struggle between good and evil internally. In Romans 6-8 Paul describes this conflict and our ultimate victory through grace.
But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind… deceived me, and through it killed me.
Romans 7:8, 11
Growing up in my understanding of sin
When I was a child this world seemed magical. Things just happened. Food in the stores. Lights that flicked on. Cuts miraculously disappearing under a bandaid. The sun appearing each day. And so many more things. But in growing up I began to see that those things I considered magical actually have a cause. The more I knew about the cause, the more I could have a positive effect on their “magic.”
The same may be said of “sin.” When I was young, I treated sin as any violation of a rule. A thought that flew through my head. Any sexual consideration. With a sin came a torrent of unpredictable, unknowable consequences. Behind it was the devil and all sorts of wickedness. So far, my definition has very little to do with actual reality. This is also why Jesus was misunderstood. The black and white laws that the Pharisees followed thinking it would ensure their salvation, became the very stumbling stones they tripped over. My effort to avoid sin does NOTHING for my forgiveness. Yet in the process I have given much more power to my adversary than he actually has. I have created a really big devil and a very small God.
Part of the problem comes from the word “sin” itself. It no longer seems to be a useful word since it means so many things to so many people.
Growing up in my thinking, I recognize that the reality of “sin” is simply the creation of a weakness. It is behaving outside of an optimal design. For example, at one point I considered smoking a sin. Black and white. You smoke, you are guilty. The reality? Whether I smoke or not I am a child of God. I am loved and forgiven. Smoking is beside the point and has no bearing on spiritual health and well-being. But the further truth is, my lungs are hurt by smoking. Lack of oxygen is not good for the brain. My immune system must fight harder to keep me healthy. Smoking is weakness. From it so many damaging things can happen to my body. Is it the devil doing the damage? No, it’s the smoke. Every other “sin” may follow the pattern of this definition. Sin is something that hurts me. I don’t cross a busy street without looking because it could be bad for my future.
What about generational sin? The tragedy I learn from my parents will often be repeated in my kids. If my parents thought belittling and mocking and injuring me physically was an acceptable way of disciplining kids — because their parents did it to them — chances are, they will do it to me. Chances are then very strong that I will learn from their example — without even a conscious thought about it. In this generational training, we are infused with trauma and injury that affects emotions, creates anger and rage and untold stress. The very stress my body feels creates a context for illness to occur. I hold all that unresolved trauma and stress within my body. Who needs the devil to do anything when we do it to ourselves without thinking.
The power of the adversary is in the lie. Then in the resulting benefit he receives of feeding upon my weakness — but not causing it. He’s a crafty, but very lazy, indifferent, spiritual being. He does not have the power I think he does, any more than God’s angels have the power to do good. Both are at my invitation and cooperation.
Today, as an adult, I have a much more insightful and wise perspective on what sin is and the damage it causes. That insight comes from knowing myself and my fellow man, and recognizing and being honest with fruitfulness — or lack of it — that I experience with my choices.
When the church was still a baby in the womb, these are the lessons Jesus summed up with “Let love be your commandment.”
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40 NIV
The origin of disease
So, coming upon the blind man the obvious question in their youthful and Jewish thinking about sin was, “who sinned?”
It was a good question and the normal assumption. Jesus’ answers should turn all of our future view of sin, sickness, and tragedy upside down. “Neither.”
Really? The man nor his parents have any responsibility for his condition?
Nope. Some things are fluke accidents. No explanation needed.
Sin, judgement, and grace
My nature, man’s nature, is to recognize cause and effect. I want to ascribe personal responsibility to everyone for everything I see. If what you are experiencing is the result of your choices, it takes the responsibility off of my shoulders. The subtle judgements I make about everyone’s calamity, everyone’s bad fortune, help me establish myself as righteous and justified — particularly when I don’t experience the same. If I do, I fall under the same weight of judgment that I have overlaid on everyone else. But Jesus was making it clear: There is no connection! It was not because of the family’s sin. The man was blind through for no good reason other than all man has drunk from that same cup that Adam first drank when he set in motion causes and effects that relate to the human condition.
Based on what I read in Biblical writing, I have a strong reason to connect sin and sickness. But here Jesus makes it clear: we don’t always see the whole picture. Planes crashing into the twin towers on 9/11, hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, wildfires throughout the West, earthquakes in San Francisco, COVID — I hear believers quickly connecting these things to judgement, just like the Pharisees of old. Jesus offered a new way of looking at it.
Yes, my behavior will produce results. And a large percentage of my difficulty is because of me introducing my own weakness — or even weakness learned from my family. But there is also a possibility that the reason may be… “It’s for the glory of God.” In fact, whether or not it was caused by something I can identify, the grace and love of God may always turn something bad into something else — for the glory of God.
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Romans 8:28, 32, 37 NKJV
People want to connect sickness, circumstances, and destiny in life to the bad choices me and my family have made. The same connection is also made with successes. And to be certain, there is a direct correlation both genetically and socially to the person I am and the environment in which I was raised. The book of Proverbs is all about distinguishing between good and the bad and reaping the results. Taking personal responsibility, even in a generational context over family behavior I have not specifically chosen, will yield very good, very positive results. My choices matter. But so do God’s. And this is where we draw a distinction.
The very best man I could become on earth still cannot eradicate sin or my mistakes, remove sickness, or compensate for what I have thought or done, or the debt my family and ancestors have accrued. Period. This is why grace is so amazing. Despite the choices I make or will make, despite my family origin and history, and despite my community or national culpability, His grace is able to supersede all of it.
I must work while it is yet day
This man’s blindness was an opportunity to demonstrate the works of God. Daytime is a metaphor for opportunity. Jesus had liberty, health, capacity, a mission (to do the works of God), power to heal, and now a man who needed his sight. Nighttime is when you may no longer move about freely and you are unavailable for the need. For Christ, it was when he was crucified. His night was coming, but today it is still daytime.
Jesus also explained what daytime looks like: when he is in the world, he is the light of the world. The cross took him out briefly. Then he returned in power on the day of Pentecost in believers. Today, he is present in me and his people. It is definitely still daytime. But just as day and night cycle in and out with regularity, so will opportunity to work. So today, where is my opportunity? When I remove judgment and causation for what I see, my blindness can also be removed and I may see opportunity all around me. There is plenty. It’s time to go to work…
To some degree every child is born blind. As our eyes are opened we not only see how many stupid choices we have made, but also his great grace in response. Men have spent millennia judging others. Christ came and broke that mold to show us a different way of seeing — no longer fixating on the cause, but on the solution. The remedy. The healing. The grace extended to all who are willing to consider him.
Time to heal the blind. Open the ears of the deaf. Raise the dead. Mend the broken minds. The season of sin and sickness are over and gone. Today is the season of recovery and returning to the kingdom.
And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
John 20:22-23 NKJV