We started out with John 9:1-5, the account of Jesus healing a man who'd been born blind. The focus was supposed to be on the difference between the disciples' reaction to meeting the blind man and Jesus' reaction.
The disciples immediately assumed that the blind man was being punished for sin - his parents or his own - but Jesus, who for obvious reasons had a better understanding of God's true nature, said that "this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life".
At this point we all got side-tracked with a debate over the fairness of God. How can God be fair if He made this blind just so that His glory could be revealed?
(An assertion was made that there is a difference between fairness and justice – so that God could be just, but not fair, which is a whole other discussion about one's understanding of language and one's definition of "fairness" and "justice".)
But I believe that the crux of this debate boils down to a misinterpretation of Scripture:
After Jesus said that this had happened so that God's glory could be revealed, he began speaking about his own role, and the disciples' roles (indeed our roles, if we are followers of Christ), in doing what they'd been called to do.
This would suggest that when Jesus said, "this happened so that God's glory might be displayed," the "this" he was referring to was not, in fact, the man's blindness, but Jesus' actual encounter with the man.
The man was not made blind so that he could be healed and so reveal God's glory.
Jesus meeting and healing the blind man happened so that God's glory might be displayed.
The man being blind was merely a result of living in a fallen world that is imperfect and flawed. How many other blind people have there been on this earth that never got healed? Does that mean that God "made" them blind for nothing? Of all the blind people in this world, Jesus met this man and healed him. It was not his blindness that glorified God, but his healing.
*On a side note: using Twitter and Facebook gets you so addicted to certain things. I find myself wanting to "Like" or "ReTweet" every comment I see on the Web, and I totally wanted to #hashtag the #phenomenalLifeGroupDiscussion!
A Debate (Part Two) coming tomorrow.
By saying ".. this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life" Jesus is not saying "God made him blind" - for we know sickness & disease is not of God "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father ..." (James 1:17) - but that his blindness happened (is a reality) and an opportunity for Gods healing work to be displayed in his life. In fact, he was being healed for the salvation of his soul. The mans blindness is a result of a fallen world - as you mentioned - and therefore the work of Satan. I don't think God was being unfair here. In fact, quite the opposite. By His grace the man was healed (work of Satan destroyed) and later saved. What I find humorous is that Satan inflicted blindness on this fellow, but God not only healed the blindness, but used it as an opportunity to turn the work of Satan into salvation of this soul. If this man was not blind, he would probably never have met Jesus and never believed. And so Satan helped him get into heaven. Which shows the importance of christians being able to do the same; heal the sick in Jesus' name, thereby allowing the work of God to be displayed in their lives, and giving them an opportunity to be saved.
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