Don't Walk By
Preaching
What Jesus Did:
The Answer To WWJD
One day as Jesus is walking along, he sees a man, blind from birth. The story is found in John 9.
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
-- John 9:1-7 (NIV)
Suffering is all around us. How often do we walk by people, ignoring or avoiding their hurt, their pain, their frustration? How many other people walked by this blind man on their way to the temple, on their way to the market, on their way to their job, and on their way home again? Maybe a few even put some shekels in the blind man's cup, thankful to God for their sight but quick to move on. Perhaps it was just to salve their own conscience. Since he has been there so long, can we believe that anyone was truly interested in healing or meeting the real need of this blind man?
• What kind of suffering do you pass by every day?
Those who walked by in that day and time would have had ample self-justification for their lack of concern. The prevailing theology of the time said that those who suffered did so because of sin. In the case of being born blind, they reasoned that you either sinned in the womb, or your parents sinned, and your blindness was their punishment as well. It is a handy theology. It explains that which we don't fully understand. It justifies God and doesn't charge him with evil. In this case, it gives passersby an excuse to ignore this blind man, because after all, he is paying for his sin.
• How do you feel about this theology? Is sickness the result of sin?
The disciples have been raised in this theological environment, so they ask the question all of us would like to ask God, "Why is this person suffering so?" We ask that all the time, don't we? I do. I wondered why my wife had to suffer with chronic fatigue for five years. I ask why my parents had to die so young. I ask why about a lot of suffering in my congregation. These are good people. Why?
The disciples ask the question in the context of their day, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Talk to us, Jesus; why is this man suffering? Who can we blame? Who should take the responsibility for this suffering? Sometimes we get too wrapped up in the causes and not the cures. We would rather fix blame than fix the problem. We want to know where to point the finger of responsibility.
Who sinned? The question is not impertinent. The Bible teaches throughout that the wages of sin, the consequences of sin, is death. Death implies disease, decay, suffering, and pain. Jesus answers, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned." Jesus is not saying that they never sinned, or that they were sinless. Jesus is saying that in this particular case, who sinned is not the bottom line concern. In other cases, Jesus does make a connection between suffering and sin. We saw that in the healing of the paralytic when he said, "Your sins are forgiven." In John 5, Jesus heals the man at the Bethesda pool. When he meets the man later, Jesus says to him, "See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more so that nothing worse happens to you" (John 5:14 NRSV).
• Have you had a sickness in your life that you would interpret as the direct result of your sin?
It is important to remind ourselves that in this world, there is a direct and irrefutable connection between sin and suffering. We suffer because we sin. The further implication is that because sin has so pervaded the fabric of this world, its systems, and our lives, we suffer even if we are not personally responsible for the sin ourselves. Paul alludes to this in Romans 8:19: "All creation has been subjected to futility and groans with anticipation when God will make the redemption of his children complete." Creation suffers because of human sin. Animals have become extinct because of sinful humans in their greed and lust. Various places of the earth have been made unusable and uninhabitable because of human sin. One prime example are the areas where we have unsafely disposed of nuclear waste and toxic waste.
In many ways we cause our own suffering. We have polluted the air, the soil, and the water. Then we wonder why we have foul air to breathe, less land for farming, and contaminated water to drink. We destroy the ozone layer, bake in the sun, and wonder why we get skin cancer. We pollute our lungs with cigarette smoke and wonder why we get lung cancer. We eat high fat, high calorie, junk food diets and wonder why we are overweight and get colon cancer. People live their lives in sexual promiscuity and perversion and we wonder why we have sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS. We use drugs and alcohol and wonder why our bodies wear out so quickly and die early. We work ourselves to death with no vacation or recreation and wonder why we have so many stress-related conditions. We kick people out of psychiatric facilities and down-size faithful employees and wonder why we have a homeless problem. People go to work all day and leave their children by themselves, and we wonder why we have gang and juvenile delinquency problems.
• What other problems can you think of as a consequence of our behavior?
Who sinned? We sinned. We cannot escape responsibility for our actions and the consequences of those actions. Even though we preach forgiveness of sin, which we do, forgiveness does not always guarantee we will escape the consequences of our actions. Forgiveness means we will still go to heaven, but we also still have to accept the consequences while on earth.
Jesus addresses the consequences in his answer to his disciples. "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him." Guess what? That isn't true of the blind man alone. All of us were born so that God's works might be revealed in us. Spiritually applied, all of us have been born blind; spiritually blind. The only way we will see God is if we allow Jesus to heal us of our blindness. When we come to Jesus in faith and repentance, the works of God are revealed in us through God's salvation. Jesus is saying that the suffering of others is not the time to fix the blame, but to fix the problems that caused the suffering, and to minister to the ones who are suffering.
We have several ministry options open to us to meet the needs of those who suffer. Certainly the first thing we can do is pray for those who suffer. While it may sound trite, and often we need to put feet to our prayers, prayer is a powerful ministry that we should not overlook or underrate. Healing begins with prayer. Action begins with prayer. Justice begins with prayer.
Second, we can minister to those who suffer. You can volunteer your time in the hospital, or in the hospice, or in the nursing home. You can volunteer some time in the soup kitchen or homeless shelter. Some of you may have the time to do that weekly, others maybe only monthly. The point is you can do something. When we do this, the works of God are revealed in us as we act with compassion and mercy and friendship.
• What will you commit to do to alleviate the suffering of someone else?
A third way we can help diminish suffering in the world is to work for justice. I am not one to get heavily involved in a lot of causes, but that doesn't mean I don't support what they stand for. I'm with those who look for tuna from companies that don't kill dolphins. I recycle. I try not to pollute my own environment. I may not join all the available organizations and groups, but I believe in and pray for peace in our world.
Others rally around other worthy causes. That is the beauty of the Body of Christ. We are gifted and called to different ministries so that, taken as a whole, we speak with one voice with God's words. When we find suffering in the world, we cannot turn our backs. We are called to various levels of action and ministry.
John has a theological point to make as well. Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath, and it becomes a conflict point with the Pharisees. The Pharisees blind themselves to the reality of the miracle because, according to their theology, Jesus was a sinner. No godly person would ever work on the Sabbath. Jesus says to them, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind." The Pharisees answer him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" Don't you want to hear Jesus say something like, "You got it!" Jesus replies, "If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now that you say, 'We see,' your sin remains" (John 9:41 NRSV).
Christians, especially the leaders, pastors, and scholars of the Church, should heed this warning. We have the habit of getting so wound up in our own traditions and theologies that we end up putting Jesus in a box. Our theologies limit us in accepting the various ways Jesus can act in the world. Some scholars do not accept miracles. They don't accept the resurrection of Jesus as an historical event. The consequence then is that they must explain every miracle in the Bible as some kind of natural phenomena or fable.
• Do you have any areas of blindness or places where you limit Jesus' power?
Individual Christians listen to so many radio teachers, television preachers, Christian books, and magazines that we end up with hodgepodge theology composed of the ideas we like or want to be true, some of which are not based on the Bible. Many people in mainline churches no longer hold a strong commitment to the Bible as the Word of God, the reality of a personal devil, or that God will send people who do not believe in Jesus to hell. Our only guide must be the Bible. The most difficult task we have is reading the Bible with a completely open mind and not letting past traditions and input jade our interpretation. We must let the Bible speak for itself. As we listen to the Bible and keep in prayer, we are working to keep our eyes open constantly and not become blind to the work and truth of God around us. As we listen to the Bible and keep in prayer, we will become people who continually reveal God's works in all the situations that life would thrust upon us. We also recognize that our mission from Jesus is to preach the Good News, so that spiritual blindness may be cured and people will come to Jesus in faith.
When we see all the suffering and evil in the world, keep this lesson in mind. Fixing the blame is easy, but solves nothing. God calls all of us to minister in the name of Jesus, so that the glory of God may be revealed.
WWJD -- What will you do the next time you see someone suffering?
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
-- John 9:1-7 (NIV)
Suffering is all around us. How often do we walk by people, ignoring or avoiding their hurt, their pain, their frustration? How many other people walked by this blind man on their way to the temple, on their way to the market, on their way to their job, and on their way home again? Maybe a few even put some shekels in the blind man's cup, thankful to God for their sight but quick to move on. Perhaps it was just to salve their own conscience. Since he has been there so long, can we believe that anyone was truly interested in healing or meeting the real need of this blind man?
• What kind of suffering do you pass by every day?
Those who walked by in that day and time would have had ample self-justification for their lack of concern. The prevailing theology of the time said that those who suffered did so because of sin. In the case of being born blind, they reasoned that you either sinned in the womb, or your parents sinned, and your blindness was their punishment as well. It is a handy theology. It explains that which we don't fully understand. It justifies God and doesn't charge him with evil. In this case, it gives passersby an excuse to ignore this blind man, because after all, he is paying for his sin.
• How do you feel about this theology? Is sickness the result of sin?
The disciples have been raised in this theological environment, so they ask the question all of us would like to ask God, "Why is this person suffering so?" We ask that all the time, don't we? I do. I wondered why my wife had to suffer with chronic fatigue for five years. I ask why my parents had to die so young. I ask why about a lot of suffering in my congregation. These are good people. Why?
The disciples ask the question in the context of their day, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Talk to us, Jesus; why is this man suffering? Who can we blame? Who should take the responsibility for this suffering? Sometimes we get too wrapped up in the causes and not the cures. We would rather fix blame than fix the problem. We want to know where to point the finger of responsibility.
Who sinned? The question is not impertinent. The Bible teaches throughout that the wages of sin, the consequences of sin, is death. Death implies disease, decay, suffering, and pain. Jesus answers, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned." Jesus is not saying that they never sinned, or that they were sinless. Jesus is saying that in this particular case, who sinned is not the bottom line concern. In other cases, Jesus does make a connection between suffering and sin. We saw that in the healing of the paralytic when he said, "Your sins are forgiven." In John 5, Jesus heals the man at the Bethesda pool. When he meets the man later, Jesus says to him, "See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more so that nothing worse happens to you" (John 5:14 NRSV).
• Have you had a sickness in your life that you would interpret as the direct result of your sin?
It is important to remind ourselves that in this world, there is a direct and irrefutable connection between sin and suffering. We suffer because we sin. The further implication is that because sin has so pervaded the fabric of this world, its systems, and our lives, we suffer even if we are not personally responsible for the sin ourselves. Paul alludes to this in Romans 8:19: "All creation has been subjected to futility and groans with anticipation when God will make the redemption of his children complete." Creation suffers because of human sin. Animals have become extinct because of sinful humans in their greed and lust. Various places of the earth have been made unusable and uninhabitable because of human sin. One prime example are the areas where we have unsafely disposed of nuclear waste and toxic waste.
In many ways we cause our own suffering. We have polluted the air, the soil, and the water. Then we wonder why we have foul air to breathe, less land for farming, and contaminated water to drink. We destroy the ozone layer, bake in the sun, and wonder why we get skin cancer. We pollute our lungs with cigarette smoke and wonder why we get lung cancer. We eat high fat, high calorie, junk food diets and wonder why we are overweight and get colon cancer. People live their lives in sexual promiscuity and perversion and we wonder why we have sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS. We use drugs and alcohol and wonder why our bodies wear out so quickly and die early. We work ourselves to death with no vacation or recreation and wonder why we have so many stress-related conditions. We kick people out of psychiatric facilities and down-size faithful employees and wonder why we have a homeless problem. People go to work all day and leave their children by themselves, and we wonder why we have gang and juvenile delinquency problems.
• What other problems can you think of as a consequence of our behavior?
Who sinned? We sinned. We cannot escape responsibility for our actions and the consequences of those actions. Even though we preach forgiveness of sin, which we do, forgiveness does not always guarantee we will escape the consequences of our actions. Forgiveness means we will still go to heaven, but we also still have to accept the consequences while on earth.
Jesus addresses the consequences in his answer to his disciples. "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him." Guess what? That isn't true of the blind man alone. All of us were born so that God's works might be revealed in us. Spiritually applied, all of us have been born blind; spiritually blind. The only way we will see God is if we allow Jesus to heal us of our blindness. When we come to Jesus in faith and repentance, the works of God are revealed in us through God's salvation. Jesus is saying that the suffering of others is not the time to fix the blame, but to fix the problems that caused the suffering, and to minister to the ones who are suffering.
We have several ministry options open to us to meet the needs of those who suffer. Certainly the first thing we can do is pray for those who suffer. While it may sound trite, and often we need to put feet to our prayers, prayer is a powerful ministry that we should not overlook or underrate. Healing begins with prayer. Action begins with prayer. Justice begins with prayer.
Second, we can minister to those who suffer. You can volunteer your time in the hospital, or in the hospice, or in the nursing home. You can volunteer some time in the soup kitchen or homeless shelter. Some of you may have the time to do that weekly, others maybe only monthly. The point is you can do something. When we do this, the works of God are revealed in us as we act with compassion and mercy and friendship.
• What will you commit to do to alleviate the suffering of someone else?
A third way we can help diminish suffering in the world is to work for justice. I am not one to get heavily involved in a lot of causes, but that doesn't mean I don't support what they stand for. I'm with those who look for tuna from companies that don't kill dolphins. I recycle. I try not to pollute my own environment. I may not join all the available organizations and groups, but I believe in and pray for peace in our world.
Others rally around other worthy causes. That is the beauty of the Body of Christ. We are gifted and called to different ministries so that, taken as a whole, we speak with one voice with God's words. When we find suffering in the world, we cannot turn our backs. We are called to various levels of action and ministry.
John has a theological point to make as well. Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath, and it becomes a conflict point with the Pharisees. The Pharisees blind themselves to the reality of the miracle because, according to their theology, Jesus was a sinner. No godly person would ever work on the Sabbath. Jesus says to them, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind." The Pharisees answer him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" Don't you want to hear Jesus say something like, "You got it!" Jesus replies, "If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now that you say, 'We see,' your sin remains" (John 9:41 NRSV).
Christians, especially the leaders, pastors, and scholars of the Church, should heed this warning. We have the habit of getting so wound up in our own traditions and theologies that we end up putting Jesus in a box. Our theologies limit us in accepting the various ways Jesus can act in the world. Some scholars do not accept miracles. They don't accept the resurrection of Jesus as an historical event. The consequence then is that they must explain every miracle in the Bible as some kind of natural phenomena or fable.
• Do you have any areas of blindness or places where you limit Jesus' power?
Individual Christians listen to so many radio teachers, television preachers, Christian books, and magazines that we end up with hodgepodge theology composed of the ideas we like or want to be true, some of which are not based on the Bible. Many people in mainline churches no longer hold a strong commitment to the Bible as the Word of God, the reality of a personal devil, or that God will send people who do not believe in Jesus to hell. Our only guide must be the Bible. The most difficult task we have is reading the Bible with a completely open mind and not letting past traditions and input jade our interpretation. We must let the Bible speak for itself. As we listen to the Bible and keep in prayer, we are working to keep our eyes open constantly and not become blind to the work and truth of God around us. As we listen to the Bible and keep in prayer, we will become people who continually reveal God's works in all the situations that life would thrust upon us. We also recognize that our mission from Jesus is to preach the Good News, so that spiritual blindness may be cured and people will come to Jesus in faith.
When we see all the suffering and evil in the world, keep this lesson in mind. Fixing the blame is easy, but solves nothing. God calls all of us to minister in the name of Jesus, so that the glory of God may be revealed.
WWJD -- What will you do the next time you see someone suffering?
