Two Healings, Two Responses (4)

 

 

I want to touch on a similarity between Jesus healing the blind man in John Chapter 9 and His raising Lazarus from the dead in John Chapter 11.

 

“His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?’ 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’” (John 9:2 – 3).

 

“The sisters sent word to Him, saying, ‘Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.’ But when Jesus heard this, He said, ‘This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it’” (John 11:3 – 4).

 

Jesus points us to the glory of God as the purpose for the condition of the blind man and the condition of Lazarus. Now for sure, we might ask whether it was necessary for the blind man to have been born blind and to have lived into adulthood in that condition. We might ask whether it was necessary for Martha and Mary to go through the anxiety of Lazarus’s sickness and the sorrow and grief of his death. We could ask what Lazarus thought and felt about the whole experience.

 

It might be easy for some of us to say, “Such questions are not appropriate, if Jesus said it was necessary then that is the end of the matter.” Others might say, “Why? Why was it necessary for the man to be born blind and for Lazarus to die? Were there no alternatives? What other possibilities were there?”

 

Perhaps we can look to the difference between Zacharias and Mary for wisdom. When Zacharias hears Gabriel’s incredible message he responds in unbelief, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is an old woman” (Luke 1:18).

 

However, when Mary hears Gabriel’s even more incredible message she responds in awesome wonder and belief, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34)

 

“Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

 

Perhaps there is also an element of the father crying to Jesus, “I do believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

 

When we shut our questions down, our perplexities, we deny our humanity and our dependance on Jesus; we are not robots, we have feelings, we have questioning thoughts. It is worse when we try to shut others down, denying them the opportunity to express their struggles, their questions, their search for wisdom and understanding.

 

On the other hand, playing God, critiquing God’s will and actions and words, engaging in endless “what if” speculation, takes the focus off Jesus and places it on us as the arbiters of life.

 

Can we trust Jesus or not? Do we trust Him?

 

Perhaps with the father seeking deliverance for his son we can learn to cry, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!”

 

We can say, “Lord, I don’t understand all of this. I don’t understand the whys and hows and all the other questions. But I believe You, help me to believe You more and more and to trust You.”

 

My sense is that faith and belief in the presence of questions and doubt is more precious than a faith which denies the reality of doubt and questions. Let us not pretend; while I imagine that God can work through our pretensions, I sense that He would rather work through our honesty.

 

I have had friends who have lived and died through much suffering and limitations. I would have been a fool to have said, “This is why this is happening to you. This is why you were born with this disease. This is why this incurable illness has happened to you in the prime of life.”

 

For sure I saw the glory of God in these friends, for certain they have affected my life in Christ and increased my confidence in Jesus and my vision of eternity; but I simply cannot speculate on why such terrible disease and illness entered their lives, either as children or adults. I must trust Jesus Christ, I must trust His Nature, His Character, I must trust our Good Shepherd.

 

Let us recall that, “Jesus loved Martha and her sister Mary and Lazarus” (John 11:5).

 

Jesus loves me, He loves you, He loves us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:29).

 

Our message can always be, “Jesus loves you and wants to be with you through what you are experiencing. He loves you with every beat of His heart. He wants you to see Him in new ways, ways you never imagined. He wants you to feel His arms holding you close.” We can always have confidence in this Message, for we can always have confidence in Jesus and His love.

 

This can be our invitation for those who have yet to meet Jesus to meet Him and belong to Him. It can also be our affirmation of God’s love to those who have already come to know Him. We can always trust Jesus…always.

 

Now for a bit of homework if you please. Between John chapters 9 and 11 is naturally Chapter 10. How might Chapter 10 relate to chapters 9 and 11?

 

We’ll look at this in the next reflection in this series, the Lord willing.