John 9:1-12
In addiction treatment circles, counselors love to encourage clients with the emphatic phrase, “Break the cycle!” the meaning behind that comes from the implication that many times addicts become addicts because they are “genetically predisposed.” I am a great example of this. White, Irish Catholic background, parents struggled with drinking as did several of their family members. Presto! You are destined to be an alcoholic.
There have been many studies that claim to prove this to be a thing, but with that, there have been numerous studies that say, “Not so fast…”
In Jesus’ early followers struggled at times to understand who Jesus was and what to make of Him. They loved the teachings; they were amazed by the healings but the whole Son of Man thing and His claim to grant forgiveness of sins made them uneasy. Some of what Jesus put out there was hard to understand, and some of it was flat-out dangerous to embrace. As a result, many of those Jewish believers were clinging to old-time traditional beliefs. They did believe that the sins of the father were passed onto the son. Many of them believed in reincarnation. They believed that a baby could sin in the womb. They believed that God could choose to punish you today for a sin you hadn’t considered committing yet.
In chapter 9 of John’s Gospel, we see Jesus walking along with these same disciples. They come upon a man, blind from birth, begging on the side of the road. Rather than stopping to see what they could do to help the man, the disciples ask Jesus this, chapter 9, verse 2.
“Rabbi”, His disciples asked Him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of His own sins or the sins of His parents?”
You and I do the same thing all the time, right? When we see someone suffering or we see some form of injustice we may go to Jesus and ask, “Why?” And when we ask that question, there are probably times when our assumption is that the person in question is being punished in some way.
Jesus responds. “It was not because of his sins or his parent’s sins. This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.”
I want us to consider that for a minute because what Jesus is saying here is big. Jesus sets aside all talk of punishment and instead indicates that this man has this burden, and it’s made his life hard – kind of the way life is if you’re struggling with an addiction or some other form of sinful behavior. That burden, that setback, that sin makes a way for the power of God to be seen. How?
Well, for the blind man it happens when Jesus spits on the ground, makes a mudpack, smears it on the man’s eyes, sends him to the pool of Siloam to rinse off and the man comes back with 20-20 vision. How about you? How has God’s power been displayed in your life? Sobriety? A growing faith in Him? A heart to serve?
Listen…from the cross your cycle of sin has been broken. Now it’s up to you to choose to live in that reality so that the power of God may be seen through you. Amen?