Jesus was passing a blind man (according to an account in the Gospel of John) and his disciples asked, 'Who sinned that he was born blind, the man or his parents?'
Now, even if there were a direct connection between sin and suffering, which I don't believe there is, a person can hardly be blamed for being born blind.
Forget, for a moment what a stupid question that was though. It represents a universal enquiry. Who is to blame?
We want a name. We want closure. Get someone in the dock for this.
Are you basically optimistic or pessimistic about the human ability to make life better?
The wonderful work of the DIY SOS team fills us with hope but doesn't, of course, tell us why a family might have such mobility difficulties. Nor should it.
And when we hear afresh of the devastation caused by tropical cyclone Idai we can't blame anyone. But we can be filled with compassion.
No. We can be pretty certain that bad things will happen to some good people. The key question for our humanity, and indeed our theology, is how we react when they do. Will you accept life's knocks without seeking to blame someone for everything? Will you move on without making your victimhood somehow define you? Both tough to do.
The guy in our opening story was healed by Jesus. Then he was submitted to a quite aggressive questioning. How were you healed? Who did it? How did he do it?
He kept replying that he didn't know anything except for one thing. 'I was blind he said 'And now I can see.'
He didn't care who was to blame. He was grateful that someone helped.
No comments:
Post a Comment