Today in Greek class we were translating the story of the healing of the blind man in John 9. When Jesus' disciples ask him who sinned to cause this man to be blind Jesus replied in verse 3,
"Neither this man sinned nor his parents, but in order that the works of God might be made manifest in him"-DPSV
(DPSV stands for Dylan Pyeatt Standard Version, because I translated that straight from the Greek. Yeah!.......sorry, I'm going to forget all my Greek knowledge in a few months, so I have to enjoy it while I can. Anyways, where were we? Oh yes...)
"Neither this man sinned nor his parents, but in order that the works of God might be made manifest in him"
We talked about how this statement would have been revolutionary to Jewish listeners at the time. The Jews based their belief of suffering on their misunderstanding of God's covenant with them, believing that all those who suffered were being punished for sin in their lives (you can see this belief played out in Job by the advice of the friends of Job).
What I find revolutionary is the idea that God can use suffering, and perhaps even create suffering to accomplish his mission. We discussed in class how each one of us was also created to make manifest the works of God. God uses all the baggage that we are given to create something beautiful in the great story he is writing. I do not say this to give some big explanation for why suffering is in this world, and I certainly do not think we should offer this explanation to those in the midst of some great loss. I simply say this because I love this bible story. I love how Jesus was able to change a story of sadness, loneliness, and poverty (which this blind man certainly experienced in the first century) into joy and hope. I also think this is a challenge for us. Just as God was glorified by this man, he should be glorified by us in our daily lives. People should see Christ in us despite our struggles and trials, and perhaps even because of our trials and struggles. May we all seek to have God be φανερωθη, or made manifest in the way that we speak, act and love each and every day.
What I find revolutionary is the idea that God can use suffering, and perhaps even create suffering to accomplish his mission. We discussed in class how each one of us was also created to make manifest the works of God. God uses all the baggage that we are given to create something beautiful in the great story he is writing. I do not say this to give some big explanation for why suffering is in this world, and I certainly do not think we should offer this explanation to those in the midst of some great loss. I simply say this because I love this bible story. I love how Jesus was able to change a story of sadness, loneliness, and poverty (which this blind man certainly experienced in the first century) into joy and hope. I also think this is a challenge for us. Just as God was glorified by this man, he should be glorified by us in our daily lives. People should see Christ in us despite our struggles and trials, and perhaps even because of our trials and struggles. May we all seek to have God be φανερωθη, or made manifest in the way that we speak, act and love each and every day.
No comments:
Post a Comment