When Jesus is Heard But Not Seen
/Whenever someone is afflicted by suffering, lack, or dire circumstance, people will try to make sense of "why"? We prefer to have life's problems well-defined, lifted, turned this way and that, thoroughly examined for a way to make theological, ethical, and moral sense of it. We want to develop dependable rules about life; to discover what to do (or avoid doing) in order to more predictably "deserve blessing and avoid punishment." Jesus offers no such rules, but rather, a relationship.
In today's gospel lesson, Jesus encounters a man who was born blind. Jesus' closest followers quickly call for the theological explanation: "whose sin caused this man to born blind?" Jesus rejects their question in order to reveal a greater lesson: the grace of God is unfettered and does not operate according to fixed rules. Jesus healed the man, but being touched by Jesus was no walk in the park. The man endured the scorn and skepticism of his friends, was abandoned by his family, and ultimately rejected and cast out by the religious leadership. All of this happened, though the man never actually asked to be healed in the first place!
Through the eyes of faith in Christ we see that God's grace is free to touch and heal whomever, whenever, God chooses...and still some "love the darkness rather than the light." (John 3:19)