March 15, 2026

John 9

Got good news? Anything? We need just a little bit of good news don’t we? Everyday the percentage of good news is small. Turn on the news I can guarantee you’ll hear something pretty sad and sorrowful, probably something about a war, probably something about a coming financial crisis, a natural disaster. This pain and sorrow is part of life, but isn’t it interesting how the media handles this, we’ve got to admit it. They take advantage of that adage, because it’s true… “if it bleeds it leads.” It feeds into the human nature of doom and gloom, psychologists have studied that. People pay more attention to bad news than good news. We tend to remember powerful negative experiences for a long time and therefore good news is rare, it’s uncommon and it’s not often shared. You might even have to have a paid subscription to some magazine to get your good news.

CS Lewis, penned a book on his conversion, called “Surprised by Joy.” Captivating because we, for the most part are not surprised by joy, in fact the opposite is true. I think this world likes to keep us down there, continually surprised with the sorrow, the shock, with the bad news, newspapers keep us informed about murders, rapes, tragedies, shocking events. Even when we talk about these events we inform ourselves did you see that? Did you hear about that? It’s terrible, can you believe it? The powers of darkness want to keep us in sorrow and keep us in fear. Overwhelming us, paralyzing us, taking away our hope. Seems to me, I think, the world would have us cling to the last pieces of driftwood rather than boldly standing as a living hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For Christians during this time, the Lenten season, sorrow should never take us by surprise. This is the season of sorrow. This is the season the Creator of the world came to die for sins and eradicate it power.

Imagine, in the gospel for today, this guy who is blind. Everyday the same, same ol same, same ol blindness, same ol despair, same ol tin cup, same ol penny rattling around. Same ol darkness, same ol sins, same ol darkness. But on that day, Jesus came. He changed everything. It’s a beautiful thing. His whole life changed, this man who lived in darkness, the day he was born, who never saw a sunset, who never witnessed beautiful art, he never saw the faces of those who took care of him and loved him, this man lived in blindness,sorrow, and despair but Jesus came. Jesus came to him, Jesus found him.

A blind man, born into a dark world, begged for any help. Yet instead of mercy, the disciples respond to his need with this query, Rabbi who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? In asking it, the disciples revealed a flawed assumption about God. One that linked suffering and illness, disability and tragedy to the disobedience of the afflicted. They conclude that this poor, blind beggar must have had it coming. At least, this was the sins of the parents. After all, if the parents were truly living a moral life then God would have to take care of them. He would never allow a fate such as a child born blind.

The disciples came to Jesus with a theology of glory. A theology that put themselves at the center of the story. In essence, if you were good God would reward you and if you were bad, then you would receive punishment your sins deserved. And to be fair, it is a way of making sense of suffering. But you see this also allowed them to justify themselves before God. It gave them control over what was happening in their lives. It gave them control. The really hard truth is that we do the exact the same thing. This is such an important reading because suffering always leaves us asking the question WHY?  Job’s friends tried to answer in the face of his woes. It’s the question to Jesus in today’s reading and it’s the very same question we ask when faced with reversal or disappointment or suffering or loss. WHY? WHY Me? What did I do to deserve this? These come to us naturally, because we all think that somehow our salvation and standing before God depends on us. If we can be good, work hard, plan well, do enough to help others, then we will be spared and rewarded with good things. This arrogant theology always points us away from Christ and turns us in and on ourselves. It drives us to our own sinful hearts and that’s a big problem. When we are held up before a holy God who demands perfection, well the truth is obvious, we are not good, not one of us can claim this. Not one of us can stand before God with clean hands and a pure heart. This natural man who desires to be like God, it needs to die. And that’s exactly what Jesus is doing in today’s reading and He says to the disciples, “it was not this man who sinned or his parents, but this has happened that the works of God might be displayed in him.” In these words, he rips apart the faulty idea that His disciples had relied on to give them control, to make sense of suffering. He destroyed their self- centered, theology of glory. Jesus directed them back to God who is always working His saving purpose….even in suffering.

From the beginning of His ministry to it’s bloody conclusion, Jesus is clear about His purpose, He came to save sinners. He came to seek the lost. He came to heal the sick and give sight to the blind and restore hope to the hopeless and preach good news that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but wicked would turn from their ways and live.

By tearing down the false idea that salvation depends on us, Jesus showed us that we are indeed, the very ones who need saving. Like the disciples and the Pharisees, we are the lost and the hopeless and the sick and the blind. When we recognize this truth about ourselves, when we face the blindness of our eyes, the word of Christ is for us. And it saves us. No matter how sick a soul may be, Christ can heal. No matter how far someone has fallen into sin, Christ can pull him out.  No matter how troubled, afraid or afflicted a person may be, Christ can comfort him. Whatever condition a person may be in, even if they think they will die because of it, he can know that the Lord does not desire the death of any sinner. Instead He says to us sinners, you will not perish. Instead, you have been saved and you will live. This is God’s promise to you!

So what do we do when we see suffering? When we see pain? Well we understand these trials in light of Christ. The works of God will be displayed. Rather than make judgments, we can step into the breach and reach out in compassion, in love for our hurting neighbor, God is at work. So we step up and make meals, we listen and jump right in, care for and reach out and extend compassion to the suffering. We give out of our plenty to those who are in want, we grieve those who mourn loss. We defend those who have been put down. Remembering that Christ has freed us to help and to serve others in ways without judging their merit or worth. Christ goes before us, Christ is within us, and in our callings the work of the Lord is being done. What did Jesus do in the face of suffering? He helped and healed, He joined sinners in their suffering so that the works of God might be displayed. Today they are displayed….in you.

There’s not a one size fits all when it comes to Christian suffering.  When we suffer, there’s various ways that we respond to that. In fact, there’s various biblical responses to suffering. There is Job, he responds to suffering through lamentation. He talks about God made me, but now he’s attacking me. He even says, I just wish God would leave me alone so I could have some rest. Paul, OTOH, when he’s writing to the church in Corinth, talks about the suffering he’s experiencing as an apostle. He’s persecuted, he’s homeless, he’s hungry, he says we’re like the scum of the earth, but he’s talking about his suffering in order to admonish the Corinthians, to teach them about what the apostles are enduring for their sake. Job is lamenting in response to his suffering, Paul is teaching, both are right. You can respond to suffering by viewing it as discipline or testing or a chance for confession and all are biblical responses to your suffering. In fact, it’s probably going to fluctuate as you go through the various things that you are enduring as a Christian. What’s most important is whatever you’re going through, inevitably, to focus your attention upon Christ crucified who suffered for you and who promises to uphold you through whatever dark days you’re going through, because if there’s one thing that’s true about Jesus it is He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever and He is consistent in His mercy toward you.

So Jesus reaches into this man’s life. Spits in a little mud, you can almost see Him tapping his eyes, go to the pool and wash. So he goes and he sees! For the first time in his life! What do you think he looked at?? Oh my fingers, my feet. Oh that’s water. Oh is that my mother? My father? Clouds! Birds! That was the first surprise. The second was that he had his sins forgiven. And that’s why Jesus comes. In this confusion, in this dark world, He brings the light. The light of the world has come. Jesus is the One who transforms darkness into light physically and spiritually. And the third surprising thing, really wonderful….he gets a testimony. He begins to tell others of the light of the world. He gets to witness. He begins to tell of what he knows and what he doesn’t know and I what I know I can simply see, He’s the One who healed me. That man, right there! Then he begins to witness of all people to the Pharisees. Unfortunately, they are in the dark about the whole thing, they don’t have a clue. They can’t see and they are more blind than this man ever was. And what did they do? They tried to pry, and grab and deflate his joy. They do that by questioning.  Imagine that… this man with his sight and his joy, telling him uh, no you don’t. They argue with him, you weren’t blind in the first place, were you really born blind? how did you really become healed? How did this happen? All he says is, all I know is, I was blind and now I see. 

Do you want to believe in Jesus too? what a question, he wants to tell it. Ya know, it’s been said, there is no more compelling story than one that is life changing. A life that’s encountered Jesus. Certainly that can be said of this man who’s encountered Jesus. How about you? How has Jesus changed your life? Does your life reflect that joy because Jesus is there? Does your life have certain spring in it’s step because you’ve been baptized? Is there great joy in your life because your sins have been forgiven? Yours and your parents? There’s great joy because Jesus is our light. He’s taken away our spiritual blindness If we wanna see a life surprised by joy we gotta open God’s word.

So often our world is controlled by pain, sorrow, disappointment, fear. Unemployment, sickness, bad relationships with spouse, co workers, parents, neighbors, unloving family members, then there’s death and taxes. If we focus on all these things there’s alot of room for sadness but there’s room for joy…Joy does not depend on ups and downs, or circumstances. No. There is great joy because even though this world is sin-filled and dark, God has overcome this world. Paul says it if God is for us, who can be against us? And God is for you! Joy is there because we’ve been adopted, sins have been forgiven, joy because God is light and there is no darkness at all. There is joy because God’s love is stronger than hate.  There is joy because your life has been changed, my life has been changed. The light of the world has come. Walk in that light, walk in that joy.