The disciples asked who was to be blamed for the man blindness because they held onto the belief that the blindness was the consequence of his or his parent’s sin as a punishment from God. Therefore, they wanted to understand who was to blame for the man’s blindness. During those days, it was believed that when you do a wrong thing, then a wrong thing would happen to you and when you do good, then good things would happen to you. However, Jesus corrected such an assumption terming the blindness an opportunity for God’s power to manifest itself. Such a reply from Jesus arguably was not taken lightly by the disciples. Perhaps they questioned why God should allow people to suffer to such an extent only to glorify Himself. They could not understand how the blindness could have occurred if not for the sin caused by the parents or the blind man.
I would have told the blind man that he did nothing to deserve the suffering that he was going through but it was all for the glory of God. To his parents, I would have encouraged them to have faith in God and note that what their son was going through was not as a result of their sin either. The suffering is not a direct impact of his sin or those of his parents but part of parcel of living in this sinful world. I would encourage my clients by stating that, when Adam and Eve sinned, God punished them, and part of the punishment was to subject all humanity to ‘decay’ (Romans chapter 8 verses 18-21); therefore, the suffering and pain that they continue to experience is tied up with this sin. God did this not because He is vindictive rather because he wants to remind us that there is evidently more to life than just what we see around us. We go through pain and suffering so that we may turn away from sin and rebellion and go back to Him so that we may not suffer the ultimate punishment of the last day. Therefore, when tragedy comes, one should take it as an opportunity for God to do greater things.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
