Look again

I was reading John 9 today and stopped on the first few sentences where the disciples question Jesus about a blind man.  Jesus says that he was born blind so that the works of God might be manifested, made manifest, displayed (depending on translation) in him.  Then Jesus heals the guy.

This is often interpreted that Jesus was referring to what he was about to do...heal him.  But I've never liked that explanation.  So God would make this guy an abject beggar for his whole life in a society that viewed disabilities as the results of sin and therefore often rejected the disabled, just so one day far into the future, Jesus would walk by and have the opportunity to heal him instantly?

I don't know, but that seems pretty cruel.  I could almost rather buy the Hebrew explanation that his parents must have been guilty of some grievous sin rather than think that God would subject someone to so much pain and suffering just for the one moment we get recorded.


If Jesus did mean the man was just an opportunity for him to heal, what about all the other people who are in the same boat, but don't get healed?  Are they actually the ones born in sin?  Are they just purposeless?  That makes it seem even worse!

So if that doesn't wash, what else could he mean?  I checked the Greek and it means just what the English says, "should be manifested".  So not much help there. 

The story goes on to describe how the man went to show himself to the priests, required for admittance back into society.  They grill him about what happened.  The man is surprisingly witty back to them, wisecracking on them and making the famous statement paraphrased, "I don't know about all that, I just know I was blind and now I see."  He even goes on to "teach" the know-it-all Pharisees some logic, which really doesn't go over well.  Eventually the man meets Jesus again and after a couple questions, showing a very sharp mind, the man believes that Jesus is the Christ.

This makes me think, maybe Jesus means the man was born blind so God's working in him could be shown.  Look at the guy's attitude!  Where does a blind beggar learn to reason and wit like he does?  Where does he get the guts to repeatedly insult the priests that everyone else, including the man's own parents, are terrified of?

Could it be that Jesus was saying this man was, dare I say, blessed to be blind because it made him more open to what God wanted him to be?  Being unable to pursue the rat-race trappings of life, he grows in truth.  Being already disregarded by society, the "rulers" have no power over him.  He doesn't fear anything they can do to him.  Having experienced their hypocrisy first hand, he "sees" through it more than most.

Could this be why Jesus ends by saying he came so that the blind will see and those who see will be made blind?  This fits well with Jesus' continual habit of turning the social and political structures of his day upside down.  We had it twisted and he was untwisting it.  The man we all despise is the best one of us, freer, bolder, stronger, eyes or no.  And all the things we build up around ourselves to define who we are and show how we stack up to others are utter stupidity.