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Daily Devotion — John 9:1–5 — Light in the Darkness
Sometimes suffering isn’t a result of sin but an opportunity for God’s glory to be revealed through us. He is the light in the darkness.
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:1–5 ESV
Jesus and his disciples are on the move again, and as they’re traveling, they come upon a man who is blind. The disciples ask Jesus whose fault the man’s blindness is. Is the man blind because he sinned or because his parents sinned?
To us as modern-day readers, the question sounds ridiculous. We attribute this kind of condition to the body just not functioning as it should; but in the ancient Jewish world, physical ailments and suffering, like blindness, were thought to be punishments from God for some act of disobedience of that person or someone in their family.
