Giving sight to the blind is one of the signs associated with the Messiah in Isaih (Isaiah 29:18, 35:4, 42:7).
The disciples first reaction on seeing the blind man was to ask who was to blame. The rabbis taught that all suffering was directly correlated to sin. They even went so far as to say that a child could sin in the womb. Now it is true that ultimately all sickness and death is a result of sin. It is also true that some suffering is a direct consequence of sin. We can see this in obvious ways, for instance if someone drinks too much they will be likely to have liver disease and other health problems as a direct result. There are also instances where sin is a direct spiritual consequence of sin (1 Cor 11:30). However, it is not true that all sickness is a direct consequence of sin, and in general you cannot say that someone is a worse sinner because they are ill!
Jesus took a very different approach to the disciples. He was concerned with the works of God being displayed in the man. Jesus was going to heal the man. v3 reads a little like saying that the man had been inflicted with blindness so that the works of God could be displayed. However, there is another way of reading it (Kruse). In the original Greek there were no punctuation marks, and it is possible to take v3 with v4 (rather than two separate sentences), so that it reads "but so that the works of God might be displayed in him we must do the works of Him who sent me". Whatever the case, the focus of Jesus was on healing the man.
This incident has implications for us. Sometimes we too can be overly obsessed with why someone is suffering from something, and overly concerned with digging back into someone's past (our own past). The emphasis of Jesus was on setting free and healing.
The section finishes with Jesus reminding us of the urgency of doing God's work. There is a limited amount if time within which God's work can be done, so we need to take every opportunity.
The disciples first reaction on seeing the blind man was to ask who was to blame. The rabbis taught that all suffering was directly correlated to sin. They even went so far as to say that a child could sin in the womb. Now it is true that ultimately all sickness and death is a result of sin. It is also true that some suffering is a direct consequence of sin. We can see this in obvious ways, for instance if someone drinks too much they will be likely to have liver disease and other health problems as a direct result. There are also instances where sin is a direct spiritual consequence of sin (1 Cor 11:30). However, it is not true that all sickness is a direct consequence of sin, and in general you cannot say that someone is a worse sinner because they are ill!
Jesus took a very different approach to the disciples. He was concerned with the works of God being displayed in the man. Jesus was going to heal the man. v3 reads a little like saying that the man had been inflicted with blindness so that the works of God could be displayed. However, there is another way of reading it (Kruse). In the original Greek there were no punctuation marks, and it is possible to take v3 with v4 (rather than two separate sentences), so that it reads "but so that the works of God might be displayed in him we must do the works of Him who sent me". Whatever the case, the focus of Jesus was on healing the man.
This incident has implications for us. Sometimes we too can be overly obsessed with why someone is suffering from something, and overly concerned with digging back into someone's past (our own past). The emphasis of Jesus was on setting free and healing.
The section finishes with Jesus reminding us of the urgency of doing God's work. There is a limited amount if time within which God's work can be done, so we need to take every opportunity.
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