John 9:1-3 - A man blind from birth

9:1,2

Jesus and His disciples passed by a man who had been born blind. The disciples ask whether this was due to his own sin or that of his parents. The disciples were basing their thinking on some of the strictest rabbinical teaching that saw all suffering as a direct result of sin. It was also believed that a baby could sin in the womb! Otherwise if the man had been born blind he hadn’t had the chance to sin yet.

9:3

Jesus tells His disciples that the man’s blindness had nothing to do with the man, nor his parents sinning. Ultimately all sickness is the result of sin, in the sense that it is part of living in a fallen world. It is true that some sickness, or other physical conditions, are a direct result of sin. Either being a direct consequence of the sin itself (e.g. drinking heavily will lead to liver disease), or a result of God’s judgement on that sin. However, it is not true that all suffering is a direct result of sin. So the disciples were looking in the wrong place for understanding what God was doing. The man was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him.