His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” – John 9:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 14, 2014): John 9

Science fiction author Frank Herbert (1920-1986) has been considered to be one of the masters at understanding cause and effect in his writing. Chapterhouse Dune, a novel released just prior to his death and the sixth novel in the Dune saga, was actually written as a valiant attempt to tie up all of the loose ends that the previous books had produced – all of the scattered causes that seemed to be without an effect. In a Frank Herbert world there just couldn’t be events that just happened – there was a reason, and a story, behind every occurrence in the life. And it was these connections that made his stories come alive for those fans who read his books.

But we don’t live in a Frank Herbert world. In the world in which we live, sometimes stuff just happens. As much as we want (and often need) for there to be a reason for the things in life, sometimes there just isn’t. Accidents happen. We want to put the blame somewhere, but there is just no appropriate place to put it – no place where the blame really fits. A friend of mine had a serious accident when a steering rod broke in his car and sent him careening into the ditch. My friend and the members of his family travelling with him survived, but his youngest daughter continues even today to have serious health problems because of the accident. And my friend does not go a day without wondering if there was something that he could and should have done differently. But there is really no one to blame. The accident was just that – and accident that just happened. To believe anything different is to pretend that we are living in a world designed by an author like Frank Herbert.

The disciples are suffering under a very similar delusion. They need for there to be a cause and effect in every situation. And so as they pass this man who was born blind, a question arises. In the minds of the disciples, the blindness of the man had to be related to a sin. But since the man was born blind, than who sinned? Is this blindness the cause of a parent’s sin or is it caused by something that the man had done in the womb. One of the questions that the disciples were struggling with is really one that we also struggle with – at what age do we become responsible for our sin? Is it possible to have to suffer through consequences of sins we committed when we were very young?

But Jesus sidesteps the question. The blindness was not created by sin – sometimes things just happen. It is a lesson that we need to learn desperately in the church. Too often I come in contact with people who are struggling with connecting the unfortunate events of their lives with sin. And sometimes there is a connection (although it is seldom these events that people struggle with – these are the “I have lung cancer because I smoked for forty years” conversations.) But often there is no reason – only a question. Is your faith in God big enough to survive even these circumstances in life? And, maybe, are you willing to allow God to work through this moment of your life – this moment of your weakness?

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: John 10