Spiritual Hiccups - What to Do?

When you look at all the problems in the world, war, hunger, poverty, and more; when you observe the bigotry, partisanship, and hatred that seems so pervasive, a natural question to ask is, "How did things ever get this way?"  I suppose that's the sort of question asked by Jesus' disciples when they met a blind man.  "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that  he was born blind?"

Knowing how things got the way they are can sometimes be very helpful in figuring out solutions.  But often questions about cause are mostly about laying blame.  Knowing whose sin resulted in someone's blindness does nothing to help the situation.  Sometimes it may even have the opposite effect.  If it is someone else's fault, it isn't my problem.

Why things are the way they are is an intriguing question that may be worth our time, but Jesus doesn't waste his time on it in our gospel reading.  He dismisses his disciples' question by saying that the blind man is an opportunity for God's work to be revealed.  I have my doubts that Jesus meant God caused this man's blindness just so Jesus could heal him.  Rather I think that Jesus is so focused on the caring, loving, healing, transforming work of God that every such encounter is a moment of revelation, a moment when God's hopes and dreams for humanity can be demonstrated.

In the Western world, with our deep roots reaching back into Greek philosophy, we can sometimes become paralyzed by questions of why.  We become so engaged in seeking to understand that we forget to act.  I'm not trying to sound or be anti-intellectual.  Faith seeks understanding, after all.  But faith begins with a step, a movement along the path Jesus blazed.

Most of us aren't able to restore a blind person's sight, but most of us encounter situations every day that are at odds with God's hopes.  We see people in need.  We see people who are ostracized.  We see people who are lonely.  We see people who are hurting.  The list goes on and on.  And every one of those encounters is an opportunity for us to be agents of revelation, for us to demonstrate God's dreams for the world.

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