Why Was This Child Born Blind?

I listened today to a John Piper sermon titled "Why was this child born blind?"  It's excellent.  And helpful in thinking about all kinds of struggles and suffering.

As I listened to it, the Lord surprised me by answering a long-standing prayer of mine.  It's kind of unrelated to the sermon topic, so I'll share some background.

When the kids and I are grocery shopping or out somewhere, I'm frequently asked if they're twins.  I usually say that they're not, and that they're only two weeks apart so it's like having twins.  Almost inevitably, people will ask me if they are brother and sister (kind of a funny question since that would be impossible, but still I'm asked it).  And that's a problem for me.  I know that the question has to do with whether they came from the same birth family.  If I were to answer that question, I would have to say no.  But the truth is that they ARE brother and sister.  And I don't want to undermine what the Lord has done in their lives through adoption by saying no, especially in front of them.  I've really struggled with how to direct the conversation.  I've tried a few different approaches. I've asked people for advice.  I don't want to be rude or unfriendly but it's been a bit confusing to me -- do I say something potentially misleading by simply answering that they are brother and sister, or do I answer the question I know they're asking and add on a tagline about the fact that they are brother and sister now?  Neither of those approaches has worked out in the way I'd like them to.  I'd love to be able to share the remarkable things the Lord has done in our family in a way that doesn't undermine adoption or cause our children to question the validity of their relationship to each other.  But honestly, part of me would also prefer to be a little more anonymous and avoid the conversations altogether.

With that in mind, here's the quote that stood out to me.  The passage comes from John 9.  Seemingly unrelated at first, but stick with it.

Let me plead with you—see disability. See it. Not like the priest and the Levite, who see the Jewish person beat up on the side of the road and then just walk to the other side. We're not seeing the way Jesus saw when that happens. So my plea is to trust God to give you what you need in that moment, and don't turn away.

It's our natural reflex to see and avoid. But we are not natural people. We are followers of Jesus. We have the Spirit of Christ in our hearts. We have been seen and touched in all our brokenness by an attentive, merciful Savior.

If you want to be one of the most remarkable kinds of human beings on the planet—a Jesus kind—see people with disabilities. See them. And move toward them. If you run away from every opportunity to make a mistake, you will be the most isolated, safe, boring, uncaring, person imaginable. We're Christians. We believe in forgiveness. We believe in making mistakes on the way to being a loving person. 

When the disciples saw Jesus’ attention to the blind man, they asked for an explanation of his blindness. Verse 2: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” That was probably not the most compassionate thing to say at the moment. And you're not going to say the right thing either. You're not. But Jesus was so merciful to them (just like our parents of children with disabilities have been merciful when we have said ill-informed and insensitive things). He does that a lot. He redeems awkward moments and callous words...

Jesus says, in effect, specific sins in the past don’t always correlate with specific suffering in the present. The decisive explanation for this blindness is not found by looking for its cause but by looking for its purpose. Verse 3: Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

I want to be like Jesus!  I want to redeem awkward moments and answer insensitive questions gracefully, remembering that I will sometimes ask ill-informed things too.  I hope that having a better heart attitude toward questions that are not meant to be offensive will model grace for my kids too.