Fourth Sunday in Lent
John 9
March 15, 2026
I find that blame and finding fault is as common as PB&J. We want a clear and reasonable answer to the age-old question, “WHY”. Why is that child born with a deformity? Why is that person suffering from an untreatable illness? Why is there war? Why is there famine? Why, why, why? In fact, “why” may very well be the first question a child asks.
Why is there suffering and pain in the world? This has been a question that philosophers and theologians have grappled with for centuries. I have, in my office, books a thousand pages long, each trying to deal with the problem of pain and its cause.
We zealously seek the source of pain and suffering; we zealously try to find the person, place, or thing to blame in part because we think we have a right to know, but also because we want to make sure we’re not to blame. In fact, most people develop entire layers and systems of protection to make sure they are not to blame, that it’s always someone else’s fault, and we develop this layered and complex system at a very young age.
We don’t have a problem blaming others, but we most certainly do not want to be blamed. In a sociological sense, this is simply the human experience. We want to know why there’s suffering, why something is broke, why there’s trouble; we want to post blame; we want to make sure we’re not getting blamed. In a theological sense, it is at the core of what it is to be a sinner. It’s pride.
The disciples inquire of Jesus why a blind man was born blind. But let’s first think about the nuance of the scene. “As Jesus passed by…” In other words, this blind man is not in Jesus’ direct vision or path, but he is a peripheral matter, or at least at first. It’s clear that God has a plan for this blind man, but Jesus is just passing by. It almost seems as if the disciples themselves had to avert the Lord’s eyes so that he would notice the seemingly well-known blind-man who was blind from birth.
“Whose fault is it,” they ask, “The man’s or his parents?” This was not a strange question for 1st century Jews to ask. They wanted to lay blame as well. When a person is born deformed, it was considered proper to blame the parents, insisting that they had committed some sin from which their offspring would suffer the consequences. Perhaps dad committed adultery or some other lustful action, and God was punishing him by giving him a blind child. Perhaps mom did something unlawful on the Sabbath and God was teaching her a lesson by giving her a blind child.
Or it could be that the man would commit a sin in his life and God was preempting a punishment by making him blind from birth.
We all suffer from this same need to blame and when there’s trouble in our lives, we often resort to looking for a reason, a source, a person or thing or event to blame. A person has cancer. “What caused it,” we ask. Was it smoking, was it drinking, was it breathing or consuming a dangerous substance or a chemical in the food? A person has heart disease. And we get to work trying to find the source of his affliction – who or what is to blame. Did he have a wife who constantly made him angry, children who caused him to lose his temper all the time, a job which stressed him out so much? Was it the food he ate; was it his lack of exercise?
Why is this man born blind; whose fault is it; what caused it?
Clearly, we know that it is contrary to God’s perfect creation that a man or woman be born deformed, blind, lame, deaf, with a syndrome or a disability. We know it’s not the way it’s supposed to be. But we don’t know why. No one should be born blind. No one should have to wear contact lenses or glasses. I’ve worn contact lenses and glasses since I was 15. I should have had them since I was about 12 when I couldn’t see the words on the chalk board from two or three rows back. And my prescription isn’t all that bad compared to some who can’t see anything without a pair of spectacles an inch thick with bifocals and trifocals and progressive lenses and every other vision enhancement known to man.
But is it my parents’ fault that I don’t have 20/20 vision? Is it my fault? Maybe it’s not the point. Jesus doesn’t seem to think so. He says something very contrary to culture’s common understanding of blame, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
Did Jesus just say that human frailties and deformities are the work of God, that God creates blindness and deafness and lameness in people? Of course not. God does not create deformities anymore than God creates sin. But here we see the great blind spot of the great deceiver, the devil who masquerades as an angel of light, but who can bring only darkness.
In Eden, he deceived Eve by showing her a piece of fruit and making it for her a sacramental food, a fruit which brings illumination, wisdom, fulfillment, knowledge and power. Only this false sacrament brought nothing but blindness and deafness and unfeelingness not only to Eve but to Adam who ate and to all humanity.
The point of the blind man isn’t that he was born blind and we must know why. The point of the blind man is that all mankind is born blind on account of the lie of Satan and the false promises in which Adam and Eve believed. Their faith was misdirected away from the true sacrament – the Tree of Life and God’s eternal promises given there, and toward the tree from which they were not to eat.
But God uses Satan’s deception against him by giving true sight to the blind, that is to say, faith to the unbeliever. And it’s the whole point of the blind man from birth and all the periphery stuff around this blind man further emphasize the point.
Jesus says, “We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.” He is the light of the world! He brings sight to the blind man. And where there is no light, there is no sight. The eyes simply receive from outside them what the light reveals.
Jesus does something quite amazing, and He doesn’t have to, but in order to demonstrate visually who He is and why He has come, He creates a mud slurry with his own spit. And why is this important? John chapters 1 through 3 tell us. NEW CREATION! In Genesis 1, God created man from dirt and dirt requires a bit of moisture to stick together. So it goes without saying that when God created Adam, He formed the first man using dirt with water. But not just dirt and water, but also His Word. And you notice, as well, that God didn’t just speak and say, “Let us make man in our own image and likeness.” The rest of creation, God spoke and it was done, but with man, God spoke, and with His own hands He formed.
Now, in new creation, Jesus speaks, and with His own hands and His own “water” He brings sight to the blind, He opens the heart and the mind of a man closed off, since birth, to the truth and the light.
And He immediately tells the man to wash himself in the nearby pool. John makes the point to reveal the pool’s name, the Pool of Siloam which means “sent.” The interesting thing about this pool is that it is fed from a stream which ran down from the temple. We find that same imagery in the Book of Revelation where the water of the river of life runs down from the throne of God and the heavenly temple for the healing of the nations.
This blind man washes his eyes in the pool and he sees! The mud and spittle is God doing what He does, by His own Word and hands He recreates or regenerates or rebirths. And, of course, the water and washing is baptism. And the amazing thing is that the blind man didn’t have to see before he received the benefits of the Lord’s work, no. Contrary to Arminian teaching which says that God places a little good in everyone and that we have to cooperate with God and make a rational decision to believe, the blind man didn’t come to Jesus and say anything or prove anything or show his faith. There was no cooperation at all; the blind man was entirely passive. Jesus goes to the man – the man doesn’t even say a word – and Jesus gives him sight through new creation and baptism. The Word creates faith and faith trusts, even in very outlandish things.
And then, after sight is given without cost to the blind from birth man, only then does the faith-driven response come. “I was blind, but now I see, I’m that man, and this Jesus came to me and gave me sight!” He confesses the faith, doesn’t he?
And when the pharisees and religious leaders show up on the scene, we begin to see who is truly blind. They are so blind, in fact, that they cannot at all see what is right in front of them. The mud, the water, the man named Jesus – none of it makes sense to them; none of it brings clarity to their blind eyes. They call the man’s parents over, and the parents confirm that this man who sees, and who was once blind, is their child. Whose fault was it? Well, who can we blame now? Deformities on account of sins last a lifetime, but not for this man who now sees.
And the man is beside himself with how those supposed pious theologians question it. He says, “What an amazing thing! YOU are the truly blind ones because I can now truly see.”
Jesus finds the man once blind and reveals Himself as Lord, and the man confesses the faith. “I believe,” he says. This is FAR more important than his physical sight being given. One can go through life blind and still be saved, and one can go through life with 20/20 vision and fall headlong into hell where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. But to confess Jesus as Lord, to be given the sight of faith is what’s at the center of the whole thing.
The man falls and worships Him. And then Jesus says to the pharisees, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.” In other words, Jesus just revealed that He is God in the flesh to these pharisees and teachers of the law who are supposed to know Scripture and the power of God, but they refuse to believe what they saw with their own eyes. And thus, all their sins and guilt remain heaped upon them.
Jesus IS the light of the world; Jesus IS the bringer of true sight and true understanding. He is the author and perfector of our faith, the worker of new creation and the Word that saves by baptism. He is the blood and water that flows from font and from altar. And we are the beneficiaries, the heirs, the receivers of His Word and work. Like Adam and Eve, God forms us from the dust of the earth by water and the Word and recreates us into His holy and precious people, brought up to proclaim His mighty works to the world, to subdue the world by His Gospel, and to bring sight to the blind by our good works and service.
Our question is no longer, “Why.” Our question now is, “How…How can I respond to God’s love and grace given me, a man, a woman, a child, a young adult born blind but given sight to see the truth, how can I respond and show my thankfulness for His kindness?”
Jesus tells us. Abide in His Word, confess Him as Lord, and worship Him. Go to church and pray, praise, and give thanks and receive the heaven-flowing benefits of His Word and Sacrament as often as you possibly can from a church that teaches faithfully the orthodox Christian religion.
Contrary to popular and contemporary belief, you cannot be a lone Christian, worshiping in your own way, practicing the faith in your own way. Christians follow their Lord and abide in Him, and He commands that we come together, in fellowship, in common confession, and worship Him together. To revile fellowship with God’s people in the Divine Service is to revile Christ and to put the blinders back over your eyes. But it is your Christian response, and your Christian and spirit-driven duty to love God more than you love the world. Too many people fail to see it these days. They think, “Worship and church is secondary to ‘me and my faith.’” It’s not. And only Jesus can give you the light and sight to see it. You need His Word and you need His body and blood in the bread and wine – all the time for it is the fuel for your soul, and the muscle support for your faith. Pray that He help you and help modern Christians with this very misguided blind spot.
Love God with all your heart and mind and strength, seek to live a life of virtue, free from sin and its viceful passions. Then go and love your neighbor as yourself – or as Christ has so graciously and patiently and freely loved you. Amen.
