Healing

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” — John 9:3-5

Today's GO message focused on the GO of healing. Healing is one of those gifts in the Bible that can be tough to discuss and talk about. To me there are two sign gifts — spiritual gifts that manifest as miraculous signs — that have been greatly abused. The first is the gift of tongues. The second is the gift of healing.

Miraculous healing is popular in some circles, and has been historically abused by faith healers and those who've sought to manipulate people. This, of course, is what served as the basis of the film "Leap of Faith," which was a reaction of the televangelists and big tent rivals that became so popular in the 1980s and early 1990s.

We can't put limits on God, so it's clear miraculous healing happens. Do I think people today have this miraculous sign gift? I don't, but nothing is impossible with God. I will say I think the biggest aspect of modern healing is faithful prayer. Jesus says in the Bible nothing is impossible for those who have faith.  My grandpa had an inoperable tumor in his throat. We prayed hard, as did others in our church. A few months later the tumor was gone. Doctors had no answer, but I will always believe it was the work of God, responding to the petitions of His faithful people.

You don't have to go far to find stories of miraculous healing, even today. But it's less of people laying on hands and more people hitting their knees. Again, you can't limit God, but this is an area where we have to be careful.

But there is another part of the passage that I find fascinating. It's when they first come upon the blind man and the disciples ask who sinned — the man or his parents. We know from this passage, and from elsewhere in Scripture, that God doesn't punish our sins or lack of faith with physical afflictions. Sometimes unapologetic sinners are afflicted, and sometimes devout believers are afflicted. It isn't tied to sins.

Yet it was a common teaching at the time that when something bad happened to you, it was because of an area of brokenness in your life. This doesn't align with Scripture, yet some still persist in this line of thinking. It is common after natural disasters to have someone claiming to represent Christians talking about the event being God's punishment for the immorality of the people. That, too, is poor theology.

In this passage, when the disciples go down that route, Jesus quickly corrects them. We, too, must do the same with people persist in bad theology that could cause someone to be turned away from the faith.