Eustache Le Sueur, Christ Healing the Blind Man, – Oil on panel, 49 x 65 cm Schloss Sanssouci, Berlin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sunday morning, my friend Terah and I hustled from the choir room to a new Sunday school class. We dodged people right and left and finally arrived on the other side of the campus somewhat breathlessly. I attend what some might call a mega-church. On any Sunday, attendance can vary from 3000 to 5000, depending on whether or not the Titans play on Sunday afternoon. Some critics of the mega-church movement here in Nashville even call our campus Six Flags over Jesus. But, I love my church and the genuine worshipful atmosphere and personal challenge I encounter each week.
Although I went to this Sunday school class mostly to accompany my friend, I ended up being glad I did. In a megachurch, connections with other believers develop from smaller group activities, and it was in this classroom that I received my personal challenge this week.
We studied John 9 where Jesus heals the blind man and the Pharisees rebuke him for working on the Sabbath, the day of rest. Our teacher emphasized two verses. First, in verse 5, Jesus says, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” This implies two things, one that just occurred to me and one pointed out by our teacher. I am currently leading my freshmen in a study of the Holocaust, and we are reading Elie Wiesel’s Night. Elie loses his faith in the face of the evil he encounters in a concentration camp, and I ask my students how they would address the problem of evil. Non-believers often ask, “If your God is good, then how can he let such evil take place?” We discuss various ways to answer this question, and I was reminded of our classroom conversation by this verse. If a world needs light, it is a dark world. Imperfection and human frailty fill this world we inhabit, and evil like the Holocaust can take root and flourish. And, as we were instructed Sunday morning, while Jesus was among us, he could be the light fighting all the darkness. But now that he’s gone, he has passed the torch to us, his followers. We envisioned a candle burning in the middle of the room and how its light falls on everything around us. Am I really being a light in the world? Do those around me feel genuine warmth and goodwill? Am I carrying out good for those around me? Sure I am, but only if it’s convenient.
With that in mind, we returned to verse three. In keeping with the idea of retributive justice that we hear about in the Old Testament (children being punished for the sins of their fathers and all that), the disciples assume the blind man must have sinned, and Jesus replies, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind so that the works of God may be revealed through what happens to him.” Jesus carried out every action with the purpose of glorifying God, and even this man’s sickness served that purpose. Our teacher asked us to reconsider the verse and what was meant by “the works” of God. If we are to carry on being the light, what are the works of God that we are supposed to accomplish to further His glory?
When asked to volunteer what they thought the works of the church are today, class members volunteered
–taking care of the poor
–spreading the gospel through mission work
–ministering to children
–ministering within the church
One word echoed in my mind over and over: healing. Jesus is telling us to do the works of God and be light in a dark world in the context of HEALING a blind man. To me, it sums up our job in this world. Where there is pain, we should be a healing force to reduce it. Where there is anger, physical healing might not be in order, but emotional healing is. Where there is hatred and evil, the spiritual wounds they inflict can only begin to heal through love.
Healing is soothing, repairing, assuaging, rebuilding, refreshing, renewing. It’s one of the new lenses through which I view my work as a Christian.
awritablelife 
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