A year ago, the FBI announced the completion of \u201cOperation Varsity Blues,\u201d a nationwide scam in which wealthy parents paid outrageous bribes to get their children into prestigious colleges like Yale and Stanford. Fifty people were charged in the scandal, including parents, test administrators for the ACT and SAT, and college coaches who all collaborated in getting unqualified students admitted to big-name schools.<\/p>\n

In addition to the bribes, the folks involved in this scandal falsified test scores on the ACT and SAT exams, made up fake awards and honors on the students\u2019 college applications, paid professionals to take tests or attend classes for the students, and put the students on college athletic teams for which the students had no actual athletic experience. Some parents even photo shopped their kids\u2019 faces over the bodies of professional athletes to make it look like their kids had real athletic experience.<\/p>\n

Trevor Noah from\u00a0The Daily Show<\/em>\u00a0quipped, \u201cSome of these parents allegedly paid up to $6.5 million, which is insane. Honestly, for that amount of money, just buy a smarter kid!\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to make fun of people who have many privileges. Did they earn them? Do they deserve them? Are they just slackers with more money than brains? We like to believe that we deserve all the blessings we have in our lives. We\u2019ve worked for them. We really hold tight to this idea of being a self-made man or woman. We get angry if people suggest that we benefit from some unearned privilege. But we do.<\/p>\n

Look at today\u2019s Gospel: \u201cAs (Jesus) went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, \u2018Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

There it is again. This issue of deserving our blessings has been around a long time. The underlying belief here is that suffering also must be deserved. But if the blind man didn\u2019t deserve his disability<\/em>, then we don\u2019t deserve our ability<\/em>. We don\u2019t deserve our blessings and comfort and safety and health and happiness if he didn\u2019t deserve his blindness. And if none of us deserves our lot in life, then none of us can boast or complain if our lot in life changes, if we test negative or positive for Covid-19, for instance.<\/p>\n

In the Gospels, when someone comes to Jesus with a question, Jesus usually answers with another question, or with a parable or a challenge. In fact, author Philip Yancey says he once heard a theologian say that Jesus was asked 183 questions in the Bible, and he only answered three of them directly. Three out of one-hundred-eighty-three.<\/p>\n

So sit up and pay attention. This is one of the most important questions of human existence. And it\u2019s one of the few instances when Jesus answers a question directly. Why was this man blind? \u201cNeither this man nor his parents sinned,\u201d said Jesus, \u201cbut this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man\u2019s eyes. \u201cGo,\u201d he told him, \u201cWash in the Pool of Siloam.\u201d \u00a0So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.<\/p>\n

Notice that there are two acts of healing in these four verses.\u00a0There is, of course, the physical healing.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong> But I think the first act of healing occurred when the blind man heard Jesus say, \u201cNeither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0Jesus\u2019 statement gave the man hope and relieved the man of the thought that his disability was somehow a curse that made him a lesser man. And this hope is evidenced by the fact that the blind man got up and went to the pool of Siloam to wash the mud off his eyes.<\/p>\n

Have you ever tried walking across a hotel room in the dark? So can you imagine how far that blind man had to stumble, trusting that this stranger wasn\u2019t lying to him, wasn\u2019t tricking him, but actually had the power to restore his sight? We don\u2019t know for sure where the man was when Jesus healed him. But a trip to Siloam and back from the nearest wall of the temple, for example, would be about 1,300 yards.<\/p>\n

Would you crawl even half that distance on the word of a stranger? Jesus\u2019 words gave this man so much hope that he was willing to take that risk.<\/p>\n

A well-known professor in the field of management has said something profound about suffering: \u201cThere\u2019s some pain that needs a solution, and some pain that needs a story.\u201d In this moment, Jesus gave the blind man both a solution\u2014physical healing\u2014and a story: That he was not disabled by some sin that either his parents or he had committed.<\/p>\n

Most of us know what it is to carry around certain pains in life for which there is no solution. An unanswered prayer. An undeserved burden. And so we beg God for a solution. But what if God gives us a story<\/em> instead?<\/p>\n

God can use every part of your life for His glory.<\/strong>\u00a0 Many of us settle for a wimpy calling. We\u2019re content if we\u2019re just good people who go to church and help our neighbor occasionally. We\u2019re not a shining example of the love, the strength, the power and the grace of Almighty God. Part of the reason for that is because we hide our suffering and questions and pains from each other. We think that our weakness makes us less of a witness for Christ. Instead, it\u2019s walking in faith through our pain that causes others to see God\u2019s glory in our lives.<\/p>\n

God can use your bad news. Our blessings<\/em> don\u2019t draw people to God. No one is in awe of a healthy, smart, wealthy person who has it all together. No, we\u2019re in awe of those who overcome hard times, who choose joy in the face of sorrow, who choose love in the face of betrayal or hatred. People need to see the character and power of God in how you handle your suffering.<\/p>\n

Currently, there are plenty of folks suffering from the effects of Covid-19: physically, mentally, spiritually, financially. The stress meter for all of us is off the scale right now.<\/p>\n

Well, the formerly blind man\u2019s story is one of hope and love and life and grace. It\u2019s the story of what Jesus did in him. And he refused to be silenced by the fear tactics of the Pharisees. When they interrogated him, they accused Jesus of being a sinner. And the formerly blind man said, \u201cWhether he is a sinner or not, I don\u2019t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!\u201d<\/p>\n

And remember, we never know who needs to hear God\u2019s story through us.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, there\u2019s some pain that needs a solution, and some pain that needs a story. You may never get an answer to your \u201cWhy this Coronavirus?\u201d So change the question to \u201cHow can God use this situation?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cHow can God use me?\u201d<\/p>\n

We ask God for a reason; God gives us a purpose.<\/p>\n

It can be the story of how God is glorified in our weakness, not in our strength, of how God is glorified in our perseverance more than our power. God is glorified more by our attitudes than by our achievements. And God is using our pain to grow us into people who reflect His glory and draw others to Him.<\/p>\n

Someone needs to hear the story of God in your life, especially in these times of fear and uncertainty. So how can you share it? Not just the shiny, happy parts. For you see, God is glorified in the tough<\/em> parts. The great news is that God can use your bad news to share the good news. Will you let Him?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A year ago, the FBI announced the completion of \u201cOperation Varsity Blues,\u201d a nationwide scam in which wealthy parents paid outrageous bribes to get their children into prestigious colleges like Yale and Stanford. Fifty people were charged in the scandal, including parents, test administrators for the ACT and SAT, and college coaches who all collaborated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n