Jesus’ answer is a dilemma
“Jesus answered: ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.’” (Jn 9:3).
The dilemma is not in the problem of pain in itself, though it is the great catastrophe and the great challenge that faces man, especially when he is afflicted by it or sees a relative of his afflicted. The dilemma that I see is in the answer of Christ Himself: that the illness is so that the works of God might be revealed in him. And it is the same phrase that He said in the miracle of Lazarus: “When Jesus heard that, He said: ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’” (Jn 11:4).
First: when we face pain, we search for an answer that comforts us, before it comforts the afflicted one himself. For man often searches for an answer that comforts him so that he may be relieved of the confrontation, and so we say: this is God’s wisdom, or: this is what God willed. Such an answer comforts us more than it offers a true solution. And thus when the disciples saw the blind man, they found themselves before a theological dilemma requiring a solution, and so they asked: who sinned, this man or his parents? And their question springs from the Jewish background that sees the result of pain as linked to a sin committed by the person or by his parents, that is, that he inherited the sin from them and so was struck with its punishment, or that he committed the sin in a previous life according to the belief of reincarnation.
Then what Jesus said was not an answer to the question, but in truth was a breaking of this link, for He said: “Neither this man sinned nor his parents.” Jesus’ answer was a revolution against the traditional understanding of illness, and it cuts the bond between sin and pain. He says there is no bond between sin and pain; pain is a state isolated from sin, and the two are not necessarily linked. And here He makes us at ease that the afflicted one is not a sinner, nor does he receive the punishment of his deeds, and He clarifies that illness is neither an evil nor the result of sin.
But the dilemma here will be in what Jesus said: “that the works of God might be revealed in him,” so that God may be glorified. Here lies the problem. His answer makes us turn our gaze from pain to God Himself, so that the glory of God becomes the cause of the pain. This phrase is a greater dilemma than the pain itself. We used to see pain as the result of sin, and we came to see pain as being for the sake of the glory of God. We used to need an answer to comfort us from the pain, and we came to see God sending us pain for His own sake.
The phrase makes us understand as though there were a deliberate plan from God to expose him to illness, and then the moment of the divine display would come, to show the power of God and His ability to heal pain, and His superiority in comparison with man and man’s weakness and helplessness. And so pain becomes a play prepared in advance for God to show Himself great in the world. And by this interpretation, the illness of this man becomes intentional, for he did not see all his life except for one sole purpose, namely his healing on this day by the power of God, so that He might be glorified, so that He might show Himself.
This is what sometimes leads us to the belief that God created us to worship Him or to glorify Him, as though He wanted man to display His glory and His greatness, and man here becomes a divine instrument, and loses his personhood, turning into an instrument that has no value except in the measure of its existence within the prior plan and in the measure of its exposure to pain.
Before we clarify what Jesus meant, we must realize that illness in the world is not from God but from the nature of this universe. It is a natural result of the changes that occur in the universe, and pain results from illness. But we do not see illness as pain except in the measure that it threatens man’s life and hurts him, while the universe sees it as merely a biological and chemical interaction proceeding according to the laws of physics and biology that favor no one. Let us take a simple example: the earthquake is a natural event within the composition of the earth. The earthquake occurs as a result of the movement of the earth’s plates so that they may settle. But the earthquake becomes a catastrophe and a pain when it leads to the existence of human victims, while in its natural state it is an event within the laws of the universe. And likewise is human illness.
Hence Jesus’ answer, “that the works of God might be revealed in him,” does not explain the cause of the blindness, but is a call from Jesus to work in this scene, and this is confirmed by His words immediately after it: “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day” (Jn 9:4).
The phrase that we repeat, “glory to God,” when we see a man afflicted but keeping his peace and not broken by illness: if we see a man afflicted with cancer, for example, but in every minute continuing in his prayer, his work, and his life without falling into despair, we say: glory to God for the strength and endurance this man has. While we say, when we see a sick man who has fallen into despair and is discouraged and collapsing: may God help him and aid him.
These two phrases, as simple reactions, are in truth the threshold from which we understand what it means “that the works of God might be revealed in him” or “for the glory of God.” For illness is not a cause of the glory of God, but rather victory over illness is the moment in which the works of God are manifested in man, and works that appear not by a prior plan of God, but by man’s desire to become the glory of God. In the miracle of the healing of the ten lepers, Jesus healed ten, but the work of God appeared in one of them, in that person who returned and thanked Jesus. And when Jesus healed the soldier whose ear Peter had cut off, God was not glorified through him. His power appeared, yes, but His glory did not appear. The glory of God is not linked to the healing of illness in itself, but to man’s desire to overcome it, and to become part of the divine glory. For healing adds nothing to the glory of God, but rather brings man into the glory of God, and illness is transformed from a natural event within the laws of the universe into an opportunity to share with God in His grace.
As for victory, it is not necessarily physical healing. A man may remain ill and die, but his will crystallizes more, and the spirit and the inner being are renewed. Victory takes several forms, for the thief on the right did not overcome and escape death on the cross, but his victory was in transforming the moment of pain into a moment of sharing in the divine glory.
Saint Irenaeus says: “The glory of God is man fully alive.”
The divine glory is not a “divine egoism” that seeks praise, but it is “man himself,” and the works of God are man’s ascent to rise to perfection. The divine glory is not a desire to appear, but the liberation of man, that God might accomplish His work in man, and man become the hero of the divine story. For God does not “display” His power at our expense, but “pours” Himself into us so that we might become His glory, and He does not need our pain to show His greatness, but intervenes in this fallen world to help man achieve the final victory, and saves him.
The declaration of the divine glory is bound to us and to our desire to overcome illness, pain, and suffering, and this victory is not only in us, but that we might become like Christ, working to comfort the sick and the afflicted, visiting them, and working to lift the pain from them. The declaration of the glory does not mean that we raise His name and hoist banners, icons, crosses, and slogans in His name; the whole story is that we share in His work. God works and we work. It is as though the essence of the truth were summed up in the prayer of a child to Jesus, when he said to Him: O Jesus, today You have toiled greatly; tomorrow You rest, and I will work in Your place. This simplicity is the depth of the Christian message: that we bear our responsibility as co-workers with God in this world. The apostle Paul says: “For we are God’s fellow workers” (1 Cor 3:9).