A WORD FOR TODAY, April 25, 2025
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, April 25, 2025
“On his way out of the temple Jesus saw a man who had been born blind. His disciples asked Jesus,
‘Master, was this man born blind because of the wrong things he did, or was it the wrong things his parents did?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that he or his parents did any wrong thing. But it was so that people would see what God will do in him.’” John 9:1-3, WEB
I used to volunteer at a local inclusive theme park in San Antonio. I remember one crazy day; we had almost too many visitors. Several schools were scheduled to visit, and it was always a challenge when hundreds of people showed up at the front door at the same time. The process was made even more challenging because there had been an error with the reservations of one school that was bringing many students and other guests. The parent chaperones were asked to wait patiently while everything was settled. Unfortunately, they were as anxious as everyone else about visiting and they were not patient. They crowded the doors, complained about the disorganization, and some even tried to sneak in through another door.
Meanwhile, we had to continue to do our work. There were other schools and individual families that needed to be served. I am sure it must have been frustrating to see other groups easily entering while they were stuck waiting. I am sure that they did not think it was fair that others were being escorted through the crowds while they had been standing there for a long time. They did not understand our system and could not understand why those latecomers were allowed to go inside while they were stuck outside the door. They took their frustration out on anyone wearing a uniform. I heard the grumbling; those of us on the front line were blamed for their inconvenience.
We are very quick to lay the blame on whoever happens to be in our way when things are not going well for us. Have you ever gotten angry with a driver on the highway? Or the clerk at the grocery store? Or the postal worker at lunch hour? Or your child’s teacher? Or your supervisor? Or a government worker? I’m sure each of us can think of someone with whom we have been angry recently. We blame them for our troubles, whether or not they are really at fault for our frustrations and inconvenience. We do not consider our own role, or the roles of others, in the problem. Perhaps we were driving just a little too fast, making it difficult for that driver to move into the lane to exit. Did the management of that store schedule too few cashiers that day? We know the post office will be crowded at lunchtime: why did we choose to go then? You get the idea: the person we blame might not be at fault.
Now, don’t get me wrong: sometimes other people are at fault. Sometimes that teacher does not know what he’s doing. Sometimes that supervisor really does not do her job properly. Sometimes that government worker is really incompetent. But it would do us well to remember that no one is perfect (not even us), sometimes we are simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Today’s passage is a little hard for us to grasp, because we have a hard time accepting that God would allow someone to suffer blindness for His glory. We say this because we see it as an imperfection, something that makes someone less than good. In Jesus’ day, they even thought imperfections were punishment for past sins. We do suffer the consequences of our sin. For example, some accidents are due to unsafe driving. Some broken relationships are due to our self-centered points of view. Some illness is a direct result of our actions.
But when we look at our suffering from Jesus’ point of view, we see that God can make good things happen out of any situation, even our frustration and inconvenience. God can be glorified even when we are being blamed for the troubles others face. So, let us remember that God has His hands in places we might never expect, and let us stop and consider how God might bring light to the darkness and order to the chaos that troubles us.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org