What goes around comes around? - John 9:1-7, 13-17, 34-39

This past January in a qualifying match for the Australian Open, an Austrian player was playing an American. The entire match went back and forth and it was as close a match as you’ll see. In the final set, they entered a tiebreaker. The entire match hung in the balance. The first to ten, win by two, would advance, the other would be eliminated. The Austrian came out roaring, going up 7-1. Thinking the match was a lock, he began celebrating, pumping his fists and shouting. But you probably sense where this story is going. See, the match wasn’t over and the American battled back point by point and beat the Austrian, securing his spot in the Open. We see situations like this so often. The premature end zone celebration called back as a fumble at the goal line. The marathon runner celebrating before reaching that final ribbon only to be passed at the last moment. The reckless driver on the interstate who swerved around you and sped past only to get lit up by blue and red flashing lights. Moments like this leave us thinking, ‘What goes around, comes around.’

Many of us carry this assumption in life. Do good, and good will come back to you. Do wrong, and watch out because sooner or later, it’ll catch up to you. Eastern religion calls this karma. Karma turns life into a moral equation, suffering becomes payment and blessing becomes reward. And if we’re honest, that feels fair enough. And we wouldn’t be the only ones because that is exactly how the disciples think in our sermon text for this morning. After seeing a man who was born blind, they turn to Jesus and ask, “who sinned?” In other words, what goes around has to have come around here. Jesus takes their loaded question and teaches us that suffering is not God’s punishment for sin, because even in suffering God reveals his glory.

Even before the word karma existed people already believed the concept behind it. Go back to a man named Job. A man, who seems to have lived during the time of Abraham. Job is a prime example of suffering, he loses nearly every earthly blessing except his own life. In the midst of his sorrow and grief, his friends come to him and ‘comfort’ him saying ‘Well, people reap what they sow Job.’ Essentially, what goes around comes around Job.’

I wonder why? Why did the disciples think that way? Why did Job’s friends think that way long ago? Why do we still think that way today? Well, sometimes physical ailments really are the result of foolish choices. There’s no two ways about it, sometimes certain actions lead to direct physical consequences. A poor diet and minimal exercise leads to heart failure. Excessive sun exposure without protection leads to skin damage and cancer. Reckless driving leads to devastating injuries. Long-term smoking eats away at one's lungs. Sleeping around contracts sexually transmitted diseases. Chronic alcohol consumption leads to liver failure. Drug abuse corrodes the brain. We see plenty of examples where certain actions carry real consequences. So when the disciples see a man born in suffering their minds go where ours might, ‘well, what goes around must've come around.’

And the logic seems reasonable. Because if all suffering has a direct cause, then we can easily compare ourselves to others. We can look at their lives and see our own circumstances and convince ourselves that we must be doing better than they are. After all their suffering is evidence of their failures, while our situation is proof of our own goodness. Whether we admit it or not, we can begin to justify elevating ourselves over others.

And then, if bad things only happen to bad people, then we begin to assume that we must be doing pretty well. God must be pleased with me. And before long, we let ourselves off the hook entirely because if suffering is reserved only for the truly sinful, then surely I must not be that bad. Certainly not deserving of the eternal punishment that other ‘sinners’ deserve.

And then ultimately, this idea of karma reshapes our view of God himself. If life is nothing more than a moral equation, in which suffering is payment and blessing is reward, then God is nothing more than some cosmic scorekeeper. Someone to reward my good behavior and punish others for their pitiful mistakes. But now your logic insults our God. No longer is he gracious and merciful, the Lord of lords, now he is reduced to some petty, vindictive, cruel deity. Not all that different from the gods of ancient mythology. The ‘gods’ who threw lightning bolts at people for their own enjoyment simply because they could.

But before the disciples can continue down that line of logic any further, Jesus stops them. He says, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned.” Jesus completely dismantles their assumption that his blindness must be tied to some terrible sin of the past. While some suffering may be the direct result of sinful actions, not all suffering is. In this particular case, Jesus makes it clear, this was not punishment. And with those words something remarkable happens. Perhaps for the very first time in his whole life, the burden of accusation is lifted from this man's shoulders. I just see his shoulders relaxing as the weight of guilt falls off him.

Can you imagine going through life like that? Put yourself in his shoes for just a moment. Everywhere he went in life, people assumed that there was some terrible thing he’d done that made him the way he was. Or even worse, maybe it wasn’t even something he did. Maybe it was something his parents did, which despite being completely out of his control, is now a lifelong punishment that he has to carry. And if the guilt and shame of all that weren’t enough, people like the disciples would constantly remind him. If you pay attention to the way others speak about this man, you’ll see he’s never called by name, only referred to as a blind beggar. Even own parents wash their hands of him. He’s berated by the religious leaders as a man “steeped in sin at birth” with no right to explain things to them. Can you imagine the baggage he carried, living under the assumption that his suffering was God’s punishment for his sin?

But maybe, you don’t have to imagine? Maybe you don’t have to just put yourself in his shoes for a moment because maybe you wear them every single day. Maybe you carry the baggage of guilt and shame that makes suffering feel like God is vindictively punishing you. Maybe it’s through the sudden illness of a spouse or a child that changes life overnight. Maybe it’s a terminal diagnosis or the death of someone you love as regret whispers that you could’ve done more. Maybe it’s some accident or abuse that leaves you blaming yourself. Maybe it’s a birth defect or even a miscarriage that leaves even the doctors without answers. Maybe it's someone who has abandoned you or abandoned their faith. Maybe it's because of that sin from years, even decades ago. The one you’d give anything to undo. The one that seems to explain the kind of suffering you’re now experiencing. And beneath all this suffering lurks the same question, is this my fault? Does what goes around come around?

Consider how Jesus answers the question. “Neither this man nor his parents sinned.” Jesus does not deny that sin nor its effects exist. He doesn’t pretend that this man’s condition was not a real burden for him. But he does correct the false belief that his suffering was punishment from God. Stop turning your God into a petty deity who throws lightning bolts for fun. God does not use illness, tragedy or hardship to settle personal scores with you. Because if he did then certainly our score has earned far more than earthly suffering, we deserve eternal suffering. We don’t just deserve physical illness or pain in this life, we deserve God's wrath. We deserve to be cast out of his presence forever. We deserve eternal damnation in hell.

But your suffering in this life isn’t God’s punishment for your sin because Scripture tells us Jesus already bore the punishment for sin on the cross. God does not distribute punishment for your sin in small portions. A little pain here, and a sprinkling of cancer over there proportionate to what we deserve. He dealt the full punishment for sin on Jesus. In 1 John chapter 2 the apostle clarifies, Jesus “is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” The punishment of your sin fell on Jesus. He bore God’s condemning judgment so that you and I never would. The illness you carry is not proof that God is angry with you. The tragedy you endured is not evidence that God is settling accounts. The weakness you carry is not divine retribution for something buried in your past. Rather, the suffering we experience is the result of living in a fallen world still scarred by the effects of sin.

So if suffering is not God’s punishment for sin, then why does God permit suffering in our lives? Jesus tells us plainly, “This happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” What looked like weakness became the very place where God’s power was revealed. Jesus makes mud, sends the man to wash and the man who lived his entire life in darkness comes home seeing. Shapes. Colors. Faces. Light floods into a life that had only known darkness. But even still the glory of God was not done being revealed.

Now the whole village is astir. His neighbors are arguing, his family is in shock, the religious leaders are in denial and suddenly a beggar turns a powerful witness to Christ. His weakness becomes the very stage upon which Jesus is revealed as the Son of God. What once looked like meaningless suffering now reveals the glory of God for the whole world to see. But the glory of God was not done being revealed.

The religious leaders had heard enough. We read on, “And they threw him out. Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.” His blindness not only led him to physical sight, it led him to spiritual sight as well. To see and believe in Jesus, the one who saves from spiritual darkness. The glory of God was revealed as even suffering was worked for this man's ultimate good, that he would see Jesus and come to faith.

But Jesus hasn’t just pursued that one blind man. He doesn’t stand at a distance from anyone who suffers. He still seeks them out. He seeks you out. He found you when you were blind, living in the spiritual darkness of sin. Through his Word he brought the light of the Gospel into your heart. Through the washing of water and the Word spoken at your baptism God opened your spiritual eyes to see a whole new reality. One in which you are loved, forgiven and claimed by Christ. But the glory of God was not done being revealed for you.

The glory of God continues to be on full display every single day through you. Every ordinary moment of your life becomes a testimony of him who has given you spiritual sight. Through the seemingly mundane chores of this life, Christ is seen. Through the witness of your faith in the world, Christ is seen. Even in your suffering, Christ is seen. Because your perspective on suffering in this world, dear christian, is not normal. To have patience in persistent illness. To have peace in the waiting room before a perilous procedure. To sing hymns and say prayers in the waning hours of a dear christians life, is not normal. It’s faith. Faith, that doesn’t deny the pain, but trusts that even in this, the glory of God is being revealed.

For you know that even death itself is not the end of God’s glory for you. One day you too will open your eyes to see your Jesus face to face. One day you will stand before him perfect and glorified. No more sorrows. No more grief. No more pain. Forever with him.

So, who sinned? What a loaded question that was. Jesus answers it by reshaping how we see suffering itself. So give thanks that in Christ, what goes around is not what comes around because suffering is not God’s punishment for sin and even through suffering God reveals his glory. Amen.