Today's Gospel reading from John 9: speaks to us about the healing nature of God.  In this passage, we witness Jesus healing a man who was born blind, and it reminds us of the amazing power of God's love to heal and restore our brokenness.  As we reflect on this passage, we are reminded that we all carry wounds and scars. These wounds can be physical, emotional, or spiritual.  They can be caused by our own actions or the actions of others.  But no matter how we got them, we can trust in God's healing power to bring us wholeness and restoration.  Henri Nouwen, once wrote, "To be healed we must first come to the end of our own power and accept the gift of power from above."  In other words, we must recognize that we cannot heal ourselves and that we need God's healing touch.  We must be willing to surrender our brokenness to God and allow Him to work in us.  In the story of the blind man, we see this surrender in action. The blind man does not demand healing from Jesus, nor does he offer any resistance when Jesus tells him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam.  He simply trusts in Jesus and obeys His command.  And it is through this trust and obedience that he is healed.

  Likewise, we must learn to trust in God's healing power and be willing to follow His lead.  We may not always understand why we are going through certain struggles, but we can trust that God has a plan for us and that He is working all things together for our good which He tells us about in Romans 8:28 – “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”

  Christian thinker Dietrich Bonhoeffer once, wrote, "The healing of the sick is not a miracle but a sign of God's love."  In other words, God's healing power is not a magic trick or a show of power, but a tangible expression of His love for us.  And just as the blind man's healing was a sign of God's love, so too can our own healing be a testament to God's grace and mercy.

  In my own life, I have witnessed the healing power of God in countless ways.  I have seen physical healings that doctors could not explain.  I have seen emotional wounds mended and relationships restored.  And I have seen spiritual transformation that can only be attributed to the power of God. 

  One of the most powerful illustrations of God's healing power that I have encountered comes from the book "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom.  In this book, Corrie tells the story of her experience in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II.  One day, she discovered that her sister, Betsie, was dying from malnutrition and abuse.  But even in the midst of this horrific situation, Betsie refused to give up hope.  She reminded Corrie that God was with them and that He had the power to heal her.  One day, Betsie became too weak to move, and Corrie was sure that she was about to die.  But then something miraculous happened.  Betsie sat up and exclaimed, "Corrie, look! The fleas are gone!" Corrie was confused by this statement, but Betsie explained that they had been praying for God to remove the fleas from their barracks so that they could hold a Bible study without being interrupted by the guards.  And somehow, the fleas had disappeared.  This may seem like a small thing, but to Betsie and Corrie, it was a sign of God's power and love.  It was a reminder that even in the darkest of circumstances, God was with them and that He had the power to heal and restore their brokenness.

  In the passage from the gospel, one of the things that comes front and center is the role of sin in sickness.  Jewish people believed, wrongly, at the time that if there was a physical illness, it always had to do directly with sin, either the sin of the person of that of their parents.  We see this belief really shown in the Biblical book Job.  I recently had the privilege of leading our Bible study through the book of Job and I remain deeply moved by it. 

  In the book, when all this tragedy and misery befalls Job, three of his friends arrive to sit with him in his pain and mourning.  First of all, way to go friends for they sit with him for days before they begin to speak.  Just as a side note, sometimes we think that we need to say so much to people who are suffering.  We feel as though it’s incumbent upon us to help make sense of the pain.  In truth, more often our words fall heavily upon the very person we are trying to help.  Sometimes, all that’s needed is just your presence.  To be willing to sit with someone in the pain is oftentimes the greatest gift we can give the person.  Job’s friends nail it for the first couple of days…then they begin to speak.  And when they do, what they want Job to do is to realize that it’s his fault.  That somehow, someway Job must’ve sinned to have brought down all this misery on his head.  In truth, as the book shows us, Job has done nothing wrong.  He truly is a righteous man.  One of the things that we often hear when tragedy strikes is, “what have I done that God would do this to me” or words to that effect.  The fact of the matter us that while Job doesn’t provide us an answer to the question we want, it does provide us a comforting view of an omnipotent God.  What God tells Job is that he lacks the appropriate perspective to judge whether or not God is just.  That he is, just a man.  In one of the most rousing parts of Scripture, God wonders where Job was when the planets were cast in their orbits or the ocean walled up from the dry land.  It’s a humbling speech but the point is clear – God is just and in charge but we do not live in a world that’s designed to prevent illness, injury or death.