From a Mom's Perspective
John 9:2-4 Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.”
We might also ask, “Why was my friend born deaf?” Or “why did my neighbor become sick with cancer?” Or “why was my brother born with a heart defect?”
My own little brother was born with a heart defect. He lived for 10 years and then passed into eternal life when I was 12. I remember having to be quiet and good during the times when my mom needed to focus just on him. I remember not being allowed to have chocolate in our home because it could have sent him into a fatal heart rhythm...I didn’t like that. I remember having to stand up to the bullies on the bus who teased him because of his scars and the way he walked...he had to be taught to walk again after atrophy set in while he was recuperating from his last surgery at 7 years old.
I remember the day I went to visit him after that surgery. I had not seen him in six months and he was so thin and so pale that I gasped. Then he smiled happily and said, “Hey! Want to play with my new truck?” So I climbed onto his hospital bed and we played. He didn’t tell me about the fact that he couldn’t walk anymore or about the failed attempts to place an IV earlier in the day. He didn’t mention the fact that he had coded three times since the last time I saw him. I found out about all that years later. He just wanted to play with me. He was the bravest person I ever knew.
So what would have happened if I had not known him? What if I had no one to learn to be quiet for? What if there was no one for whom I had to fast? What if there was no one to model such bravery and downright cheerfulness for me? Would I have ever been able to learn how to set myself aside for the sake of another? Christ did that. My brother did that. All those souls who inhabit a broken body do that..for us. So that we can learn how to become more like Jesus. It wasn’t a sin that caused my brother to be born as he was, or to have died as he did. It was so the power of God could be seen in him...by me. Praise God in all things!