Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?

“As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” John 9:1 It was so engrained in the people that bad things happened to bad people and good things happened to good people that they didn’t even question why bad things happened. They questioned who was responsible. They just wanted to know in the case of a child being born with something who had sinned. Did the child somehow sin before it was even born or did the parents sin and the child was punished with blindness for their sin?

The question we ask today is a slight variation of the question the disciples asked. We ask, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” I wonder where God’s protection is and where his blessings are when a friend’s son is killed in a car accident or when a young mother dies of brain cancer leaving a 3-year-old child and weeping husband behind.

Jesus states very clearly in the case of this blind man that neither he nor his parents did anything wrong to bring this about, but rather, “this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” John 9:3 When bad things happen, God’s healing is right there waiting to be displayed. It reminds me a little of an idea I once heard regarding plants and their healing qualities. Where a plant that injures grows (such as poison ivy or stinging nettles) often a plant that can bring about healing for that injury is nearby. (Thoughtful Creator!)

The obvious question here is can’t God display his glory without people having to suffer? I’m positive he can. However, because of the nature of the fallen human race, we tend to think we don’t need God if everything is going along fine. We even get to the idea that we might be controlling our lives quite well and maybe we are even our own god. And from there it is all downhill because once we believe we are the god of our own lives, we begin to think we should be the god of the lives of those around us as well. And the bottom line is that there is only one God and he is the Creator and the Master of all. And so when bad things happen and people begin to look for God, they see his glory that was being missed before.

I have had friends go through very difficult seasons in their lives. Two of them lost spouses, one to a sudden accident and one to a long battle with leukemia. As these friends struggled through this question, they both came back to God over and over and over looking for relief from the pain and suffering. And as they struggled, I watched them go deeper with God. They got rid of all pretenses and churchy words and like David in the Psalms were honest before God – honest about their pain, honest about their need for God and honest about their anger with God at the moment. And out of that pain and honesty, they grew closer and closer to their Creator. And I found myself being jealous of the relationship that they had with God – not that I would want to go through their pain, but on the other end, the simplicity of their relationship with God and their trust in their Maker to walk with them and carry them no matter what happened, was remarkable.

The rest of what Jesus said before he healed the man moved them from the physical to the spiritual. Jesus seems to have a thing about getting people to get unstuck in the physical reality and get in touch with the spiritual reality. “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:4-5 He is in the process of opening the man’s eyes so they can see the light. At the same time, he is very aware of the world’s need for light – his light. He sees the cross coming (night) and the healing grace coming as he rises from the dead and offers complete spiritual healing to anyone who believes and accepts his offer of grace. He is putting the focus back on God where it belongs. He is opening the way for us to get back into right relationship with God.

Sometimes when Jesus heals, he just touches or speaks words. But this time, he made mud with his saliva and put it on the man’s eyes and told him to go “wash in the Pool of Siloam.” John 9:7 I like to think of this as the man’s baptism. When he went (obeyed) and washed the mud off (became clean) he came up out of the water seeing (healed)! His change was so profound his own neighbors didn’t recognize him. He had to tell them who he was. And he also told them who had healed him. Jesus!