Control
A reading for Thursday, September 4, 2014: John 9:1-17.
Control is a way of orienting oneself to God in which predictability and the need for things not to change is paramount. One wants to control God in order to know exactly how and when to act. The question the disciples ask Jesus about the blind beggar is a control question. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” The idea is that if neither my parents nor I sin, then we will not be blind like this poor beggar. It's about control.
However, we also suspect that control is an illusion, especially when it comes to God. God does what God chooses and we are not in control at all. Sometimes this might be scary, but it doesn't have to be. In the story today, Jesus chooses to heal the blind man even on the sabbath. That would have been totally outside the predictability and need for things not to change. No prophet would ever do that, and yet at the end the blind man declares Jesus to be just that. God acts in love and kindness outside our control.
Perhaps a better way to respond to God is with faithfulness and not control. God will do what God does, and we are to respond with faithfulness. The good news is that God is loving and merciful, and promises to always be with us no matter what. Truth is if we were in control, we would probably mess things up. We trust that God is in control and though we don't always understand why things happen the way they do, God knows what is best.
Sometimes the unpredictable happens and we realize we are not in control. “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.”
Thanks be to God. God is with us. Now I see.
Control is a way of orienting oneself to God in which predictability and the need for things not to change is paramount. One wants to control God in order to know exactly how and when to act. The question the disciples ask Jesus about the blind beggar is a control question. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” The idea is that if neither my parents nor I sin, then we will not be blind like this poor beggar. It's about control.
However, we also suspect that control is an illusion, especially when it comes to God. God does what God chooses and we are not in control at all. Sometimes this might be scary, but it doesn't have to be. In the story today, Jesus chooses to heal the blind man even on the sabbath. That would have been totally outside the predictability and need for things not to change. No prophet would ever do that, and yet at the end the blind man declares Jesus to be just that. God acts in love and kindness outside our control.
Perhaps a better way to respond to God is with faithfulness and not control. God will do what God does, and we are to respond with faithfulness. The good news is that God is loving and merciful, and promises to always be with us no matter what. Truth is if we were in control, we would probably mess things up. We trust that God is in control and though we don't always understand why things happen the way they do, God knows what is best.
Sometimes the unpredictable happens and we realize we are not in control. “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.”
Thanks be to God. God is with us. Now I see.
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