God makes His works visible even in the most impossible situations. Just when the electricity goes off, God lights a match. Just when complete darkness envelops us, God surprises us with a light at the end of the tunnel. We are seeing this truth unfold before our eyes at this moment. We must not be blind to God’s work.
In the beautiful 4th Chapter of St. John’s Gospel, the Evangelist recounts an episode between Jesus and a man born blind. The disciples are curious. Who sinned to bring about this blindness, the man or his parents? Again, they are not thinking as God thinks. God sees broadly. God’s vision is not confined to our small little world where we think we have it all figured out. On the contrary, God has a plan. The man’s blindness exists “… so that the works of God might be made visible through him” (John 9:3). Therefore, what does the work of God bring about?
The man is blind so that Jesus can cure him. The man receives his sight so that he can give glory to God. This man born blind is part of God’s wise plan. The cure of his blindness will shed light on the truly blind. And, finally, the man with new eyes will feast his sight upon “the Son of Man” (John 9:35) who cured him. And because seeing leads to greater things, the man will exclaim, “I do believe, Lord” and fall to the ground in worship of “the light of the world” (John 9:5).
May God grant us a vision of the larger picture. It is God’s way of doing things, not ours. Jesus makes this vision possible.