If you grew up hearing sermons or Bible stories, you may recall the story in John chapter 9 in which Jesus and his disciples meet a man who was blind. They are heading from one place to another; the language is - “as he passed by.” The disciples see the blind man who, apparently, is familiar to them, as it is noted that he had been blind since birth. What they do when they see him is curious, not especially compassionate. They use the existence of the blind man to ask Jesus a moral, even theological, question.
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
If you let that question sit with you a bit, you will likely find a few layers of trouble with it. They are asking who is to be blamed, who is at fault. They are also assuming that the fault lies not in some structural or societal reality, perhaps something to do with public health, but rather with the man himself. The only other possibility that they mention is one that resonates with blame-placers to this day. Perhaps, his blindness is his parents’ fault. They must have done something wrong or sinful and their son is bearing the consequences.
Jesus says that they have it wrong - it is neither the man’s sin or his parents’ sin that have made the man blind.
I bring this up because, while we can sometimes see these old stories as primitive or trite, we seem not to have progressed much from the tendency to place blame; to judge others who suffer as at fault for their own suffering. It can work the other way as well. We often assume that if someone is wealthy, comfortable, a person of high status, then they must have some special talent or ability that has made them worthy of such societal elevation.
There was a compelling article in the Globe and Mail this week that pointed to a study considering what the major factors were in someone becoming very wealthy. Hard work, right? Hard work matters, and it can make a difference, but if we spend even a moment considering the reality of the world we realize that the hardest working people in the world are not the richest. So, hard work alone is not what does it. How about talent? Talent matters, but what the study points out (and it looked at a 40 year span) is that what matters perhaps more is - luck.
From the article:
“What they found was that the most talented people almost never reached the peaks of economic success – rather, the ones most likely to achieve the pinnacle of wealth were those with more average talents but who happened to catch a couple of lucky breaks.
Likewise for those experiencing poverty. Instead of a lack of motivation, much of poverty can be explained by the unlucky breaks that strike people over time. In fact, my research has shown that the majority of Americans will at some point in their lives experience at least one year in poverty, with much of the reason having to do with bad luck – a sudden health emergency, a factory shutting its doors, an unannounced cutting back of work hours, a car breaking down, and on and on.”
Most of the wealthy people that I know, particularly the really smart and talented ones, know that they have, at some point, caught some lucky breaks. I have seen how this awareness has had a positive impact on how they relate to others who have not seen the same “success” in life.
The really wealthy people who tell themselves that the wealth they have is purely from their own insight, skill, or work tend not to be very interesting to be around.
Hopeful Christian faith considers the idea of ascribing worth. The tendency inside and outside of religious circles to elevate people who have achieved success and the tendency to blame or condemn people who have not is far less than hopeful.
Who are the most remarkable people you have met or known in life?
Are all of them rich? Are you enamoured by celebrity?
Hopeful Christian faith, more than ascribing worth, recognizes worth.
This is where the faith part comes in. Each person, every person, has value and worth and they don’t have more because of high status and they don’t have less because of low status.
The scene in John 9 is the one in which Jesus spits on the ground, reaches down into the dirt and uses the mud to “anoint” the man’s eyes. There is an intimacy, an earthiness to this. Jesus says that the man’s blindness is not because of sin, but that through his blindness and healing, the presence and love of God might be seen by all.
In hopeful faith there is a call to be open to seeing such glory. We will see it, however, not primarily in status and celebrity and wealth. Rather we will see it in the reality of God’s presence with humanity. Wealth might not help us to recognize this, but if we have eyes to see, we can see the humanity of those who are wealthy and of those who are often seen as poor or unfortunate.
It also helps to recognize that some of what has happened in our lives, positive and negative, has been at times because of couple of good, or bad, breaks.
Great insights!