Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
When our Lord gave this answer to his disciples, that neither this man nor his parents had sinned in that he was born blind; Jesus could not be supposed to mean, that they were not sinners; for Scripture declares that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23. But the plain and obvious meaning of Christ, is, that this man's blindness was not the immediate effect of any one particular sin, in a way of judgment, but rather to afford occasion for the greater display of the works and glory of God. And in this very instance, our Lord's doctrine in this particular is proved. For what greater glory could possibly be shewn, than by the blindness of this man, the Lord Jesus might manifest his divine nature and mercy, in giving him sight? How sweetly did it teach also the blindness of soul; and Christ's glory in such instances, in giving sight to the spiritually dark, and eyes to the blind in sin. And who shall say, how often the record of this man's history hath proved instrumental in raising trophies of glory to the Lord, through the many intermediate ages from that hour to the present, where sinners, made spiritually alive by grace, have read of the Lord's goodness to him, and felt the Lord's goodness to themselves, in having been brought from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. Acts 26:18. Reader! think, I pray you, in how many cases in life such events are perpetually occurring? What numberless opportunities are afforded for the manifestations of the Lord's grace, which grow, out of all the exercises of the Lord's people? And if you know anything of the Lord, I would desire you to say, how would the Lord Jesus prove his love to you, in seasons of sorrow, in hours of temptation, and in all times of trouble; if you had never known sorrow, never felt temptation, or knew what trouble meant?