God and the Pandemic // Listening with a Broken Heart | Jordan Smucker | 02.21.21

In the book of John, the ninth chapter, Jesus’ disciples ask the standard question, not that different from the question many people ask today when bad things happen, “Who sinned?” But Jesus doesn’t look back to a hypothetical cause - He looks forward, to see what God is going to do about it. Meaning; what Jesus is going to do about it. So, He heals the man. As to communicate that this is the “now” time, not the time for speculating about previous sin. As Jesus followers, if we are waiting for a special event like a natural disaster, a global pandemic, or a change of politics to nudge us into looking for Jesus’ kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Or furthermore, a special event to tell us or others to repent when we are drifting into careless sin, or to remind us that life is short, and our neighbors need to know who Jesus really is; then we have gone to sleep on the job. Let’s discover what it means to partner with Jesus to see His kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.”
-Matthew 24:6 (NIV)-