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THE KING’S ' BUSINESS
ever sinned (as might appear' from the Authorized Version of the verse). What He did teach was that they “did" not sin as the cause of this blindness. The parents, so far from being sinless sinned before the chapter ends, but their sin was not the cause of their son’s blindness. v. 4. "I (We) must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh (add ,) when no man can work." That is a wonderful “must” with which this verse begins, “we must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day.” Indeed we must. Night is fast coming on, no man can work then, so we must up at once and at the work now. Those are very solemn words "the night cometh,” the night of death when we sleep, not work, not that we are unconscious, but we are shut out of activity in this world and shut up with Christ in blessed communion (Phil. 1:23), but beyond the possibility of finishing any work we have left undone here. And then there is another night that cometh, the night when the Church shall have been removed from the earth and the darkness of the great tribulation shall have settled down upon it (2 Thess. 2:9, 10, 7, 8). That night seems to be fast approaching, and what vjork there is to be done in this world must be done before that night comes, and we need to make haste. There are some who do intend to do great things for the evangelization of the world in future years. Better do them now for “the night cometh, when no man can work.” Note carefully the works that we must do : not our own works, but * “the works of Him that sent me." It is plain from comparing verse 2 with verse 4 that Jesus considered deliver ing men from evil far more important than speculating with the origin of eviL The philanthropist and the evangelist are of far more value to- the world than the meta physician. v. 5. “A s long as (When) I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” The world’s night is when Jesus is gone, and the darkest night for the individual soul is when Jesus leaves it. As long as He is
poor, the outcast, and the unfortunate? Do you see in them an opportunity to help and a Divine call to do something for them, or do you see in them simply the victims of their own sin and consequently regard them with indifference or contempt? Our Lord saw in this man’s misfortune a call to help ; they saw in it only the just consequences of his own sin or the sin of his parents. The disciples thought that all sickness must be the direct consequence of sin. v. 3. "Jesus answered, Neither hath (did) this man sinned (sin), nor (or) his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." Jesus here plainly declares that it is not true that all sickness must be the direct consequence of the sin either of the one who is sick or his parents. He tells us that there is another purpose in physical infirriiity beside that of chastisement for sin, viz., 1“that the works of God should be made manifest.” In this particular case the works of God were made manifest in the man’s healing. Sometimes they are made manifest by God’s sustaining grace in weakness (2 Cor. 12:8-10). Doubtless sickness is often the direct result of sin (Mark 12:23), in other cases it is the indirect result of sin. When God’s children wander from Him He suf fers sickness to overtake them to bring them to their senses and to Himself. Sick ness does not always arise from sin either directly or indirectly. Sickness may arise from one’s faithfulness in the performance of duty (Phil. 2:27-30). The fact that a man is sick is no indication whatever that a man has sinned. A man may be sick even at a time when he is in the closest fellowship with God. Elisha was “sick of the sickness whereof he died” at the very time when he was in most close fellowship with God and when God made through him one of the most wonderful revelations of all Elisha’s life (2 Kings 13:14-19). We live in a day when men are making sweep ing generalizations about sickness from a study of only part of the data in the mat ter. Our Lord did not teach by verse 3 that-neither this man nor his parents had
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