The Journey 106: Transformation In The Life Of Sick And Suffering

Read: John 9:1-12

Titanic Sinks: This was the shocking news that people all over the world heard exactly 100 years back on this day. 100 years later,  the city of Southampton from where the ill-fated journey of Titanic,  began is holding commemoration services across the city, remembering more than 1500 people who lost their lives as Titanic sank. The sinking of Titanic is still for many a shock in their psyche but for many like the film maker James Cameroon, has used sinking of the Titanic into making of an big budget  film raking in huge profits and today it is also being re released in 3D image. There are also about 1300 people who have paid 9000 dollars to sail on the ship MS Balmoral to the site of the disaster where a ceremony of remembrance is being held this week. But the history behind this colossal disaster is very compelling. It is a confluence of number of factors like the over confidence of the crew, and also the dubious decision of the captain of ship Edward Smith to run the Titanic at full speed in a Atlantic route where the waters had huge iceberg. Because of that dubious decision and may be the callousness of the crew,  innocent lives were lost. History is replete with similar incidents where innocents people have suffered because someone else was reckless and had no concern for the life of others. I think this is what is the most tragic part of suffering. When one suffers not because of what the person has done but because of the fault of someone. Transformation in the life of sick and the suffering begins when each one of us start living our life thinking that we are also responsible for the welfare of others and that one foolish action or decision can be very costly not only for us but for countless innocent people.

          This week we will meditate on a new theme “ Transformation in the life of the sick and the suffering”. The portion taken for our meditation is from John 9: 1-2. Here in this portion we find the incident where Jesus heals a blind man. But before Jesus heals the blind man, the disciples have a question for Jesus. The question is “ why is this  man born blind, is this blindness because of the consequences of sin, by the blind man or by his parents?’. This was the time when the prevalent notion was that whenever one underwent any kind of suffering, the result was because of the sins that the person committed or in other sense sin and human suffering was inter connected. But Jesus address this question in a very different manner, he says that the man was born blind so that the work of God may be displayed in life. He has been born blind, not because of his sins or his parents sins and the suffering that he is undergoing is not because of any of these factors. Here is one specific case of a blind man born blind not because of his or his parents sin, or the suffering not because of his action or someone else actions. But then there are times in life when we go through suffering because someone else was reckless or someone did not have any respect to human life nor values. It is in such a context that God wants us to live responsibly in this world. Suffering sometimes happen when we human being become selfish and are concerned only about our perspective and our needs. It is this selfishness and arrogance that sometime leads us to do deeds that cause disaster and suffering in the lives of the innocents.

The captain of Titanic took a decision, but the consequences of that decision is still borne by generations of people. Let us live our life in such a way that all our decisions are taken taking into consideration not only our welfare but the welfare of others too. When this happens at least in a very small and significant way we could alleviate the pain and the suffering of the innocents.

Let us live and take decisions responsibly.