Short Stories

I always enjoyed reading short stories in high school and college.  Maybe it was because of my very short attention span or maybe it was that there are so many really good short stories.  The list is long but here are a few of my favorites:

Gift of the Magi ~ O. Henry

The Ransom of Red Chief ~ O. Henry (I could identify with Red Chief)

The Open Boat ~ Stephen Crane 

The League of Old Men ~Jack London

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber ~  Ernest Hemingway

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty ~James Thurber

                                      

Short stories have well defined plots and characters. They are suited for oral storytelling and their swiftly sketched situations quickly come to their points.  My favorite short story is just like that, as we get to walk right in on the action.  This story is found in the Bible in John chapter 9.  Jesus and His disciples are walking one day when they come upon a man born blind.  His disciples see Jesus looking intently at the man when they ask Him the question we all ask sometimes:  “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” or "Why?"   Why has this bad thing happened?  Jesus provides His disciples and us a different perspective as we break this intriguing story down into four sections.

 

Michael Card

First we find The Diagnosis.   It appears to be very straightforward, after all, the man was born blind.  No biopsy, CT Scan, blood test, or exploratory surgery required.   But while the physical diagnosis is clear, there is always another part of any diagnosis and it is the most difficult part.  Why?  Why was this man born blind?    I don’t know about you, but I have asked this question more than a few times.  It is interesting here that Jesus does not entertain their attempt to attribute blame to someone or something.    Michael Card wrote in his book,  A Parable of Joy:   “Jesus’ disciples had something else to learn and it is a lesson we need to learn. We do not have a God who strikes down a baby with blindness because his parents did something wrong.”    Jesus answer is  direct:  “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,  but his blindness is for God’s glory.”   As hard as this lesson is to understand and accept, our suffering can be for our good and God’s glory.  

The next part of the story we will call The Treatment.    Jesus reaches down and takes dust and makes an eye pack for the man, then sends him to the pool of Siloam to wash.   In our story, it says the man came back seeing.    I thought this was the climax when I first read this story.  The man had been healed .......or had he?   Technically, the man was not healed because he never had physical sight.  His sight had to be created and only God can create.  Jesus, as God incarnate, gives us another creation story of physical sight.  Secondly, it is only a treatment because this man’s eyes one day closed in physical death.    I was born blind in my right eye.  If I had the same experience as the man born blind, it would just be a treatment.  One day my eyes will close in physical death.   This man was still in need of  healing as we will see later in our story.

With any treatment, there may be Side Effects.   Medicines, chemotherapy, and surgeries all have side effects.   In our short story, the man born blind has side effects to his eye treatment. First, his neighbors didn’t recognize him.  They were not sure it was him and they took him to the Pharisees.  The Pharisees questioned him and didn’t believe his story  another side effect.  The blind man’s parents were summoned by the Pharisees and instead of being happy over their son’s sight became afraid, yet another side effect.  Finally, the Pharisees summoned the blind man one more time and demanded that he say Jesus was sinner because after all Jesus had healed him on the Sabbath. Sounds a little silly doesn’t it?  (Aren’t you glad we never have silly traditions that get in the way of people gaining spiritual sight?)   Then the man born blind who had no formal education, shows more wisdom than the astute of his day.  He was streetwise and said:  “I don’t know if He was a sinner or saint, but this one thing I know, I once was blind but now I see.”   

Recently I had a long conversation with a friend. He kept digging into the foundations of my faith and kept trying to dismantle what I believe.  I have to admit, I tried too hard to appear to be intellectual (always a mistake for me). Instead, I should have  simply told him my story.  We may not have all the theological or scientific answers but this one thing we know: We were once spiritual blind but now we see. 

Now, we get to the end of the story.  The Pharisees had just thrown the man born blind out of the temple when Jesus shows up again.  Here we will see in the final section of our story the real climax and it can be called The Cure.   When Jesus first saw the man, He saw more than just his temporary condition.    More importantly, Jesus saw his spiritual blindness.  Jesus seeks the man out and asks him a simple question, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”   The man answers: "Who is He that I may believe in Him?"  Jesus answer, “It is He who is talking to you.”  Then the man born blinds simply says: "I believe", worshiped Him, and gained eternal sight.   No longer just a treatment, the man has The Cure.   Michael Card calls this “the miracle behind the miracle.”    Jesus always sees the unseen conditions of our lives that may not be physically threatening but are eternally threatening.    

Seven years ago, our family received a very difficult physical diagnosis.  My wife Betty, at the age of 46, had stage 4 colon cancer.  The diagnosis was followed by several days of asking why.  Then came the treatments including  surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, and drugs.   They did very little to extend her physical life and what we thought would be a long life became a relatively short story.  The side effects were painful but before her journey with cancer started, she had received The Cure by faith in Christ Jesus.   We don't  know if our lives will be short stories or an epic novels.   While I hope you have good health and a long life, I pray you have The Cure.   After all, at the end of our days,   it is The Cure to spiritual blindness that is the most important.