A little girl was riding along on her bike when she bumped her head on a low hanging branch of a tree. She ran into the house crying, “Mommy! Mommy, Joey hurt me!”

Her mom looked up from what she was doing. She said patiently, “Sissy, Joey didn’t hurt you. Joey’s not even here. He went to the grocery store with your Dad.”

The little girl got a startled look on her face. Then in a bewildered voice the little girl asked, “Does that mean stuff like this can happen on its own at any time [with no one being at fault]?” Then she added, “Whoa, bummer!” (1)

Well, it is a bummer. Bad things can happen at any time to anyone and sometimes there’s no one to blame.

In today’s lesson from John’s Gospel, Jesus’ disciples encounter a man blind from birth. The disciples ask Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, t…