Who Deserves What - The Rev. Philip DeVaul

Rev. Phil re-records an unrecorded sermon for the “When Love Shows Up” podcast, reading John 9 about Jesus healing a man blind from birth and the ensuing interrogation by disciples, neighbors, parents, and Pharisees. He focuses on the disciples’ first question—who sinned—and argues that people still default to deciding who “deserves” suffering or blessing to avoid empathizing with pain. In contrast, Jesus bypasses blame, speaks directly to the man, and “gets his hands dirty” to heal, while others fixate on worthiness and rules instead of the man’s restored life. Rev. Phil notes John’s troubling negative references to “the Jews,” contextualizes them, and insists Christians must resist rising antisemitism as well as Islamophobia and other dehumanizing rhetoric amid current violence, urging a vocation of humanizing, loving, and serving neighbors rather than conquest or blame.