It is a terrible thing when a child is born with a handicap or a physical deformity. And although we may be tempted to stare ourselves, we teach our children not to point or act rude toward the child. We generally have compassion towards the child and we wish that something could be done to make things better for them. What we mean by this is usually that we wish something could be done so that the FIRST THING you see is not the handicap. If the deformity was repaired then their fellowship with us would not be tainted.
Sometimes people are not born with the handicap, but it happens as the result of a tragic event. However, for the purposes of this article let’s assume that the problem has been a part of the person since birth.
This is not an easy subject to talk about.
Let me stretch this idea a little. We are all born under the curse of Adam. We are all born as deformed sinners. When God looks at us He sees our sin and is tempted to stare and point. The Good News is that Jesus stands in our place and makes us look good. He fixes the problem and restores our fellowship with God and also with each other. But, what if we don’t want to be fixed?
What if the blind man that Jesus healed was angry at Jesus? After all, Jesus spit in his eyes and took away his livelihood. He also took away his identity. He was known as The Blind Man who had been blind from birth who sat at the gate and begged for money. That’s who he was. His life had become an existential crisis now that he could see. He was going to have to get a job, and he had no training. What’s a 40 year old blind beggar going to do for money now that he can see?
Add to that the fact that he was born that way. Doesn’t that make it right? Shouldn’t Jesus have left him blind?
We are all born with deformities of the heart, mind and body. Man is not created equal. Some of our deformities are more obvious than others, but we all have them. We all have them, and we are to stop defining ourselves by them. We are to trust Jesus to cover us and heal us of our imperfections, but maybe not in the way the we think.
If we have a certain physical problem, then we have to stop seeing ourself primarily through the distortion of that problem. We are God’s people, human beings, and not blind men, hunchbacks, deaf girls, or cripples. We have a job to do on this planet, and we have to do it in spite of our limitations.
If we have certain spiritual or emotional problems, then we have to stop seeing ourselves primarily through the weakness of our sin. We are forgiven Christians, brothers and sisters of Jesus. And if we have faith in Jesus, then we have the Holy Spirit to live in us to live a new life. This is true even in the very face of our temptation. Temptation is not sin, and temptation may never go away. It was in the original garden and it may very well be in the next garden.
May we learn to stop defining ourselves by our ugliness, our limitations, and our sin. May we learn instead to define ourselves by the work that Jesus is doing through us by the Holy Spirit to the honor and glory of God the Father. AMEN
June 15th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
This is so good! We so often describe ourselves and those around us with labels for our particular temptations/sins or medical conditions. I know when I get weak I tend to recognize my issues with control, temper and food as being part of me more often than I remember to Whom I belong. When my son has medical issues I tend to focus on his diagnoses more than his Savior.
Thanks for a great reminder that, in Christ, we are no longer anonymous sinners (a la Alcoholics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, etc.) or ailing bodies but redeemed children of God who have been given new names.
In Christ we are chosen (Revelation 17:8, 21:27), purchased (Revelation 5:9), clothed (Revelation 7:14), comforted (Revelation 7:17) and given a new name (Revelation 2:17, 3:12).
One of the readings this morning at Bethany Lutheran here in Denver was Exodus 19:5-6: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Another was 1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:22 pm
When I started along the Christian path I was at a church that was a 5 point Calvinist church. The preaching often returned to the sovereignty of God of which I found so conforting! Strangely, I always heard the absolute sovereignty of God in the context of his choosing a people. It was comforting to me because I didn’t have the strength to choose God, but he had the strength to choose me and I rested in that choice.
God choosing us is what makes us what we are, rejoice! That is the label we all can have and the beauty we can all participate in.