Spiritual Disability
Last night I was reading from a book that looks at the Bible as it applies to the Disabled. It is quite a fascinating book as it lays out some of the underlying prejudice towards the disabled that has made its way into our faith, through a a specific perspective, and makes an effort to review the scriptures and read them with a different understanding. The Title is "The Bible, Disability and the Church" by Amos Yong. It is quite scholarly, but readable, and he takes a very well thought out and complete review of the themes, the historical perspective, and context in which scriptures were written. It is well worth the read, if for no other purpose than to open our eyes to the fact that much of what we think and believe concerning our faith has been founded on the teaching we have received, and sometimes that foundation might have had built-in prejudices or slants that we are not even aware of, and may not fully line up with God's Word.
Growing up Catholic and having the opportunity to teach some basic doctrine in ministry, allowed me to dig more fully into why we believed certain things and why the church taught certain things. Some of it was the result of the church's best efforts over hundreds if not a couple thousand years to explain things that are just part of the mystery of God. Sometimes, certain teachings are put into place because they make sense based on other foundational teachings from Scripture, so not directly drawn from scripture, but built on other truths. Without going into details, I think its fair to say that all of our denominations are similarly limited, in that some things about God and His ways are not going to be fully known this side of eternity, and we do the best we can.
Secondly, as I have spent more and more time in the word itself, often looking a the original language, I have seen times where certain Bible translations will translate verses differently, which can definitely change the meaning of the verse. In our day of multiple translations, this can cause some different understandings to be brought forth, and opens the door for further distraction or even argument. Oh Lord, help us!
Back to the book I have been reading, one of the themes the author has pointed out is that we tend to read the bible from an ableist worldview, rather than as one who is disabled. We don't realize that we have a foundational belief, partly due to some of the limitations of the disabled found in the Old Testament, and partly due to stories of Jesus healing people with disabilities, like the lame, blind and deaf, that somehow people who experience these disabilities are not as acceptable to God as those of us who are not dealing with these disabilities. As I read through his whole introduction I saw the subtle nuances of this thought in my own faith and belief and have needed to change the way I think. I don't want to try to explain his whole premise, suffice it to say it is worthwhile reading and thinking deeply.
The subject the author brought up yesterday was the way we often encounter God, and it is often described as seeing and hearing, which leads to understanding. There are several foundational scriptures, but the key one is found in Isaiah, and quoted by Jesus, when describing unbelievers. Here is Matthew's version found in Matthew 13:13-16 NIV:
[13] "This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
[14] In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “ 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. [15] For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'
[16] But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear."
In this case, the lack of ability to hear and see its related to understanding and unbelief, and relates to one's heart. While I don't think anyone would preach that this is literally true for someone who is blind or deaf, the underlying question remains.
Jesus actually describes spiritual blindness as being the real issue, in his dialogue with the man He healed who was born blind, as recounted in John 9:35-41 NIV:
[35] "Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
[36] “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
[37] Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
[38] Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
[39] Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
[40] Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
[41] Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."
Here is a great example of those who choose spiritual blindness, who refuse, when confronted with a miracle, to believe that Jesus came from God and that the healing of this man, born blind, was indeed a sign from God. They saw, but rather than understanding, they allowed THEIR previous understanding to override the truth staring them right in the face. They saw, but they did not perceive correctly.
The man who was healed had no such problem, even though He now saw, He didn't know who Jesus was, and Jesus actually had to hunt him down to bring him to understanding. When Jesus revealed Himself to the man, he instantly understood and believed.
I have spent many hours reflecting on that story found in John, and last night as I was reading the question that popped into my mind, was whether the Pharisees could actually be considered disabled? They had been brought up under systematic teaching about God, about the Messiah, about the Holiness of the Law, and in their understanding the Messiah would never break or even appear to bend the precepts of the Law, and thus Jesus couldn't be the Messiah. I guess you could say they had wrong perspective of God, and His ways, based on what they held as foundational, and this caused them to hear and see incorrectly. That they were impaired in their ability to perceive correctly is evident, so I guess while not physically disabled, we could say the Pharisees were spiritually disabled.
This brings me right back to my question, how does God relate to those who have been brought up under bad teaching, under other religions, under other faiths? This passage, while very straight-forward, cannot be used as the foundation of understanding of God's heart towards those who think they see. Jesus says that their sin remains, and that is one place we often over-read, or understand more than is meant, at least in my opinion.
The word here translated sin is the Greek word hamartia, and it is defined as follows, by Thayers:
1) equivalent to 264 (hamartano)
a) to be without a share in
b) to miss the mark
c) to err, be mistaken
d) to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong
e) to wander from the law of God, violate God's law, sin
2) that which is done wrong, sin, an offence, a violation of the divine law in thought or in act
3) collectively, the complex or aggregate of sins committed either by a single person or by many
We read this exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees as Jesus condemning them, essentially judging them as sinners. What Jesus actually appears to say is that they are still mistaken, or wrong in their perspective. In my mind, this is more like your teacher asking you how to spell a word, and telling you "Sorry, that's not quite correct, try again!"
We can tend to associate any reference to sin as being a condemnation or judgement, and yet, that is one of the last definitions of that original Greek word.
What if God's perspective towards sinners was to forgive and allow them another opportunity to do right? I mean that isn't even a question, is it? Of course that is God's perspective towards sinners, spoken by Him probably hundreds of times through the prophets! Here is a great example from the Psalms. Focus not on the judgment, but on the opportunity to change their ways given by God in verse 13 - Psalm 81:10-14 NIV:
[10] "I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.
[11] “But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me.
[12] So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.
[13] “If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways,
[14] how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!"
I believe that God's whole approach to sin, to missing the mark, is to provide us another opportunity, even as He proclaimed here in Psalms. This is essentially the Gospel of Grace, for our own actions could never be perfect enough to attain for us righteousness! We could never fulfill the requirements of the Law, never earn our way to Eternal Life, so God did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Jesus came and sacrificed Himself, perfectly fulfilled the Law, and then welcomed us all into His relationship with the Father. His righteousness is now ours through our faith in Him. Forgiveness for all our sins was paid for by His blood. By entering into this salvation, available in Jesus, we receive all this as a free gift, grace!
So back to the question at hand, how does God deal with the spiritually blind, the spiritually disabled, if you will? I believe He is true to His character, and provides opportunity, after opportunity, after opportunity, after opportunity, to hear and see and perceive correctly.
Oh, that we would learn to do the same for ourselves, and for others! Let us not think that we see all clearly, and understand perfectly, but let us be willing to allow the Lord to tell us when we are missing the mark!
Let us embrace the fact that most of us are spiritually blind to some extent, for while seeing and hearing, we may not understand completely or perfectly. Thankfully the Holy Spirit has been given to teach us all things! (John 14:26NIV)
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