These past few months, I’ve been blessed to attend several conferences and symposiums to advocate for Jabez Ministries as a disability ministry, and as the advocate for this Classis.
Many of the discussions and round tables centered around, what I’ve termed the “sin of disablement,” particularly where it concerns my work as a disability advocate.
These are some of the thoughts that have coalesced as a result of these conversations:
Luke 13:10-17 ESV: Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. [11] And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. [12] When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” [13] And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. [14] But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” [15] Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? [16] And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” [17] As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.
The religious leaders who chastised Jesus for healing on the day of rest missed what holy rest is all about. The woman was a “daughter of Abraham,” one of those who the religious leaders should have cared for all along. She was oppressed by Satan, and, by extension, by those who should have shown her mercy.
Observing one dogma over another overshadowed what should have been more important, that is, loving God and loving our neighbor.
The account of the woman with the disabling spirit was not just about a woman with a disability.
Consider those who could be considered the “disablers,” that is, those who feel confident to define what is and isn’t the agency of the person with a disability.
It’s pushed to one side, out of place out of mind, or ignored as insignificant.
In the case of the religious leaders in Luke 13, she’s the latter, ignored as insignificant.
Satan’s goal, was to succeed in disabling not just the body, but the woman’s spirit. The religious leaders justified this, unknowingly, with a theological understanding of Sabbath law that bolstered their faith at the expense of the “daughter of Abraham”.
The purpose of the Sabbath is to glorify God, through the restoration of his children. The glory of his creation.
They mishandled the Old Testament teaching. Consider the words an Old Testament prophet:
Ezekiel 20:11-12 ESV: I gave them my statutes and made known to them my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live. [12] Moreover, I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
The Sabbath was the gift of rest, not a means to an end, as Christ taught:
Mark 2:27-28 ESV
And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. [28] So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
God has instilled purposes in us that we can’t begin to know and fathom. Theology is the way broken humanity searches to know God through his Word. It can bring us to a closer understanding of God, but it will always fall short because of our fallen state. Our inherent arrogance sometimes refuses to allow us to see it.
When I started this ministry in 2012 people asked me why I thought such a ministry to those with disabilities was necessary, my answer involved asking the person if they saw Christ in various well known individuals of the congregation. The answer would, invariably, be “yes,” often with examples of the person’s church or charity work. Then I would point out a person with disabilities that we both knew as well, and ask
“Do you see Christ in…?” Again, invariably, there would be a long pause before the usual answer of “yes.”
In our congregations, we all have persons with what are deemed as disabilities. They have also been gifted by the same God who gifts us.
We have a tendency to see the disability before the Holy Spirit working in and through them. Disability advocacy is more than accommodation, it’s also about discipleship. It’s about eliminating that “pause.”
As a disability advocate for local churches in my denomination, I have seen, many times, when people, who are the children of God, are simply overlooked, then it’s defended somehow.
We have a tendency to miss the point of these healing miracles, they’re not prescriptions on things we should do according to our will, rather they’re teaching narratives that are to help us to prioritize on how were to relate to to God and to each other.
In a real sense the woman was a mere pause in the minds of the religious authorities and others there. But not, certainly, to Jesus.
In our lives, like the women with the disabling spirit, God teaches all of us about Sabbath grace in in the context of our disabilities. Ultimately ,it’s God’s grace through his word that shapes us..
Our faith, our personal faith, should never be a burden to our neighbor. The Bible is quite clear on that.
We certainly can’t deny others their Sabbath rest.
