Yesterday, I mentioned that in Bible times, the lame and blind were viewed with scorn.
Let’s check out a well-known New Testament story that proves this, though most miss it.
Read these passages from the Gospel of John:
“As Yeshua passed along, he saw a man blind from birth. His talmidim asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned — this man or his parents — to cause him to be born blind?’ Yeshua answered, ‘His blindness is due neither to his sin nor to that of his parents; it happened so that God’s power might be seen at work in him. As long as it is day, we must keep doing the work of the One who sent me; the night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’
Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, put the mud on the man’s eyes, and said to him, ‘Go, wash off in the Pool of Shiloach!’ (The name means “sent.”) So he went and washed and came away seeing.
His neighbors and those who previously had seen him begging said, ‘Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?’ Some said, ‘Yes, he’s the one’; while others said, ‘No, but he looks like him.’ However, he himself said, ‘I’m the one.’ ‘How were your eyes opened?’ they asked him. He answered, ‘The man called Yeshua made mud, put it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Shiloach and wash!’ So I went; and as soon as I had washed, I could see.’ They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ and he replied, ‘I don’t know.’
They took the man who had been blind to the P’rushim. Now the day on which Yeshua had made the mud and opened his eyes was Shabbat. So the P’rushim asked him again how he had become able to see; and he told them, ‘He put mud on my eyes, then I washed, and now I can see.’ At this, some of the P’rushim said, ‘This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep Shabbat.’ But others said, ‘How could a man who is a sinner do miracles like these?’ And there was a split among them. So once more they spoke to the blind man: ‘Since you’re the one whose eyes he opened, what do you say about him?’ He replied: ‘He is a prophet.’” -John 9:1-17
Now here’s the thing.
When most Christians read this story, they think it’s all about how Yeshua was criticized for healing on the Shabbat.
But that’s not the real focus of this story.
The REAL focus is that Yeshua healed a blind man when he shouldn’t have.
Why?
Because due to divine decree, this man was supposed to be blind.
That’s right.
It was WRONG for Yeshua to heal him.
The perspective of the religious leaders was that Yeshua reversed something that shouldn’t have been reversed.
This was the belief system of the day.
And this assumption was reflected in the question…
Rabbi, who sinned
— this man or his parents
— to cause him to be born blind?’
Breaking the Shabbat was a completely secondary issue.
As we can see, Yeshua’s answer to that question kicked off both a theological and social revolution:
“His blindness is due to neither
to his sin nor to that of his parents;
it happened so that God’s power
might be seen at work in him.”
Through healing this blind man…
Yeshua was making it clear that man’s blindness was NOT due to a divine curse.
Instead, God was using this outcast’s condition to show His power and mercy.
Again, the assumption back then was if you were disabled…
It meant God had cursed you…
Why else would you have become disabled?
Seen as divine rejects, the crippled and blind were even banned from the synagogue.
So when Yeshua healed the blind man, it shocked everyone.
The religious leaders were furious.
How could a mere man dare undo what they saw as God’s judgment?
That’s why they even went so far as to claim that Yeshua’s healing came from the devil himself.
Others weren’t so sure and were scratching their heads.
They wondered—was He “The Prophet”?
Maybe even Elijah come back?
Yeshua overturned this huge assumption that having a physical disability automatically meant a divine curse from God.
He made it clear that sometimes, one’s affliction has nothing to do with sin at all.
In John 9, we don’t hear the crowd shouting…
“That blind man deserved it!
God doesn’t love him,
so Yeshua was wrong to heal him!”
But deep down, that’s exactly what they believed.
It was just the way things had always been.
Of course, they wouldn’t say it out loud.
That would’ve been too cruel…
But in their hearts…
That’s how they felt.
Unfortunately, in our day and age, we still harbor the same viewpoint towards the crippled and the disabled.
We may prepare special parking spaces for the handicapped, build ramps, and add braille signs…
But the mindset that the disabled somehow deserve their plight still exists to some degree.
Now, to be clear, Yeshua never said no suffering comes from God.
Sometimes it does.
The problem is we can never know for sure.
Ya feel me?
So assuming that every hardship is a punishment is just as wrong as assuming God never disciplines those He loves.
The truth is, we simply don’t know.
So maybe we should be a little more humble about it.
Anyway, back to 2nd Samuel Chapter 9…
The bottom line is that the people saw Mephibosheth as cursed by God…
As someone to ignore and forget.
Even though, as Jonathan’s son (and Saul’s grandson), he had the legal right to his family’s land, a gentile servant was running the estate instead.
Why?
Because of social customs, superstitions, and false religious beliefs that say that’s just how things should be.
See ya all next time.
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