When we are limited by a difference in capabilities, we often call it a handicap. Probably the most well-known handicap in sports is in the game of golf where it refers to the measure your of ability to play with the best. Physical handicaps are those which deal with our five basic human senses. Perhaps another might be a mental handicap. A handicap then is that which is acknowledged as a hindrance to a level playing field. Handicaps are seen as limitations or barriers. In some circles it is considered socially offensive to call it a handicap. There are even laws enacted to assist the burdened to gain a sense of normality that we experience without those limitations. And we wonder what a world would look like without handicaps. A burden, a hinderance, and yet many people overcome their handicaps and excel beyond what others, with or without such hindrances might accomplish.
That the blind shall see and the deaf shall hear, is a concept we loosely pull out of the writings of the Holy Scriptures, The Bible. So in our medical sciences and studies of human physiology, we strive to find not only assistive devices but full replacements as well. We now have replacement parts for many body components which are damaged or worn out. Recent advances in hearing and vision devices have produced fantastic results. Some who have never seen, now do. Some who have never heard, marvel at the sounds reaching their minds. We count these as good things and hope their success enhances many lives. But I think Jesus was speaking on a different plane. To be sure the physical healing and restoration was taking place. And to a limited degree we see similar results today.
Jesus was speaking to the disciples of John the Baptist who were asking for confirmation that Jesus was indeed the Christ of God. Referencing the prophecies of the Old Testament, He declared not that it would happen one day in the future but that it is happening now. He said “The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them”. All present tense declarations. All intended to prove that the fulfilling of these prophecies was the proof that He was truly the one sent from the Father in heaven.
One of the great mysteries I see in this world is the competence and ability of those we deem as handicapped. I see a blind man whose sense of hearing allows him physical interaction with a seeing world not unlike the navigation powers of the dolphins. I see a deaf man whose sense of touch is acutely developed to allow him the feel the vibration of people speaking and is able to understand their conversation. I see a man with no arms and no legs, driving a vehicle. Wherever I see limitations, I see exceptionalism. Whenever I hear “You can’t”, I also hear “Oh, yes I can”. And they do. When blood vessels are blocked, when nerves are severed, they find another way around the problem. It is not just the mental tenacity of the one so limited, but the very nature of their being, that just about anything can be overcome. So why is it, that Jesus would use this aspect of human disability to demonstrate His divine nature?
Well the truth is that anyone can make a crutch, but only God can grow a new limb. Modern scientist can implant electronic devices to assist in hearing and seeing, but only God can make the eye completely restored or the ear whole again.
Many times the right counselors can assist someone with mental issues, back to a balanced view of reality with a healthy future outlook. But no one can with any tricky or chicanery or “positive actualization hyper speak” bring a soul into a right relationship with the creator God of the universe. It is by the inherented sinful nature of man that we have offended a Holy God. It is by the justice of His perfect person that He has condemned us to the fate we deserve. It is in His mercy that He offers Himself to pay the price and set us free at so great a personal cost to Himself. It is grace, that is the unearned, unmerited favor of the Holy sovereign Lord of All, which He gives when we come to Him on His terms. And it is His constant, continual, unending love which never stops reaching out to us and saying “Seek Me”.
He is not just the overcomer of your spiritual disabilities, He is the cleanser of your sin. You are the offender of the Holiest being ever known. He has never done one thing which is not perfect and right, and that includes creating you. Yes, He already knew Adam and Eve would fail. Yes, He knew you would choose to not resist the temptation. Yes, He knew who would lose legs and arms and eyes and ears and all sorts of physical body parts. He also knew how He would use those seeming limitations to create in you a spirit that would desire to draw close to Him. He knew the heartache you would have as that baby died, as the evil came upon your family at the hands of wicked men and women. He knew the day you would turn your eyes to the sky and shout while shaking your fist at the sky, “God WHERE are You?” He knew because He was holding your heart in His hand, tugging on it, desiring for you to turn to Him for cleansing and restoration and forgiveness.
If an amputee refuses to accept help from a therapist or prosthesis maker, how can they find the benefit they require? Will they walk again, run again, write a sentence or feed themselves? If the blind will only sit in fear in the dark until they die, if the deaf refuse to receive the assistance they need to compensate in a hearing world, for their lack, how shall they live? Their isolation and terror shall continue until they breathe their last breath. Perhaps fifty or seventy or ninety years of tortured living in a “hell on earth” existence. Life was not fair. They did not deserve this.
And if the man or woman who knows there is a God refuses to turn their heart in a humble request for forgiveness, they shall never see the Gates of Heaven’s glories. They shall end their wretched life of conflict and seeking after everything which cannot satisfy. Then they shall begin the eternity of horrors and torment which will never end. Death brings no relief to the soul whose choice is “No”. There is no human compensation in the spiritual realm. You may make your own crutch, create an eyepiece, fashion a hearing device which could give you some limited rudimentary relief. But there is nothing that a dead rock can do to restore your broken relationship with a Holy God. You are dead in trespass and sin. You have personally offended God. He offers to sacrifice Himself from the goodness and glories of His perfect home in heaven, if you will only ask. He has already paid the price. It is yours for the asking. What a sad, sad thing to allow His gift to wither and fade away with your last breath. He is waiting to rejoice with you as He restores you spirit and soul welcoming you into His family and His forever home.