February 27, 2022
John 9: 1-41
Kasandra has cerebral palsy and is blind.

She makes her way in the world with a white cane in hand. At home, her husband’s therapeutic touch helps ease the pain that the palsy carries throughout her body.

About four years ago, Kasandra was interviewed for a video entitled “Disability in Heaven” by the Centre for Philosophy of Region at Notre Dame University. 

The video examines the perspective that … after the person enters the Kingdom … they’ll be healed … their afflictions will disappear … that they will be made whole.

Of course, this is largely the perspective of people without disabilities.

It’s interesting that … in the video … some people with physical or mental impairments don’t feel the same way.

One person told the interviewer that God knows her through her physical challenges.

“How would God know me?” she asked. “My disability is part of my identity. How would God recognize me?”

On really pain-filled days, Kasandra told her interviewer that she draws some comfort from the idea of non-disability in heaven. But, then she quickly says, that her physical challenges have also provided her with the means to share the gospel with others.

To show God at work through her.

In last week’s sermon, I noted that how we interpret a lesson depends a bit on how the passage has been translated. This holds true with this week’s passage from John, as well.

For example, the words:

“he was born blind”

In verse 3 doesn’t appear in some translations. In fact, it doesn’t appear in the original Greek text of this passage. 

The disciples are trying to make sense of the man’s blindness when they ask if the parents’ or the man’s sins had led to the blindness. The disciples are looking for a cause … a reason for it. Parents of children with physical or mental challenges can find themselves searching for a reason … for their child’s or someone’s affliction. 

Some even feel they must shoulder the blame for their child’s challenges.

The added line provides a reason and timeline for the blindness by making the man a prop to demonstrate the power of God.

But if the added line is removed, then Jesus simply accepts the reality of the blindness … steps into the man’s reality … and tells the disciples: 

“God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day…”

This changes the tone and objective of the passage to one of a call to serve … to be a disciple … to focus less on healing … and more on service and inclusion. That God works through all believers.

In Jesus’ time, blindness and other disabilities or impairments were seen as products of sin … either on the person’s part or on the part of the parents. They must have done something wrong to have such a circumstance deposited upon them. 

Even centuries later, that belief is still present. 

People want reasons … they want to grab hold of a cause-and-effect concept. That such a condition is the result of something that they have done … or not done.

Jesus ignores such an idea.

One question that comes to mind in hearing this passage … in fact with most of the healing stories in the gospels … is:

Why is healing necessary for a person to be a member of the community?

Today’s story demonstrates a theology of disability — a theology where persons with disabilities serve as opportunities for the power of God to be demonstrated through healing. 

Such a theology assumes that “healing” is always wanted and needed, and it disregards the fact that “healing” in the form of “curing” simply will not happen for many people with disabilities.

It minimizes the contributions the person offers.

Why is the man’s eyesight a requirement for full participation in a community of faith … or the community in general? 

The lack of eyesight has relegated the man to life as a beggar … someone pushed out to the edges of society and forced to rely on the charity of passersby. That is how the man is known by his neighbours … how he is recognized. 

It is likely that the man lived with his parents … his main support system. 

It also meant that the parents were pushed out to the margins since some would believe that their apparent sins were so bad that they were deposited on their child as a punishment.

Even as the man’s sight … or perhaps insight … brings him closer to Jesus, the authorities keep him on the fringes … tossing him out of the temple when he can’t explain what happened to their satisfaction.

While the healing of the man is a miracle that … despite the Pharisees’ best efforts … cannot be explained, what can be comprehended … what can be seen … is the effect Jesus has had on the man … his parents … and by extension on the community … by providing a means for a full participation in the community of believers.

It is an effect that we are called to mirror … by dumping our assumptions and meeting people where they are … doing what is necessary for those with physical, mental or developmental challenges to be full participants in our faith communities. To recognize them as equal and valuable members of the community with a variety of gifts to share.

Perhaps, all that is required is the change of a single word …. that instead of thinking of ministry to people with disabilities, perhaps we embrace the concept of a ministry with people who have such challenges.

It would be an inclusive ministry where grace lies at the centre and where all share equally in the identity of being a wholly loved child of God.

AMEN

The video: Disability in Heaven