Read Matthew 12:9-13
ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“At this, the enemies of Jesus were wild with rage and began to discuss what to do with him.” (Luke 6:11, NLT)
When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, because we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.
Part 186: Deformed. Jesus was a healer. He was someone who took time to seep people’s deepest needs and to bring healing into their lives. There was no disease, no demon, no condition that was too great for Jesus to heal. It was the power of God, rested in him, that was working to give us a glimpse of what it means to be God’s people in God’s Kingdom.
This world is a broken world, where pain, suffering, sickness, disease, sin, evil and death reign supreme. In this world there is no guarantee in regard to anything. As a pastor, I have watched cancer rot people from the inside out, I have prayed over and given blessings to babies who have died in the womb, I have watched people suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, and I have counseled people who are suffering from emotional and spiritual distress due to a wide variety of things including abuse.
Scripture promises us that one day, those things will pass away. They will die; however, those of us who love God and are called according to his purpose shall never perish, but will inherit eternal life. How do we know this to be true? Because God, in Jesus, walked the earth and gave us a glimpse of what is to come. That glimpse we see in the healings as well as in Christ’s teachings. What’s more, Christ invited us to join him in bringing God’s hope, healing and wholeness into this broken world; however, we have often not been faithful or receptive to Christ’s call.
The account of the man with the withered, or deformed, hand is a great example of how God’s people often miss the boat when it comes to helping usher in God’s peaceable kingdom. Before we get into the healing itself, let us give some thought to the man with the deformity. With out a hand, how could he ever work or make a living? He could not, obviously. Thus, this poor man was left to the generosity of others, whether that generosity came from family, friends, or strangers passing by.
We are not told if this man had family or not, but he is clearly out in the public square for the Pharisees to use as a trap to bait Jesus. It is likely that this man had no one to help him, family or otherwise. That very fact actually speaks loudly to the man’s situation. Even more, it speaks much to the hearts of these specific Pharisees.
These Pharisees could have prayed for this man, they could have even approached Jesus to see if the Lord could heal this man out of concern for him; however, the only thing the Pharisees were concerned with here was themselves. They wanted Jesus out of their hair, so that they could remove the threat he posed to their authority. Rather than trying to bring healing to this poor man, they instead used him in order to get at Jesus.
Alas, we live in a broken world and even God’s people (in this case the Pharisees) get trapped in their own brokenness. This, of course, should cause us to pause and reflect on how we allow our brokenness to control what we do, rather than allowing Christ to free us from our brokenness for joyful service in the world. The challenge for us is to admit we are broken, to turn our brokenness over to Christ, and to allow the Holy Spirit the freedom to guide us into Kingdom-building action in the world. Let us be the healers Christ has called us to be.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“Part of the healing process is sharing with other people who care.” – Jerry Cantrell
PRAYER
Lord, heal me from my sin and brokenness and use me to bring your healing into the lives of others. Amen.