I wrote the following a couple years ago as I still try to develop a theology around special needs. My brother has autism, and so I have a huge heart for autism and aspberger's and anyone on the spectrum. It is different in everyone and ranges from people who mostly function in society independently to folks like my brother who probably will not do so. It is not to label or offend people: just to muse.
One specific Bible account
displays a young man who could have autism.
In Mark 9:14-29, Jesus meets a man with a demon possession. Here are words Matthew Henry uses to describe
him: “possessed with a dumb spirit”, he cannot talk, “is speechless”, “the
spirit tears him”, “he foams at his mouth and gnashes with his teeth,” “he
pines away, is worn to a skeleton, his flesh is dried away.”
Andrew relates to this guy
because he does not talk. For most of
his life, he never had a seizure, but in 2015 he began to have them. He does not waste away. He eats plenty and gets good exercise. If he had no restraints, he would probably
walk out into traffic or into a proverbial fire.
Matthew Henry wisely
explains that the demon-possessed man and Andrew are no different than anything
else. The man’s father told Jesus that
he has had the demon since childhood.
“We are all by nature children of
disobedience, and in such the evil
spirit works, and has done so from
our childhood.” He quotes Proverbs
22:15, “foolishness is bound in the heart of the child.” “Nothing but the mighty grace of Christ can
cast it out.”
All people play with demons and follow into sin. All sickness is a result of Adam and Eve’s
fall. You called Jesus to come heal a
more visibly sick man, but you and the whole human race need healing, too.
John MacArthur preached a
sermon on this passage. It is archived
on www.gty.org: http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/41-45. He titles the
sermon “All Things Possible.” Jesus told
the man’s father that, “all things are possible to him who believes.” The dad tells Jesus, “I do believe; help my
unbelief!”
People live in a world
where God is invisible, inaudible, and all they can see are the calamities,
catastrophes, and tragedies brought about by death and destruction. It takes divine intervention for people to
believe that God has a plan, planned this from the beginning of creation, and
will bring it to perfection in his timing.
I praise God for his patience as people ask him if he can heal knowing
fully that he can. The grace poured
through Jesus helps people to believe in the most hopeless circumstances.
MacArthur cites many
verses. 2 Corinthians 5:7, “We walk by
faith not by sight.” Galatians 2:20, “We
live by faith in the Son of God.”
Hebrews 11:6, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.”
That last verse convicts
because before God saves us, we do not have faith, and we cannot please
God. We must ask Jesus to supply our
belief, or we will never please God.
It is good to note that
this episode in Jesus’s life immediately follows his trip to the Mount of
Transfiguration. This was the first time
Jesus enjoyed the privilege of seeing his complete heavenly home since Mary gave
birth to him as a baby. He had not seen
his home in more than thirty years, and now God the Father granted him the
privilege to bask in an environment free from sin and imperfection before he
made the trek toward his gruesome crucifixion.
He also got to talk to glorified saints: Moses and Elijah. In his mercy, Jesus allowed Peter, James, and
John to experience this glimpse into perfection.
In Chapter 8, Mark recalls
the episodes where Jesus had to rebuke his disciples for their hard
hearts. During their days of learning
under Jesus, they still struggled with trying to be the greatest and not
believing that Jesus could feed 4000 even after he had already fed 5000.
He took Peter, James, and
John, and opened up the heavens for them to erase any doubt from their minds
that any of them would ever be as great as Jesus. He brought them down the mountain only to see
that the rest of his disciples still argued about being the greatest. On top of that, a distraught father wanted
them to heal his son. In their self-perceived
greatness, they could not do that, and they gave the Pharisees present more
reason to doubt their Messiah and his power.
Here we are again, in Jesus’s absence. He lives in heaven. Many people who love Jesus have gone with him
to enjoy that world. We are left here to
help the sick and cure people from their demons. We
cannot do that because we do not believe that Jesus can heal them, and we keep
trying to look to our own greatness, and greatness that we do not have. We do not have the faith to please God.
I know in my own life that
I have never healed Andrew. Like the
man’s father, I doubt that Andrew will find healing before Christ returns to
earth. When Jesus does come back, I know
that he will bring Andrew to perfection.
Until then, I interact with Jesus’s followers. Some do try to help but look to worldly
methods for answers that only God has.
Others sit by and count Andrew as a mistake and useless to society. Everybody knows Andrew, even if he goes by
another name and even if it is not the same person that I write about.
In conclusion, the people
who do work to help people with special needs should ask Jesus how they can
look to Him in their quest. How can we
do that?
The people who do not see
the least of these as worthy of their attention, especially ones that claim to
follow Jesus, need to reevaluate their relationship with the Lord and see that
our perfect Savior takes time for these people.
His true follows do the same. Why
do you not value life and consider yourself any less disabled than those?
John
Calvin said, “God will never forsake us, if we keep the door open for receiving
his grace.” (http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/small-powerful-faith/) I hope that those words
will encourage everybody who reads this.
God’s grace is available for both the Pharisee and the well-meaning
disciple.
No comments:
Post a Comment