Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.

Bart only knew what it was to be blind (John 9).  He couldn’t see from birth.  Everybody in the community speculated why God would give his parents such a child.  Most agreed it was a curse from God for some infraction on their part or a generation before.  There were not a lot of options for Bart in that day and age.  He likely learned to cope with the senses he had left, but his only hope of subsistence was begging.  The deck was literally stacked against him – he was limited by something he did not choose and did not want. His state was largely out of his control.

Bart could tell you the day that all changed, when Jesus came upon him and heard his story.  Bart wanted a better life, apparently, but he never caught a break.  Jesus asked him what he wanted (an interesting question – he didn’t assume to know the answer).  Bart said he wanted to see, which would lead to a whole lot of change-for-the-better in his life.  Jesus treated him with a method they both understood and left him with instructions to go wash his eyes.  When he did, he could see. The healing was a gift of empowerment to begin living a new life.

Have you ever felt like you were dealt a bad hand from day one?  Like your very potential was cursed from the beginning?  Maybe you’ve even cursed God for it, knowing you didn’t do anything to deserve your fate.  The Good News of Jesus is that the curse was never from God, and that God is with you even if others have told you otherwise your entire life.  Do you know what you want, really? It’s a real question.  When what you want is directly related to your True Self – who you were created to be in all of your made-in-God’s-image-glory – expect some things to shift.  God is with and for your True Self because it’s aligned with shalom.  You can let go of whatever guilt and shame you’ve carried.  You may have even sinned a time or two for good reasons.  Be free to live – this is God’s Good News of grace to you in Jesus.

Dan could tell you his story, when the first sign of a very long death sentence appeared on his hand (Matthew 8).  It wasn’t something he wanted – who would want leprosy?  He could only ignore and hide it for so long.  Once it was known, his life was forever changed.  Only distanced contact with family and friends while at the same time being thrust into a new community of fellow sufferers. Isolated until the skin disease subsided, his life was over.  Especially if it really was leprosy, which didn’t show up in the ANE until about 100 years before Jesus was born.  While leprosy itself wasn’t a sin and didn’t mean you were a sinner, contracting it was often associated with God’s will, and likely insinuated that you had done something to warrant such a sentence.  Once contracted, mishandling the disease was considered sinful.

            Dan could tell you the day he sinned that led to his healing.  He approached Jesus and fell to his knees before him, begging for healing.  Hmmm.  What do we have here?  Someone who had been publicly shamed and forever quarantined – God-damned – came out of the colony and dishonored social distancing – a clear infraction.  A God-damned sinner.  Literally. Instead of rebuking him, Jesus empathized with him, welcomed the intimate exchange, and granted the request.  Dan was healed.  The sin was forgiven and the damnation absolved.

            Have you ever felt like Dan?  Like you’ve acquired a condition that has separated you from others in devastating ways? Maybe those who have pushed you out have even thrown down the God card, making you feel as God-damned as Dan.  Hard to have hope in that situation.  Maybe your skin is clear, but you feel tainted in others’ eyes.  The Good News declared by Jesus is that you are not God-damned but God-loved.  You are welcome in the presence of God because God’s presence is loving and welcoming.  There is healing for you here.

            Grace never imagined her life would become so awful (John 8).  Things went from bad to worse as her poverty forced her into prostitution.  She had mouths to feed and no recognizable alternatives.  What she had hoped would be a one-time-emergency maneuver became her work and her reputation.  She would never be more than a town whore.  

She was unaware that she had been set up to create a trap for Jesus.  She just thought it was another trick.  But that afternoon she was caught in the act.  Somehow her “John” slipped away and she was left alone with a bunch of religious leaders who treated her with great indignity, not even allowing her to put clothes on.  Instead, they dragged her to where Jesus was teaching and threw her in front of the crowd, an object lesson and test for the provocative teacher.  “The Law says we should stone a woman caught in the act of adultery, what do you say?”  It was a chess game.

A lot of weird things happened that became a blur.  Jesus said whoever was sinless should throw the first stone (usually it was the accuser/plaintiff), and then doodled in the dirt.  Everybody left the scene with no stones thrown.  Left alone with him, she heard him ask where the accusers were.  She noted that everyone left without condemning her.  He then said, “Neither do I condemn you.  Go and leave your life of sin,” which is a way of saying, “Go now and live.”

Have you ever felt like the path you chose had led you to a serious rut in your life, like you are trapped by past bad decisions?  People are sometimes really awful about such things, never letting you forget who you are or what you did and treating you accordingly.  The Good News of Jesus is that your past doesn’t have to dictate your future. Shalom means there is hope for a new beginning, a fresh start – you don’t have to return to living apart from life.  You can live directly from the source.  Accept the grace and move forward.

Zach was a dirtbag, a cheater of his own people (Luke 19).  He was a tax collector in Jesus’ day, on contract with the Roman Empire to deliver the required assessments from his own people.  He was seen as a traitor.  He was hated for it.  He was also loathed because everybody knew he could get away with robbing his own for his personal profit.  He had climbed his way up the ladder and was filthy rich.

One day he heard that Jesus was coming into town, and he wanted to see him for himself.  Being short, he climbed a tree – he was a climber, after all!  What would Jesus say?  How would he be treated? Jesus saw him and called him out of the tree.  He invited himself over for dinner at Zach’s home, a statement that let Zach know that forgiveness had arrived that day, and there was plenty for Zach.  

Sometimes we turn on those we are supposed to love.  Motivated by selfish interest, we abandon others for personal gain. Relationships are broken or severed.  A lot of pain is created in the process.  We self-medicate with the spoils of our decision, yet it leaves us empty.  It feels like there is no way back.  The Good News of Jesus, however, is that the reset button is always available.  God is one who is always supportive of helping people get things back on track, of living into the True Self they were created to be.  The way forward may be challenging, but the bright side is, there is a way forward!  We are not simply the product of our poor past decisions.

Meditation:

Upon Thy Altar

Psychotherapist Carl Jung believed wounded healers developed insight and resilience from their experiences which enabled the emergence of transformation to occur. African American philosopher, theologian, educator, and civil rights leader Howard Thurman (1900–1981) was a living example of such insight for this week’s Practice. With tenderness and pastoral concern, he reminds us that one of the most important aspects of healing is the process of offering our wounding to God. We invite you to take several slow, deep breaths to settle your body and calm your mind; then read Thurman’s words slowly and contemplatively, either voiced or within the silence of your heart.

Our Little Lives 

Our little lives, our big problems—these we place upon Thy altar!
The quietness in Thy Temple of Silence again and again rebuffs us:
For some there is no discipline to hold them steady in the waiting
And the minds reject the noiseless invasion of Thy Spirit.
For some there is no will to offer what is central in the thoughts—
The confusion is so manifest, there is no starting place to take hold.
For some the evils of the world tear down all concentrations
And scatter the focus of the high resolves.

War and the threat of war has covered us with heavy shadows,
Making the days big with forebodings—
The nights crowded with frenzied dreams and restless churnings.
We do not know how to do what we know to do.
We do not know how to be what we know to be.

Our little lives, our big problems—these we place upon Thy altar!
Brood over our spirits, Our Father,
Blow upon whatever dream Thou hast for us
That there may glow once again upon our hearths
The light from Thy altar.
Pour out upon us whatever our spirits need of shock, of lift, of release
That we may find strength for these days—
Courage and hope for tomorrow.
In confidence we rest in Thy sustaining grace
Which makes possible triumph in defeat, gain in loss, and love in hate.
We rejoice this day to say:
Our little lives, our big problems—these we place upon Thy altar!

Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart (Beacon Press: ©1953, 1981), 83‒84.