Re reading the Bible from the perspective of the persons with Disabilities, Matthew 15. In the Matthew 15 text Jesus disables the Pharisees by calling them blind. For Jesus, disability was in the spirit and not physical.
The Jews refused to touch the dead bodies or did not eat the meat of the dead animal that died from natural causes; because they were scared with a superstition that they will be possessed with some evil spirit.
And with this they were in other way afraid to be disabled as they thought any person with disability is living with sin and possessed by demons. This understanding infuriated Jesus who saw them as the ones disabled; and pointed out that what comes out of their mouth defiles them and not what goes in.
The next Jesus heals was the Canaanite woman’s (Matthew 15) daughter in the district of tyre and Sidon; who was definitely not possessed by any demon; but was maybe a child with disability whom the society has again labelled as demoniac.
The Canaanite survivors were driven northward into Phoenicia during the Israelite conquest and they were the most morally despised among the Israel’s enemy.
Matthew 15
![Matthew 15](https://mahasoe.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/IMG_20210103_161935-1024x576.jpg)
The Canaanite woman’s cry was ignored by Jesus. He told her that he was to heal only the lost sheep of Israel. Jesus purposely ignored her cries not because she was a Canaanite; but because he wanted the others to also hear her cries pleading for that child whom the society has called demoniac.
It shows about how the society’s attitude towards the people with disabilities not only affects the victim but also affects their family or anybody who dearly cares for them. Just one ill outlook of the society disables the family of the victim as a whole.
Jesus wanted the world to listen to that cry, pain, sorrow and suffering of the mother of the child and also demonstrated how we choose to ignore those cries and simply move on living our lives.
She came out of the same coasts and Jesus crossed the boundary to heal her and with this healing came the healing of the whole Gentile society.
Church Response and reflection
Jesus has always put the centre stage among the oppressed that includes the poor, people with disabilities, the marginalized groups.
Jesus Christ says these wonderful words very often, “What do you want me to do for you?” Just as Christ has taught us; our response should be opinionated with the response based on what do they want.
Do they want help, acceptance or healing or anything else? When we look at Jesus’ activities in the gospels during his time; in those days people with disability were totally excluded from society and from the temple.
If we are to look around our surroundings places, we would find that a lot of people living with disabilities. As Christians or as being a part of a church; the focus should not only be preaching about accepting the people with disability but also work on certain effects like:
Re reading the bible from the perspectives of the people with disabilities
a) We can read the biblical text and also preach from them being inclusive with inclusive interpretation of how Jesus dealt with the person with disabilities.
b) We can de construct the social norms of the society and try to construct a new social culture which is inclusive of the persons with disability. Without deconstruction we cannot re structure. Deconstruction is important.