"Do you want to get well?"

Jesus must have been a model teacher (Rabbi) in his day because he was known for asking questions. In fact, it was not uncommon for him to answer a question with a question. When we read the accounts in the Gospels it seems like Jesus should have known the answer without even asking the question. It seemed obvious. 

When Jesus encountered a demon possessed boy having a seizure, he asked the father, "How long has he been like this?" (Mark 9:21). Really?! We need to take time for a health history? Yet, somehow Jesus was aiming his question at the man's faith, or rather his unbelief. 

When a blind man named Bartimaeus interrupted Jesus' visit to his village, and he finally got his attention, Jesus responded to him with a question: "What do you want me to do for you?" (Mark 10:51). I would have thought the man's need would have been obviously. But for some reason, Jesus needed him to verbalize his need, somehow connected to the issue of his faith. 

Perhaps the most interesting example is the case of the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda. When Jesus saw him lying by the pool "among a great number of disabled people," hoping to roll in when the water stirred, he asked the man, "Do you want to get well?" (John 5:6). He had been "an invalid" for 38 years, coming day after day, ostensibly to receive a miraculous healing. Why would he be making such an effort if he didn't want to get well? 

The man responded to Jesus' question by reporting, "I have no one to help me into the pool.... While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." What did Jesus see in the thinking of this man that required a challenge? Why would he not want to get well? 

His seeming lack of faith did not keep Jesus from healing him. However, when he got into trouble for carrying his mat on the Sabbath, "he told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well." His focus was not primarily on the miracle of his healing, and his focus was not on the miracle worker. He just didn't want to get into trouble with the authorities. He didn't want his changed circumstances to change his sense of who he was and his place in the world. 

So, why would someone not want to get well? It seems that it is possible to not only have a disability - a sickness, a weakness, a limitation - but to allow that disability to become a definition. It is possible to allow a weakness to define us, to become a core element of our identity. 

I once knew someone who was legally blind from birth. That certainly resulted in significant limitations and a unique perspective on life. But for this individual, his blindness became a core element of his identity, and along with that, a reason to think and respond as a victim. "Be nice to me; I'm blind. Give me special privileges; I'm blind. Let me get away with it; I'm blind." And he was stuck at that point, without the ability to move beyond his victimhood.

On the other hand, when my wife Lynda was diagnosed with congestive heart failure at the beginning of 1998, we soon realized that her lifestyle was going to have to change. Needing more rest meant she could no longer be a hard-charging career girl. She would need to allow the Lord to show her the positive potential of the rest of her life. However, she never adopted CHF as a part of her identity. She never referred to "my weak heart." She never viewed herself as an unfortunate victim. Instead, she allowed the Lord to develop and mature a powerful ministry of intercession, maintaining a positive, cheerful approach to her life in Christ. 

I think the PC people have it right. A person who has some kind of special limitation is not "a disabled person" but rather is "a person with a disability." Their limitation does not define them as a person. It is not the meaning of their life. For Christ-followers, our identity, the meaning and potential significance of our lives is defined by our life in Christ. We are clear and realistic about our limitations - and everyone has limitations - but we also understanding that our limitations are not limitations to God. As we serve the Lord and reach the outer edge of our abilities, gifts and talents, that's when God's supernatural ability can stretch the boundaries of our potential fruitfulness. That's when the glory of God can be revealed in and through out lives, because of our personal limitations.

One of the best examples I know is my friend and pastor, Dr. Lamar Hardwick. Lamar is a very bright, creative leader and a powerful communicator. But he spent his youth, and even his young adulthood, struggling with his own sense of weakness and limitation. He just thought he was weird or defective, but the more he tried to ignore his limitations and the more he tried to act as if he was "normal," the more he slipped in despair. Finally, at the age of 36, he sought help and was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome Disorder. 

But, instead of his diagnosis resulting in Lamar shrinking back into the shadows, concluding that he was never going to be able to accept the calling God had placed on his life, he began to see the redemptive potential in his limitation. He saw the ability to respond in a way that allowed him to not be defined by his disability, to not be limited by his limitation. After all, you don't know how to overcome (come over, rise above) unless you know what it is you need to overcome. 

As a result of that new understanding, Lamar was able to accept the call to be the Lead Pastor of a great congregation, with new insight on how best to succeed and bear all the fruit God had in mind for him. He has learned how to let the glory of God be revealed in his life. And he has been able to counsel, advocate, and publish from the standpoint of his new found sense of confidence. I love a recent article he published entitled, "A Better Question: Learning to Live Beyond the Label." Beyond the label, indeed. Every person's life and potential is ultimately defined by God's grace - nothing more and nothing less!