May 22, 2025 • 19 mins
This episode probes into health, healing, and disability from a fresh biblical perspective, emphasizing an integrated understanding of personhood. It features narratives from scripture that redefine health as relational wholeness rather than mere physical restoration, inviting listeners to reconsider their views on healing.
• Exploring the biblical notion of the person as a cohesive whole
• Unpacking the trilectic understanding of body, spirit, and community
• Analyzing the significance of physiognomy in biblical narratives
• The story of the woman with the issue of blood as a lesson in holistic healing
• Understanding dual miracles in the story of the man lowered down through the roof
• Insights into Celedonius, the man born blind, and the challenges to societal beliefs around health
• The role of community and relational dynamics in achieving true healing
• Setting the stage for future discussions on shalom and disability
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Disabling the Church is a production of the Center
for Disability and Ministry atWestern Theological Seminary.
This series amplifies thevoices, giftedness and
perspectives of disabled peopleto enrich the ministry and
witness of the Church andperspectives of disabled people
to enrich the ministry andwitness of the church.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hello all and welcome to Disabling the Church podcast
.
I am your host, dr LS Carlos.
It is an honor to be with youtoday.
Thank you so much for sharingof your time and listening in.
I pray that you are well andtoday, in the midst of our
conversation, I hope that we canreflect a bit on the topics of
health and healing.
In the conversation arounddisability, the topic of what it
(00:56):
means to be healthy and healedis often on the table, but this
is often discussed in relationto the assumption that one's
body, if you live with adisability, is not ideal and
therefore must be healed, and sothe assumption is that one's
need for healing is intimatelyconnected to the fact that one's
(01:18):
body is disabled.
It's as simple and ascomplicated as that.
But when we look at thebiblical narrative and healing
in scripture, jesus' healingministry there is so much more
nuance and depth to how theperson is understood, how health
is framed and therefore howideal and non-ideal are
(01:41):
understood non-ideal areunderstood.
When Jesus enters our world andoffers something through and in
his healing ministry, it begsthe question what he is
beckoning us toward.
And so today, over the courseof our conversation, I hope that
we can reflect on and thenlearn a couple of things.
(02:02):
One, what's the biblical notionof the person?
When we understand what aperson is and what scripture
means when we talk about person,then we can move to
understanding what it means tobe a healthy person, right, and
then from there we also have abetter framework for
understanding what it means tobe unhealthy or in need of
(02:24):
healing.
So let's begin first byunpacking the biblical concept
of the person.
So in our world, in 21st centuryWestern context, the person is
usually understood in terms ofmind, body, soul or spirit right
For the Jewish mind, the personas a living person is one
(02:49):
cohesive whole.
And then what happens when youdie is what can be debated in
terms of what happens to theseentities.
But as a living person you areone cohesive whole.
And the body is betterunderstood in terms of the
living person and three bodilyrealities.
(03:11):
So a fleshly body, the stuffthat makes up the physical stuff
, you see, if you areconventionally cited and then
the eternal, spiritual, mental,emotional body.
And the communal body, one'srelational interconnectedness
and locality.
These three bodies make up oneunified whole that then can be
(03:33):
articulated as the living person.
So in my research and writing Icall this the trilectic
understanding of the person.
Understanding of the person,now the living person.
Then, in scripture we see thatconcept in Genesis 2, verse 7,
for example, right In the Torah,the person upon God breathing
(03:58):
into Adam the first human, thiscreature becomes nefesh hay or
living creature.
In the Septuagint, or the Greektranslation of the Old Testament
, it's sekendosan, these wordsin Hebrew and Greek.
They translate to this cohesivecreature that is living, called
(04:21):
the person.
It's not divided up.
Living, called the person.
It's not divided up, right.
And if we have thatunderstanding of the person in
mind, then we can move tounderstanding how the nature of
what the body looks like relatesto convictions around what the
person is like.
Okay, so this leads to a clearrelationship between the state
(04:47):
of what you see, someone'sphysical body, pointing to the
reality of their internalspiritual state.
This is called physiognomy ofyour internal spiritual state.
Okay, so in Jesus's world,physiognomy is an umbrella that
(05:07):
sort of runs over everything.
And this makes sense.
Then, right, if you stop andthink about the ostracization,
the exclusion and the puritylaws and things like that that
are present in scripture.
And so, even though the worddisability isn't anywhere in
scripture, it's Things likebodily ideals, or a person being
(05:31):
clean or unclean, or touchableor untouchable.
That's well entrenched in thebiblical tradition and it has a
lot to do with this concept ofphysiognomy.
So now let's turn back toscripture.
In Matthew 9, mark 5, and Luke 8, there's a common, known story
(05:55):
of the woman with the issue ofblood, who had been bleeding for
12 years.
In this story, what you see isthis woman is deemed to be
spiritually unclean because sheis bleeding, is bleeding Now.
Under normal circumstances thisis seen to be, at least within
(06:16):
the biblical narrative, withinthe boundary of a menstrual flow
.
But if you read the text inLevitical law, the person is
unclean for as long as they arebleeding and therefore anyone
who touches them is ceremoniallyunclean and must wash and abide
by a certain period ofpurification before they are no
(06:38):
longer considered unclean andcan re-enter spiritual life and
social engagement and the temple.
And so we understand that sheis physically bleeding and
therefore socially unclean,untouchable and spiritually
unclean and therefore ostracized, isolated, pushed to the
(07:00):
margins, et cetera, et cetera.
And so the entire nature of herperson is fractured to varying
degrees at various levels, isfractured to varying degrees at
various levels, and when sheencounters Jesus she desires to
be wholly restored.
When we talk about healing andhealth, what we're talking about
(07:23):
here is the restoration of thewhole person, and scripture
encapsulates that in the wordand the concept of Shalom.
When we read the healingnarratives, we begin to see
beginning with even like.
The woman with the issue ofblood she desires to be, the
Greek word used in this passageis invited into, essentially
(07:46):
sorzo.
Sorzo is a word that meanswholly restored and translates
intimately related to thisconcept of shalom.
But when she touches the hem ofJesus's robe, she is physically
restored, her disease ceases.
She doesn't receive holisticrestoration like she hopes for.
(08:10):
Then Jesus calls forth someoneto explain what happened to him.
Remember the narrative Powerhas gone out from me.
Someone touched me and the textsays the woman went before him
in fear and trembling and toldJesus the whole truth.
And upon hearing her, jesussays to her daughter be restored
(08:31):
, go in peace and be healed ofyour disease.
These words of life that Jesusspeaks over her all can be
translated back to the wordshalom.
But when Jesus speaks to herand says be restored, the word
he uses there is soto Receivethe holistic restoration that
(08:52):
you sought in the beginning.
But that holistic restorationis given to her through the
relational interaction betweenher and the personification of
the Holy of Holies, the one whobrings shalom, the peace of God
with flesh on in the presence ofa community that now sees that
(09:14):
she is clean, pure, restoredspiritually and in every other
way.
So the interesting thing hereto pay attention to, among other
things, of course, is that shecame to Jesus desiring holistic
(09:34):
restoration.
She did not receive thatinitially by touching the hem of
Jesus's robe Read Matthew 9,mark 5, luke 8.
What she receives is simply thephysical restoration of her
body and deliverance from thedisease.
It's not simple proximity withJesus that changes people and
(09:55):
brings the health and healingthat the gospels say is promised
to us.
Remember the narrative saysthat people were bumping up
against Jesus in a crowdconstantly.
That's not the restorativemoment.
The Shalomic, holisticrestorative moment is
encountering Jesus, not justproximity with Jesus, but
(10:17):
encountering Jesus as God.
And that's a relational realitythat Christ is the driver of
when he reaches toward the womanand says daughter, be well, be
restored.
Daughter, be well, be restored,be freed of your disease and go
in peace.
That relational dynamic whereJesus recognizes and reaches
(10:43):
toward a person and that personis encountering God in Christ.
That's the Holy of Holies withflesh on.
That's shalom in a person.
That relational exchange isshalom, lived out.
That's the kind of healing thatthen brings us to a state of,
in the biblical framework,health.
(11:04):
The state of her body matteredfor the sake of the engagement
with Christ, the one who lovesher and the one who made her
mattered for the sake of theengagement with Christ, the one
who loves her and the one whomade her.
But it is so not the divisivedeficit driven point.
Let's think about this a littlebit more with a subsequent
narrative the man lowered downto the roof by who we often
(11:28):
assume culturally they're hisfriends we don't actually know
that for certain but by peoplewho are carrying him on a mat in
Luke 5.
Okay, we know the narrative,but he's lowered down to the mat
and Jesus, seeing the faith ofthe ones who were with him,
takes pity on him and says Son,your sins are forgiven.
And those present, thereligious leaders, they're
(11:50):
wondering in their hearts andthey're mumbling and they're
accusing Jesus to blasphemy.
Jesus, perceiving this in hisspirit, says what is easier to
say your sins are forgiven or tosay pick up your mat and walk
and go home, but that you wouldknow that the son of man has
authority on earth to forgivesins.
Pick up your mat and go home.
(12:12):
Let's walk through thatnarrative a bit.
There are two miracles thatoccur.
Remember physiognomy, assumingthat the state of your body is a
manifestation of your internalspiritual state.
The spiritual leaders hearJesus's words when he says, son,
your sins are forgiven.
(12:32):
Leaders hear Jesus's words whenhe says, son, your sins are
forgiven.
Your sins are forgiven.
That's miracle one.
And Jesus seems to bechallenging physiognomy here and
saying you are spirituallyrestored, you are given the
opportunity to enter into rightrelationship with the God who
made you, in the presence of acommunity who has rejected you.
(12:56):
And that community, or at leastthe spiritual leaders therein,
question the validity of thatbecause his body still remains
in the same state.
And Jesus says then, secondmiracle, pick up your mat and go
home, so that others would knowthat indeed, your sins have
(13:16):
been forgiven and I am God inthe flesh.
Be restored spiritually andspiritually, physically,
socially, emotionally, berestored, be made whole and go
home.
We see all the layers of theperson coming together and the
fracture being restored.
What it means to be healthy isbetter described as being whole
(13:42):
in the multifaceted reality.
That is the biblicalunderstanding of the person,
disability and the state of ourbodies, not the central point.
Encountering Jesus as God, theone who does the impossible, not
just making the impossibleprobable but actually doing it,
(14:06):
and then inviting us intorelationships, that's health,
that's healing.
Now, last, we're going to thinkabout the man born blind in John
9.
The man born blind in John 9,church tradition tells us, is
Celedonius.
In the text he's not given aname, but the writing and
(14:27):
commentaries of Irenaeus tellsus that this man's name is
Celedonius.
Then history tells usCeledonius goes on to be one of
the greatest missionaries of theearly church in France.
So in John 9, remember, theapostles are walking with Jesus
and they pass a man and they saythat he's born blind.
(14:50):
And so they asked this questionwas this man born blind because
of his sin or the sins of hisparents?
And Jesus says neither, butthat the works of God would be
shown in him.
Okay, now remember, physiognomyis the first layer here, right?
Is this man blind because hesinned or because his parents
sinned?
(15:10):
They're not trying to be jerksor insensitive, they're trying
to be good Jews.
There is a conviction that sayspeople can actually sin in the
womb, and so when they say, didthis man sin, even though he's
born blind, they're poking atthat rabbinic tradition.
And Jesus says neither but thatthe works of God would be shown
(15:32):
in him.
And Irenaeus tells us there isa way to read this that is
faithful to the larger biblicalwitness and the witness of the
church and the ministry ofChrist.
He says from the time of thisbeing recorded in the biblical
witness, people have debatedwhat that phrase means.
The works of God.
Irenaeus says interpret thesewords as the works of God,
(15:57):
pointing us back to the works ofGod that created humanity from
the clay, the mud and the clayin Genesis.
Remember back to the beginningof our conversation today, when
we talked about Nefesh Hayah andfrom the dust God forms a Hadam
and then breathes life intothis creature and this creature
(16:17):
becomes a living soul or aperson.
That is the narrative that,according to Irenaeus' reading
of this text, jesus is referringback to when he says works of
God.
Reading of this text Jesus isreferring back to when he says
works of God.
And if that's not clear, thenJesus reaches into the dirt,
spits, makes clay from the dirtor mud and then puts it on
(16:40):
Celedonius' eyes and then saysgo and wash in the pool called
Siloam or scent.
Irenaeus says it's better toread this passage not as
Celadonius the one born blind,but instead the one born without
eyes.
So when Jesus forms from thedust, mud and clay, he's placing
(17:05):
eyes into Celedonius' face, asif to say as God, as I formed
you from the dust of the earth.
So I am asking now, do you seeme as God working in your midst,
(17:28):
the holy of Holies with fleshon?
If you read it that way, thenfrom the beginning of time, way
back in Genesis, when God isforming of a blind man named
(17:49):
Celedonius, that is sopersuasive when we are thinking
about what it means to be wholeand healthy, if we whittle it
down to, being healthy meansfitting into social, cultural
ideas and ideals around what thebody ought to be, and we think
(18:13):
that that is what God isrestoring us to when we think
about healing and health.
We have missed it by a mile anda half.
The greatest thing that comesto the fore for us when we lean
into this rich way of engagingthe biblical witness and
(18:34):
Christ's healing example is thatwe see the importance of
relational depth and trueconnection with the God who made
us and the community that he'splaced us in as communal
creatures, that, indeed, forwhom it is not good to be alone.
And so, friends, as we pick upnext week, we'll talk more about
(18:59):
shalom in particular and whatthat is, and we will think more
about kind of the erroneousnature of thinking about
disability as related to sin.
Some of what we've discussedthis week will be revisited then
through the lens of talkingabout the relationship between
disability and sin and Shalom.
(19:20):
It has been good to be with you.
May God bless you, may God keepyou.
May God cause his face to shineupon you and ever give you
peace, amen.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
This has been a Center for Disability and
Ministry production.
Join us next time for anotherinsightful episode.
Disabling the Church is a production of the Center
for Disability and Ministry atWestern Theological Seminary.
This series amplifies thevoices, giftedness and
perspectives of disabled peopleto enrich the ministry and
witness of the Church andperspectives of disabled people
to enrich the ministry andwitness of the church.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hello all and welcome to Disabling the Church podcast
.
I am your host, dr LS Carlos.
It is an honor to be with youtoday.
Thank you so much for sharingof your time and listening in.
I pray that you are well andtoday, in the midst of our
conversation, I hope that we canreflect a bit on the topics of
health and healing.
In the conversation arounddisability, the topic of what it
(00:56):
means to be healthy and healedis often on the table, but this
is often discussed in relationto the assumption that one's
body, if you live with adisability, is not ideal and
therefore must be healed, and sothe assumption is that one's
need for healing is intimatelyconnected to the fact that one's
(01:18):
body is disabled.
It's as simple and ascomplicated as that.
But when we look at thebiblical narrative and healing
in scripture, jesus' healingministry there is so much more
nuance and depth to how theperson is understood, how health
is framed and therefore howideal and non-ideal are
(01:41):
understood non-ideal areunderstood.
When Jesus enters our world andoffers something through and in
his healing ministry, it begsthe question what he is
beckoning us toward.
And so today, over the courseof our conversation, I hope that
we can reflect on and thenlearn a couple of things.
(02:02):
One, what's the biblical notionof the person?
When we understand what aperson is and what scripture
means when we talk about person,then we can move to
understanding what it means tobe a healthy person, right, and
then from there we also have abetter framework for
understanding what it means tobe unhealthy or in need of
(02:24):
healing.
So let's begin first byunpacking the biblical concept
of the person.
So in our world, in 21st centuryWestern context, the person is
usually understood in terms ofmind, body, soul or spirit right
For the Jewish mind, the personas a living person is one
(02:49):
cohesive whole.
And then what happens when youdie is what can be debated in
terms of what happens to theseentities.
But as a living person you areone cohesive whole.
And the body is betterunderstood in terms of the
living person and three bodilyrealities.
(03:11):
So a fleshly body, the stuffthat makes up the physical stuff
, you see, if you areconventionally cited and then
the eternal, spiritual, mental,emotional body.
And the communal body, one'srelational interconnectedness
and locality.
These three bodies make up oneunified whole that then can be
(03:33):
articulated as the living person.
So in my research and writing Icall this the trilectic
understanding of the person.
Understanding of the person,now the living person.
Then, in scripture we see thatconcept in Genesis 2, verse 7,
for example, right In the Torah,the person upon God breathing
(03:58):
into Adam the first human, thiscreature becomes nefesh hay or
living creature.
In the Septuagint, or the Greektranslation of the Old Testament
, it's sekendosan, these wordsin Hebrew and Greek.
They translate to this cohesivecreature that is living, called
(04:21):
the person.
It's not divided up.
Living, called the person.
It's not divided up, right.
And if we have thatunderstanding of the person in
mind, then we can move tounderstanding how the nature of
what the body looks like relatesto convictions around what the
person is like.
Okay, so this leads to a clearrelationship between the state
(04:47):
of what you see, someone'sphysical body, pointing to the
reality of their internalspiritual state.
This is called physiognomy ofyour internal spiritual state.
Okay, so in Jesus's world,physiognomy is an umbrella that
(05:07):
sort of runs over everything.
And this makes sense.
Then, right, if you stop andthink about the ostracization,
the exclusion and the puritylaws and things like that that
are present in scripture.
And so, even though the worddisability isn't anywhere in
scripture, it's Things likebodily ideals, or a person being
(05:31):
clean or unclean, or touchableor untouchable.
That's well entrenched in thebiblical tradition and it has a
lot to do with this concept ofphysiognomy.
So now let's turn back toscripture.
In Matthew 9, mark 5, and Luke 8, there's a common, known story
(05:55):
of the woman with the issue ofblood, who had been bleeding for
12 years.
In this story, what you see isthis woman is deemed to be
spiritually unclean because sheis bleeding, is bleeding Now.
Under normal circumstances thisis seen to be, at least within
(06:16):
the biblical narrative, withinthe boundary of a menstrual flow
.
But if you read the text inLevitical law, the person is
unclean for as long as they arebleeding and therefore anyone
who touches them is ceremoniallyunclean and must wash and abide
by a certain period ofpurification before they are no
(06:38):
longer considered unclean andcan re-enter spiritual life and
social engagement and the temple.
And so we understand that sheis physically bleeding and
therefore socially unclean,untouchable and spiritually
unclean and therefore ostracized, isolated, pushed to the
(07:00):
margins, et cetera, et cetera.
And so the entire nature of herperson is fractured to varying
degrees at various levels, isfractured to varying degrees at
various levels, and when sheencounters Jesus she desires to
be wholly restored.
When we talk about healing andhealth, what we're talking about
(07:23):
here is the restoration of thewhole person, and scripture
encapsulates that in the wordand the concept of Shalom.
When we read the healingnarratives, we begin to see
beginning with even like.
The woman with the issue ofblood she desires to be, the
Greek word used in this passageis invited into, essentially
(07:46):
sorzo.
Sorzo is a word that meanswholly restored and translates
intimately related to thisconcept of shalom.
But when she touches the hem ofJesus's robe, she is physically
restored, her disease ceases.
She doesn't receive holisticrestoration like she hopes for.
(08:10):
Then Jesus calls forth someoneto explain what happened to him.
Remember the narrative Powerhas gone out from me.
Someone touched me and the textsays the woman went before him
in fear and trembling and toldJesus the whole truth.
And upon hearing her, jesussays to her daughter be restored
(08:31):
, go in peace and be healed ofyour disease.
These words of life that Jesusspeaks over her all can be
translated back to the wordshalom.
But when Jesus speaks to herand says be restored, the word
he uses there is soto Receivethe holistic restoration that
(08:52):
you sought in the beginning.
But that holistic restorationis given to her through the
relational interaction betweenher and the personification of
the Holy of Holies, the one whobrings shalom, the peace of God
with flesh on in the presence ofa community that now sees that
(09:14):
she is clean, pure, restoredspiritually and in every other
way.
So the interesting thing hereto pay attention to, among other
things, of course, is that shecame to Jesus desiring holistic
(09:34):
restoration.
She did not receive thatinitially by touching the hem of
Jesus's robe Read Matthew 9,mark 5, luke 8.
What she receives is simply thephysical restoration of her
body and deliverance from thedisease.
It's not simple proximity withJesus that changes people and
(09:55):
brings the health and healingthat the gospels say is promised
to us.
Remember the narrative saysthat people were bumping up
against Jesus in a crowdconstantly.
That's not the restorativemoment.
The Shalomic, holisticrestorative moment is
encountering Jesus, not justproximity with Jesus, but
(10:17):
encountering Jesus as God.
And that's a relational realitythat Christ is the driver of
when he reaches toward the womanand says daughter, be well, be
restored.
Daughter, be well, be restored,be freed of your disease and go
in peace.
That relational dynamic whereJesus recognizes and reaches
(10:43):
toward a person and that personis encountering God in Christ.
That's the Holy of Holies withflesh on.
That's shalom in a person.
That relational exchange isshalom, lived out.
That's the kind of healing thatthen brings us to a state of,
in the biblical framework,health.
(11:04):
The state of her body matteredfor the sake of the engagement
with Christ, the one who lovesher and the one who made her
mattered for the sake of theengagement with Christ, the one
who loves her and the one whomade her.
But it is so not the divisivedeficit driven point.
Let's think about this a littlebit more with a subsequent
narrative the man lowered downto the roof by who we often
(11:28):
assume culturally they're hisfriends we don't actually know
that for certain but by peoplewho are carrying him on a mat in
Luke 5.
Okay, we know the narrative,but he's lowered down to the mat
and Jesus, seeing the faith ofthe ones who were with him,
takes pity on him and says Son,your sins are forgiven.
And those present, thereligious leaders, they're
(11:50):
wondering in their hearts andthey're mumbling and they're
accusing Jesus to blasphemy.
Jesus, perceiving this in hisspirit, says what is easier to
say your sins are forgiven or tosay pick up your mat and walk
and go home, but that you wouldknow that the son of man has
authority on earth to forgivesins.
Pick up your mat and go home.
(12:12):
Let's walk through thatnarrative a bit.
There are two miracles thatoccur.
Remember physiognomy, assumingthat the state of your body is a
manifestation of your internalspiritual state.
The spiritual leaders hearJesus's words when he says, son,
your sins are forgiven.
(12:32):
Leaders hear Jesus's words whenhe says, son, your sins are
forgiven.
Your sins are forgiven.
That's miracle one.
And Jesus seems to bechallenging physiognomy here and
saying you are spirituallyrestored, you are given the
opportunity to enter into rightrelationship with the God who
made you, in the presence of acommunity who has rejected you.
(12:56):
And that community, or at leastthe spiritual leaders therein,
question the validity of thatbecause his body still remains
in the same state.
And Jesus says then, secondmiracle, pick up your mat and go
home, so that others would knowthat indeed, your sins have
(13:16):
been forgiven and I am God inthe flesh.
Be restored spiritually andspiritually, physically,
socially, emotionally, berestored, be made whole and go
home.
We see all the layers of theperson coming together and the
fracture being restored.
What it means to be healthy isbetter described as being whole
(13:42):
in the multifaceted reality.
That is the biblicalunderstanding of the person,
disability and the state of ourbodies, not the central point.
Encountering Jesus as God, theone who does the impossible, not
just making the impossibleprobable but actually doing it,
(14:06):
and then inviting us intorelationships, that's health,
that's healing.
Now, last, we're going to thinkabout the man born blind in John
9.
The man born blind in John 9,church tradition tells us, is
Celedonius.
In the text he's not given aname, but the writing and
(14:27):
commentaries of Irenaeus tellsus that this man's name is
Celedonius.
Then history tells usCeledonius goes on to be one of
the greatest missionaries of theearly church in France.
So in John 9, remember, theapostles are walking with Jesus
and they pass a man and they saythat he's born blind.
(14:50):
And so they asked this questionwas this man born blind because
of his sin or the sins of hisparents?
And Jesus says neither, butthat the works of God would be
shown in him.
Okay, now remember, physiognomyis the first layer here, right?
Is this man blind because hesinned or because his parents
sinned?
(15:10):
They're not trying to be jerksor insensitive, they're trying
to be good Jews.
There is a conviction that sayspeople can actually sin in the
womb, and so when they say, didthis man sin, even though he's
born blind, they're poking atthat rabbinic tradition.
And Jesus says neither but thatthe works of God would be shown
(15:32):
in him.
And Irenaeus tells us there isa way to read this that is
faithful to the larger biblicalwitness and the witness of the
church and the ministry ofChrist.
He says from the time of thisbeing recorded in the biblical
witness, people have debatedwhat that phrase means.
The works of God.
Irenaeus says interpret thesewords as the works of God,
(15:57):
pointing us back to the works ofGod that created humanity from
the clay, the mud and the clayin Genesis.
Remember back to the beginningof our conversation today, when
we talked about Nefesh Hayah andfrom the dust God forms a Hadam
and then breathes life intothis creature and this creature
(16:17):
becomes a living soul or aperson.
That is the narrative that,according to Irenaeus' reading
of this text, jesus is referringback to when he says works of
God.
Reading of this text Jesus isreferring back to when he says
works of God.
And if that's not clear, thenJesus reaches into the dirt,
spits, makes clay from the dirtor mud and then puts it on
(16:40):
Celedonius' eyes and then saysgo and wash in the pool called
Siloam or scent.
Irenaeus says it's better toread this passage not as
Celadonius the one born blind,but instead the one born without
eyes.
So when Jesus forms from thedust, mud and clay, he's placing
(17:05):
eyes into Celedonius' face, asif to say as God, as I formed
you from the dust of the earth.
So I am asking now, do you seeme as God working in your midst,
(17:28):
the holy of Holies with fleshon?
If you read it that way, thenfrom the beginning of time, way
back in Genesis, when God isforming of a blind man named
(17:49):
Celedonius, that is sopersuasive when we are thinking
about what it means to be wholeand healthy, if we whittle it
down to, being healthy meansfitting into social, cultural
ideas and ideals around what thebody ought to be, and we think
(18:13):
that that is what God isrestoring us to when we think
about healing and health.
We have missed it by a mile anda half.
The greatest thing that comesto the fore for us when we lean
into this rich way of engagingthe biblical witness and
(18:34):
Christ's healing example is thatwe see the importance of
relational depth and trueconnection with the God who made
us and the community that he'splaced us in as communal
creatures, that, indeed, forwhom it is not good to be alone.
And so, friends, as we pick upnext week, we'll talk more about
(18:59):
shalom in particular and whatthat is, and we will think more
about kind of the erroneousnature of thinking about
disability as related to sin.
Some of what we've discussedthis week will be revisited then
through the lens of talkingabout the relationship between
disability and sin and Shalom.
(19:20):
It has been good to be with you.
May God bless you, may God keepyou.
May God cause his face to shineupon you and ever give you
peace, amen.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
This has been a Center for Disability and
Ministry production.
Join us next time for anotherinsightful episode.
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