Blind and Lame

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God is extremely eloquent. Perhaps as a writer I have aspecial affinity for His gift of theme and His flair for symbolism layered upon symbolism.  And what is so delightful and mysterious is the way He weaves this magnificent story out of all our lives. Weare a living story and the Bible is amazing at telling us and retelling us; spreading us out over the course of millennia, showing the development of our character through the ages. And revealing layer by layer the multifaceted purposes of the Author.

Today, using my own curiosity as a lure (love when He does that), God led me to these verses.

And the king (David) and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”—thinking, “David cannot come in here.” Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. And David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hated by David’s soul.” Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” 2 Samuel 5:6-8

As I perused several sites that offered commentary on these verses I discovered that some people actually think God was somehow cursing blind and lame people through King David. Which is of course utterly ridiculous. The Jebusites were taunting him. “We can beat you blindfolded with one hand tied behind our backs!”  So when he defeated them David used their own taunt against them.  That seems so obvious, but apparently even in David’s time it became a reason to deny charity to the blind and lame. I suppose we are always looking for an excuse to care less for others and thereby devote more care to ourselves.

But one commentary ("More Than Words" blog, by David Anderson) drew the parallel to Jesus entering Jerusalem (Matthew 21). He goes into the temple and purges it and then heals the lame and the blind (vs 14).

Anderson writes: “Here in Matthew the true David comes to claim his kingdom in Jerusalem, having ridden in on the king's donkey and come to visit his house (the temple) - and the blind and the lame are there to great him; not as posited enemies, but as his welcomers and friends, those whom he heals.”

I rather liked where Anderson was going with this so I decided to take it and run with it. I looked back at 2 Samuel and spotted something else. Something that had caught my eye the first time around but had not been mentioned by many commentators.

“Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft…”

The pathway to the blind and lame; to the claiming of the kingdom by the rightful king, comes via the water shaft. Christ again fulfills this motif in the story. The story Anderson quotes was toward the end of Jesus ministry, but at the very beginning He goes to John the Baptist to be baptized. And when He comes up out of the water He goes immediately to the desert to be tried. But afterward He comes out and begins His ministry, which includes miraculous healings.

From prison John seeks assurance from Jesus that He is indeed the Messiah. Part of the testimony Christ sends as evidence is this…

“The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” Matthew 11:5

Now this is all very cool and intellectually revelatory. But what does it mean? That is to say, what is God trying to tell me? Because I’m finding that God is not at all interested in giving me fodder for my blog. He’s scarcely concerned in building up my reputation as a saint or Bible scholar. His priority with me is always change.

So then who is blind and lame? In the old Testament they are cursed. In the new they are blessed and healed. So who are they? They are us. Or more directly, the blind and lame are ME. So then how am I so named as blind and lame?

One does not need to go too deeply to figure it out. Sight is the purview of faith.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

We hear it spoken often that we must “see with the eyes of faith.” And it is true. “Only believe,” is a command I have been hearing a lot lately from God. I do of course believe God exists. But He is showing me more and more how remarkably little faith I place in Him when it comes to trusting His word. Believe in Me and then Believe Me. It’s the second one that I have trouble with. I want to. But I get distracted by what I see. And so I am blind to the truth of His word. But whatever He says, IS. What I see is only darkness if I do not believe that. And if I do not believe how then can I trust well enough to do as He says? Which leads me to…

How I am lame. To be lame is to be in a sense inactive. Powerless, helpless. But it is in a more modern sense to be useless. Unable, or perhaps even to a degree unwilling to work. “You are so lame!” We charge the slacker. And considering the fervent call to greater and greater obedience that God has also been pushing me to, it would appear that He is indeed calling me lame!

And so here I am blind and lame. Faithless and disobedient. Frustrated with myself. Caught in a trap of my own making, unable to escape, but hardly fighting to get out.  But God has another plan. He has no intention of leaving me here. He has come up by the water shaft. He is storming the city. And He will overcome the blindness of my faith. He will defeat the lameness of my disobedience. Jesus is my healer. I do not know how He will do it. But He will do it.

I confess there is a bit of the Jebusite in me. I look at the mess of myself sometimes and I think as they did,“oh, Jesus cannot come in here!” But this is utterly foolish.  The stronghold has already been breached. He has come up. Not just from the water, but from the shaft, that is the grave. He is alive. I know it. And where there is no doubt He will strengthen my faith. Where there is resistance He will give me an obedient heart.  Because of Him, “the blind receive sight, the lame walk…”

Only by Jesus can I fulfill His own words: Trust and Obey.

I suppose there is more to this. But it is midnight and I need to sleep.