Thursday, October 2, 2014
Luke 6:1-11
“I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to destroy it.”
Jesus is neither timid in his actions nor uncertain in his words. He picks grain on the Sabbath, and teaches by this action that God’s concern for basic human needs can trump religious law. He restores a man with a withered hand, and shows by his example that celebration (and not judgment) should follow genuine healing. Why couldn’t the “scribes and the Pharisees” join in the party? Why couldn’t they crowd around the healed man hoping to be the first to shake his newly restored hand?
When we live from a place of scarcity, it’s easy to denigrate those who lives seem abundant. I was reminded of this truth recently when I heard about the Suskind family in a radio interview. Ron Suskind, a writer for the Wall Street Journal, tells the story of his young son, Owen, who was diagnosed with autism as an infant. For years, Ron and his family tried unsuccessfully to communicate with their son. Owen was, however, an avid fan of Disney movies, and Ron later realized these films were the key to unlocking Owen’s inner life. Owen used the film’s dialogue as a vehicle to express his own thoughts and emotions. Now, in his early 20s, Owen no longer relies on Disney to convey his feelings. But because his family was able to step outside the boundaries of expected behavior and speak to him with “Disney voices,” they gained Owen’s confidence and trust.
The Suskind story is inspiring. And, yet, not everyone appreciates their successes. David Royko is a Chicago therapist who also has an adult son with autism. He believes that dramatic stories like Owen’s do a disservice to parents of autistic children who fail to see dramatic breakthroughs. These parents come to believe that they aren’t good enough and they haven’t tried hard enough. Royko is surely right. Autism is a complex condition. Although Owen’s story is not unique, some see it as relatively rare.
What does stand out to me, however, was the way these two fathers spoke about their sons. When Ron talks about Owen, he focuses on what his son can do, and on the joys he brings to the family. David Royko, on the other hand, highlights his son’s incapacities.
Two different families, two different perspectives. If David changed his outlook, there’s no guarantee his son would dramatically change. But I am willing to bet that David would dramatically change. Maybe he would see abundance where now he sees only scarcity.
It’s this very change of perspective that Jesus brings to us as he tromps through the grain fields and breaks rules in the synagogue. God’s ability to bring genuine healing and transformed relationships bursts open our too-small notions of what is proper or what is possible.
Connect to http://www.radiolab.org/story/
- David Shumaker
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