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Can I invite you to reflect on what was different about Jesus and ask why?

By Craig Millward

This is a blog which was first delivered a short 7 minute presentation with images which move on after 20 seconds (known as a PechaKucha) at the 2022 Baptist Assembly. Please watch this below:

All humans are created in God's image. And God declares this to be good.

Image is a statement about inherent value. Jesus, God with a human face, treated people who others considered outcasts with equal dignity and respect.

Image is also a statement about relationship. When asked the tricky question about paying taxes to a repressive regime, Jesus had his detractors bring a coin to him. He asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

He said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

Each of us is different in many ways, and yet we each have the capacity to be true images of the one who gave us the gift of life.

The Gospels tell of an occasion when Jesus' disciples noticed a man who looked different. He was unable to see.

The question at the top of their agenda was theological. Who sinned? Who was to blame?

In those days a person with a disability was forced to expose his difference in order to beg for a living. Jesus' actions empowered the man in numerous small ways and also restored his sight.

You will have viewed thousands of bodies in your lifetime and you have a clear mental pattern of what one normally looks like. It takes a millisecond to match the body you see with the embedded pattern stored in your brain and the whole process is completely subconscious.

When you scan a crowd or meet someone for the first time, you subconsciously match your store of embedded images to features you recognise. This is the point at which people who look different is experienced as a shock to your system.

Human disability therefore creates a tension. We will all tend to stare at a bodily difference we’ve not seen before, simply because something that is usually a subconscious act is being drawn to our conscious awareness, and we are forced to deal with the unusual visual image that is before us.

Disability is only a theological question for those of us who believe in both a good and sovereign God. Yet, in my experience, most people tend to avoid this sort of hard question, maybe out of fear that the map they use to make sense of the world might not be up to the job.

I wanted answers to disability questions throughout my early years as a Christian. But I was afraid to ask because the stakes were high for at least four reasons:

It requires huge vulnerability and creates tension in relationships
It risks putting other people in an embarrassing situation
It creates a scenario where a simplistic answer may be dragged in as a stop-gap
It may unmask the possibility that no satisfying answer exists

But the 'why' questions are actually pretty meaningless. They only have currency where the underlying assumption is that something called 'normal' actually exists.

The fact is that variety is everywhere, but we are more used to some differences than others.

Human faces are all different, so are fingerprints, snowflakes, hair colour and regional accents. We marvel at variety within creation, in which, I understand, no straight lines ever exist.

We are all different in countless ways, and yet so many strive to be the same. In order to belong, to fit in, to be accepted, not as we are, but as we believe others want us to be.

Some differences limit a person's ability to join in, to be heard and understood, to communicate, to be spontaneous and live without reserve. Add to that the discrimination that is a very real experience for so many of us, and the loss of opportunity and lack of confidence that follows.

Other differences are not so obvious.

The disability that complicates my life the most is not the one you can see.

Most people act in order to fit in. They put on different masks to suit each occasion. In order to do this effectively it is necessary to pick up on social cues. But some people can't do this easily. They are socially disabled.

Jesus refused to play the social games that would have endeared him to others. Some said he was mad, but others found him authentic and believed he had integrity. He talked about things that were clear as daylight but were considered taboo. Jesus was led by his Father to places polite people thought he shouldn't be. He confronted injustice and hypocrisy, honouring those who were different, marginalised and strange.

Today Jesus' behaviour might be labelled 'autistic' because he refused to play the culturally-defined social games of his age. He told Nicodemus he was simply taking his cues from a different Kingdom which only those who are born again can see.

Jesus possessed a soft heart which was capable of being moved by compassion, ears which were open to hear from heaven, a second pair of ‘spiritual’ eyes which noticed details others thought were unimportant, and a new way of thinking which turned established traditions and ideas upside down.

Autistic or authentic? It depends on your perspective.

Jesus chose to be different. And society treated him accordingly.

We all feel the same social pressure to think and believe the same. Lines are drawn between orthodox and unorthodox opinions and maybe we treat other humans created in God's image differently for not conforming.

Fear of being different paralyses. Shame creates pain. Pride produces hierarchies and ego resists tearing them down. Prejudice thinks it knows best and prevents deep listening to another point of view.

Jesus calls us to choose different - like he was. People who accept their difference can be a gift. Trying to be the same as others is a waste of a life.

So here are my questions to you:

How are you different? Are you accepting of yourself?
Do you hide your differences or might they be your gift to the world?
Do others who are different scare you? Why?
Do the social settings you live in, or the institutions you have built, have a place for different people?
If they do, you will have been enriched by different perspectives. You will have learned to be more vulnerable - because people who don't fit in bring this gift with them.
Finally. Can I invite you to reflect on what was different about Jesus and ask why?

We are, after all, called to follow him, not the world.