Hello
Today’s Holy Nougat invites us to think seriously about disability and marginalization.
“And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple.” Acts 3:2 NRSV
Isn’t it ironic that a broken man was daily left to beg by a place called beautiful?
Just imagine; the man was lame from birth. And his occupation was begging. Not just any street side begging. Oh no. He was firmly established as a temple beggar.
There was something wrong with the equation then; probably even more so than it is wrong today.I agree that ‘preying’ on another’s emotions by guilting the individual into giving is wrong on several levels. Especially outside their place of worship Nevertheless I invite us to bear in mind the following.
For, in those days, disability was considered retribution for one’s sins or that of the parents. Subsequently, the lame man was not welcome inside the temple. Not in the least.
Moreover, his disability rendered him partially invisible; much like the average beggar on our streets.
Being a beggar outside the temple says that he, or the ones who daily transported him, insisted that he remain visible to others who would rather ignore them.
We are told he was placed by Beautiful Gate DAILY. It suggests that his presence was not contested. So although he was not welcome because of his disability; his ‘brokenness’ had become normalized to the worshipping community.
How visible are the vulnerable and ‘broken’ in our spaces of worship? Are we guilty of exploiting the vulnerable? Or are they welcomed with their disabilities and provision made to accommodate them? When does ‘brokenness’ become normal to the extent that we are immune to the deeper needs (keeping persons with disabilities invisible, while salving our consciences with piecemeal offerings)?
Is it time to shift the paradigm?
In Christ’s love
