05/27/2026
JESUS AND DISABILITY
- Bob Deffinbaugh
As elders, it is imperative that our heart toward all people and our perspective on disabilities mirrors with the compassionate and tender heart of our Lord, who not only made himself accessible to the afflicted but actively sought them out.
Our ministry to those who are disabled starts with thinking about disabilities the way Jesus did. There is much we can learn from observing how Jesus corrected the popular thinking of his day when it came to disabilities, and from observing how he treated people.
“THAT THE WORKS OF GOD MIGHT BE DISPLAYED”
Do we have an accurate theology of disability, so to speak? The disciples didn’t. When they came upon a man who was born blind, they wrongly attributed the cause to someone’s sin—and the Pharisees did the same (see John 9:1-5, 34). There are at least two reasons why the disciples and the Pharisees were both wrong.
The first reason is found in Psalm 139:
For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them (Ps. 139:13-16, NAS).
God made all people just as they are at birth, by His design. And since this took place in the womb, the individual could not yet have sinned, as the Pharisees and the disciples assumed.
There is a second reason why having a disability is not the result of personal sin, and Jesus plainly stated it: "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3).
The blind man’s disability was not a punishment for sin, but the occasion for “the works of God to be displayed in him.” In the next sentence, Jesus makes it clear that it was He who would “work the works of God” in this man (9:4-5). This man’s disability was the occasion for God to do a gracious work in his life, a work that not only gave him his sight but also opened his spiritual eyes so that he would spend eternity in God’s presence.
God’s works are not just displayed in the one who is disabled, but also in the godly response of those who rightly respond in kindness to the disabled. I have personally witnessed the works of God in those leaders who were shaped, in part, by their response to the disabled.
JESUS ACTIVELY SOUGHT THE DISABLED AND AFFLICTED
In Jesus’ day, and in ours, those with disabilities are often ignored or neglected. That is why the religious elite of Jesus’ day were surprised about those with whom Jesus chose to associate. But the truth is that Jesus did not avoid the disabled, sick, or afflicted. He made Himself accessible to them, even when others, even the disciples, were intent on sending them away.
In Matthew 20, James and John, with the help of their mother, sought to persuade Jesus to give them a more prestigious position above their fellow disciples. Jesus responded that “whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Greatness in His kingdom, Jesus said, was not experienced by seeking to be served by others, but in sacrificial service to others. Jesus spoke of His service (on the cross) as an example of serving others. Immediately following this incident, in the very next verses, Matthew illustrates Jesus’ point with the story of the two blind men who pleaded for healing. The crowds considered them a nuisance and wanted to silence them, but Jesus made Himself available to them and healed them (see Matt. 20:25-34). That is what servanthood looks like: not seeking personal advancement by ruling over others, but serving others who are in need.
Far from making themselves accessible and available to serve others, the disciples urged Jesus to dismiss those in need:
The disciples wanted to send the hungry crowd away, but Jesus proposed to serve them by feeding them (Matt. 14:13-20)—and sent them away full.
When the Syrophoenician (Canaanite) woman pleaded with Jesus to deliver her demon-possessed daughter from bo***ge, the disciples once again wanted to silence her and send her away. But Jesus, having tested her faith, sent her home to find her daughter delivered from demonic oppression (Matt. 15:21-28).
The disciples also sought to prevent children from coming to Jesus. (Granted, they were not disabled, but they were considered unable to contribute to Jesus’ ministry in any way.) Jesus rebuked His disciples (Matt. 19:13-15; Mark 10:13-16).
Jesus not only made Himself accessible to the disabled and afflicted; He actually sought such people out. If they could not come to Him, He went to them. Jesus not only responded to the needs of the disabled, He actually initiated ministry to the afflicted. He reached out to those who could not (or would not) come to Him for help. For example:
In John 5, Jesus went to the Pool of Bethesda and encountered the man who had been afflicted for 38 years so that he was unable to walk. The man could not get himself to a supposed source of healing, much less gain access to Jesus. Jesus found him; he did not find Jesus. He did not even seem to know who Jesus was.
In Luke 7, when Jesus saw the funeral procession for the son of the widow at Nain, he felt compassion for her, touched the coffin, raised the man to life, and gave him back to his mother (Luke 7:11-15).
Finally, we should note the initiative Jesus took to go to Samaria and preach the gospel. When he met the woman at the well, he was on his way from Judea to Galilee, “[a]nd He had to pass through Samaria” (John 4:4). The text indicates that this was something He felt compelled to do. These people were not disabled; far worse, the Jews despised them and considered them unworthy of salvation—a virtual write-off. The disciples themselves did not share the love Jesus had for the Samaritans or the divine purpose to save them.
We see Jesus’ heart for the despised Samaritans again in Luke 9. When the Samaritans failed to receive Jesus as he was passing through on his way to Jerusalem, James and John assumed Jesus would want them to “command fire to come down from heaven and consume [the Samaritans]” (Luke 9:54). But Jesus rebuked them and said that the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them (Luke 9:56).
JESUS’ COMPASSION IDENTIFIED HIM AS THE PROMISED MESSIAH
Jesus was the seeker of those in need, of those oppressed or afflicted. And this was precisely what distinguished Him from other “messianic” options. The crowds (and even some of the disciples) thought that being Messiah meant that Jesus would march into Jerusalem, cast out the Romans, and create a new, Jewish nation. John the Baptist struggled with what being Messiah meant, because he spoke of Jesus’ appearance as Him coming to bring judgment on sinners (see Matt. 3:7-12, Luke 3:15-18). Jesus corrected John’s mistaken grasp of what it meant to be Messiah by calling attention to His ministry of compassion, rather than a military mission:
And when the men had come to Him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, 'Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?'" At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He granted sight to many who were blind. And He answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me" (Luke 7:20-23, NAS).
Jesus’ compassion toward the afflicted and disabled was consistent with His nature and His identity as the Promised Messiah, who would come to save His people:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified (Isa. 61:1-3, NAS; see also Luke 4:15-21).
This is what Jesus was calling upon John the Baptist to remember from the Old Testament prophecies regarding the coming Messiah.
PARALLELS BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL DISABILITY
Jesus’ compassion toward the physically afflicted and disabled was a prototype of his mission to cure the spiritually disabled. Jesus made it clear that all mankind has been disabled by sin so that no one is able, by his or her own efforts, to merit God’s favor and blessings (see Rom. 3:19-26).
Here we are, a month after celebrating Easter, a holiday that commemorates the means by which God will transform “disabled sinners” into saints. Jesus took the sinner’s place, bearing the punishment which their sin deserves. By His death, He bore the penalty for our sin. And by His resurrection He accomplished the means for attaining eternal life, so that all who put their trust in Him may dwell in His presence forever, perfect in Jesus.
That is the good news for all disabled sinners, and it is promised to all who acknowledge their sin and place their trust in Jesus, who took their place. That is something for every believer in Jesus to celebrate. But the first step is for us to acknowledge our disability, our incapacity to earn right standing before God and the blessing of salvation.
Unless the Lord Jesus returns before our death, the grave is our certain destiny, and only trusting in the divine nature and saving work of Jesus at Calvary will suffice to overcome our spiritual disability. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be assured of eternal life, beyond the grave, because of what Jesus has done for us.
Photo by Romain Virtuel on Unsplash
This article first appeared here => https://www.biblicaleldership.com/2026/05/12/jesus-and-disability/?mc_cid=d918a86912&mc_eid=fe4e28fd4e
