Give left-handers a break! Right-handers have always forced them to live in a right-handed world. That all stems from old thinking.
Did you know the word sinister relates to left-handedness? Or that in China there are no left-handed people? A Chinese person may be born left-handed, but she will not stay that way. The word awkward means something about the “wrong way.” I bet you can guess if that’s the right or left way.
I never paid attention to the TV shows that depicted the red devils and angels on a character’s shoulders. If the creators wanted to be real to common thought, the devil would be over the left shoulder.
So, imagine in Jesus’ day a man whose right hand had withered. What does he have? Chances are, that is his strong hand. At the very least, the right hand is a symbol of strength. His withered, he has none.
It’s no mere inconvenience.
As this man stood before everyone in the synagogue one day, Jesus asked a question. He spoke to religious leaders who considered themselves doorkeepers to all things righteous. Jesus said, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?”
Was he suggesting the man’s life had been destroyed already? Well, the doorkeepers’ eyes were already fixed on Jesus. They wanted to see if he would heal the man. Notice the man never said anything. He was just there. Everyone knew this man’s struggle.
Of course, Jesus did heal him. Gave him his life back. And he did it on the Sabbath. Was that prohibited work? Not to Jesus. God sent our Lord to show us and give us abundant life. To the doorkeepers it was unacceptable.
Now, this is my imagination. After Jesus healed the man, Luke says the others “were filled with fury and began discussing with one another what they might do to Jesus.” As they sat in the synagogue, they began to think how they could quell his ministry. They had to have turned their faces away from the holy activity in front of them. Turning toward themselves to plan, they turned away from God. They were now facing the wrong way.
Let’s be careful with door-keeping today. It isn’t wrong to be left-handed. Obviously. It isn’t’ wrong to need healing. But it is wrong to get in the way of God’s transformation simply because you don’t like the way it looks. Right?
Stay blessed…john
