Jesus’ Lethal Love for the Lame

"Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame" (Luke 14:21). With these words Jesus reached the apex of his parable on the Kingdom of God as a banquet. He was responding specifically to a Pharisee who asked about the Messianic banquet in the Last Days. Apparently Jesus' parable expressed itself in his praxis so that the literal blind and lame sought his healing at the very gates of the Temple from which they were excluded (Matt 21:14–15). Now most of us will say, "Now isn't that nice—Jesus incorporated the marginalized and offered them a seat at the table." In actuality, it was not nice, it was socially subversive. You see, Jesus is not merely offering them a seat; he is offering them somebody else's seat: "I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet" (Luke 14:24). To make matters worse, this offer was against every Jewish expectation for the lame and the blind. Leviticus rejects the blind and lame from the Priesthood (21:18) and Kind David used the epitaph 'lame and blind' to describe his enemies (2 Sam 5:8). In Qumran the blind and lame were excluded from fighting in the eschatological battle because they were unclean (1QM 7:4). For the same reason they were excluded from the Messianic banquet: "Every person smitten…in his feet or hands, lame or blind or deaf…let these persons not enter…" (1 QSa 2:3–7).

The Jewish view of the lame could not be clearer than in the Targumim (Aramaic interpretive paraphrases of the OT). Three times the OT prophets promised healing and inclusion to the lame: "I will save the lame and gather the outcast" (Zeph 3:19); "Then shall the lame man leap like a dear" (Isa 35:6); and "I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away, and those whom I have afflicted; and the lame I will make a remnant" (Micah 4:6–8). The Targumim, however, replace the word 'lame' with the word 'exile' so as to apply the promise to the Diaspora Jews rather than to the literal lame who remained marginalized under the cloud of uncleanness and God's curse. Jesus, in the most striking contrast, not only included the lame, but seated them at the head of the parabolic banquet. Is it any wonder, with such social subversion, that his life was in jeopardy long before his 'triumphal' entrance into the capital city?

Can a Christian be Demon-Possessed?

[I am diverging from our John 3:30 theme to answer this question from an email]. First we must recognize that the term "Demon-Possession" is not biblical. The bible simply uses the term 'demonized'. This term is appropriately fluid and can mean everything from tempting, to attacks, to psychological manipulation, to physical control. Obviously, then, Christians can be demonized at some level. Second, to say that a Christian cannot be 'possessed' by a demon because God owns (or 'possesses') them, is to use the term 'possess' in two different senses—one being 'influence' the other being 'ownership'. Third, 1 John 4:4 is often used as a proof-text against Christians being demonized: "the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." Contextually, however, this verse is claiming that Christians (plural) will ultimately win the Spiritual battle because Jesus is more powerful than the anti-Christ(s). It does not really address the issue of an individual's struggle with a demon. Fourth, the claim that the Spirit of God indwelling us 'fills' us so completely that there is no room for an evil spirit is to place physical constrictions of our world on spiritual entities. It does not appear that the spirit world operates under the same physics as we do. Thus, the metaphor of 'filled-up-and-out-of-space' is inadequate. Fifth, the common misperception that God will not dwell where sin is (i.e. the Holy Spirit would not inhabit the same physical body as an evil spirit), neglects the omnipresence of the Holy Spirit. If he is everywhere, then how can he not co-exist with evil at some level in this world? Furthermore, since my old man is still quite active, how can he indwell me? Sixth, our Western assumption that life must be fair and that innocent people should not suffer is, at best, counter to reality. One ought not to expect the spirit world to operate under common expectations of Democratic Capitalism and Western 'rights' of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Having said all that, I'll now state my opinion quite clearly. (Please recognize this is my opinion based not primarily on Scripture, which is virtually mute on this question, but on testimony of others and personal observations.) A Christian can be demonized. While it would be virtually impossible for an obedient Christian, steeped in Scripture, worship, and community, to be vulnerable to full demonization (i.e. 'possession'), one could be demonized prior to conversion through occult practices, drugs, sex, or even ancestral pledges by those involved in such things. Baptism promises the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit; it does not necessarily exorcise demons who have a stronghold in a person's life at the time of conversion. This requires renunciation of vows and release of spiritual 'rights' a demon claims on the victim. How such exorcism takes place is a whole other question.