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On most weekday mornings, before I go to work, I head into the local Carl’s Jr. for a breakfast burrito and a coffee. I order my meal, fill up my cup, sit down, pray with my eyes closed and head bowed, and then open my Bible to whatever page the Spirit leads me. Today I read a few stories about Jesus including one where he encounters a man who had been crippled for several decades (John 5:1-15). When Jesus asks the man if he wants to be healed, the man’s reply is something like “Of course, but I don’t have anyone to help me. Everyone else is always getting healed.” Jesus heals the guy and tells him to get up and walk and carry his mat. Then Jesus disappears. It turns out that the healing took place on The Sabbath, a day on which no work was supposed to be done, including healing or the carrying of one’s mat. When the self-righteous religious leaders notice that the long-time crippled man is carrying his mat they become indignant and question him about it. He immediately shifts the blame to the man who had healed him. “He said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” But when they ask who the mysterious healing lawbreaker is, the man doesn’t know. A little while later, Jesus reappears and tells the man “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” As soon as Jesus leaves him again, the man runs off (on his newly healed legs) and rats Jesus out to the religious leaders. 

The healed man in this story screams out to me, “Victim! Victim! I am the victim! My debilitating circumstances are completely outside my control and therefore I do not have to take any responsibility for anything. You -all of you- owe me.” The Bible’s account of the story pretty much ends off where my version ends off so we don’t know what happens to the man later, but the end of the story as made available to us shows that the man was not only ungrateful for what Jesus had done but perhaps even resentful. He didn’t want to be healed! He was content to wallow in self-pity and to shift blame when possible. He had probably spent the last several decades perfecting the art. Now he would have to do something with his life. All of his blame-shifting tricks would no longer work. At worst, he would have to come up with new tricks. At best, he would have to learn an actual trade.

As I read this story, I tried to think of some sort of point, some resolution, some way to apply some lesson to my own life or to the life of others. I know that God doesn’t want us to play the victim. Doing so takes us to a state of ingratitude and unaccountability and eventually resentment and bitterness. There are probably a few other bad places that playing the victim can take us. 

After I finished my coffee but before I could finish my thought, I closed my Bible, got up, threw away my trash and headed out the door. As I stepped out into the warm sunlight, a dirty-looking man in my peripheral vision made a remark about the Bible I was carrying. As sad as this sounds, since I had a valid excuse to keep moving -that I was heading to work- I was tempted to simply acknowledge his remark and get in my car and drive away. Instead, though, I stopped, set down my coffee and Bible, and walked toward the man to see what he had to say about the Bible.

Without doing a full recap, here are some highlights from my conversation with this homeless man named John. John does not sleep with virgins because “Jesus’ halo when he was dying on the cross was shaped like a hymen”. According to John, the fact that a broken hymen causes bleeding just like Jesus’ head bled on the cross is an obvious sign that Jesus does not want John, specifically, to sleep with virgins. All things considered, as he told me this, I felt compelled to simply listen intently, nothing more or less. He also mentioned that he believed that the United States’ government gave permission to China to destroy the World Trade Center towers on September 11th because we owe them so much money. Furthermore, Osama Bin Laden is working for the United States.

John said a lot of things regarding which I had no reply, but there were a surprising number of things that we both agreed on. He mentioned that the seductive power of a woman is unique, that it can be used to control men, and has been used many times in history to change the fate of nations. I concurred by mentioning the story of Samson and Delilah (Judges 16). (Feel free to disagree with us.) In so many words, he said that the rich control the world and that there is no justice for the poor. He quoted the Bible, mostly in context, when he said that in these days and the days to come, it is better for a barren woman than for a mother since life will be increasingly difficult (Luke 23:28-31). John has no children and he expressed his sympathy when I told him about mine. Although I believe that the evidence he presented was skewed, I agreed with him that, since the beginning of the written word, evil men have misused God’s Word. They have used it to control and manipulate the masses and oppress the weak. We also agreed that reading the Bible is a good thing to do.

John has been living on the streets most of his life. In a few days he will be going to prison for a crime that he says he didn’t commit. He feels that he was framed by his employer and parole officer. Although he was obviously frustrated with his predicament and the current broken state of the world, he acknowledged that God is ultimately in control and that He will work things out eventually.

For John, life is not about shifting blame or avoiding responsibility. He does the best he believes he can just to survive each day as it is presented to him. Personally, I had a great weekend and felt very bored when I came to work yesterday (a Monday). I wanted to be entertained and I had trouble motivating myself to work. After speaking with John today, I feel a bit stupid about how I was yesterday. I am grateful to have a job, a home with a shower, a car, a change of clothes, and some sense of stability and control in my life. John has none of those things. Despite our gaping differences, John and I both agree that… “Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all.” (Proverbs 22:2 NIV) and “This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.” (Ecclesiastes 9:3 NIV)

Although I showed no signs of wanting to end our conversation this morning, John “let me go” so I could get to work. Even now, hours later, I am sure that there is a connection between the story of the man that Jesus healed and my conversation with John, but I have no clue what it is.