Was Jesus Ableist?

A Modern Look at Healing Miracles

I read this verse not too long ago after having a very interesting conversation with my wife who just finished school to become an American Sign Language interpreter. She’s been exposed to and surrounded by the Deaf and hard of hearing culture for a while now and her experiences have really opened up my eyes to a see a whole world I had been completely oblivious to. This has helped me understand all the common misconceptions people have about the Deaf community in our contemporary context.

She was telling me about how the Deaf community doesn’t like to be referred as “disabled” or “hearing-impaired” because those words carry a negative connotation to them as if their humanity isn’t at their full potential. In fact, many Deaf individuals nowadays prefer their deafness compared to being hearing.

The question that arises then is how should Christians view the Deaf community and other communities prone to discrimination and oppression?

In the Gospel narratives, Jesus’ life and ministry is recorded to convey to the authors’ audience that Jesus is Lord and Savior of all humanity. Out of all the miracles that are performed by Jesus during his ministry, the most frequent ones are miracles of healing. The subjects of these miracles were the blind, Deaf, mute, diseased, and lame.

When reading these texts with our modern eyes, is it possible that our interpretations of these texts can influence the way we perceive those people who aren’t as physically or mentally capable as others? When a person possesses a social prejudice against another person with a perceived disability, this is known as ableism.

Ableism today exists in many forms, often unnoticed by the able-bodied individual:

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