Completely Restored

After the fourth flush I picked up the near empty bottle of Windex and then ripped off three squares from the paper towel roll and proceeded to clean up around the toilette boil. After tossing the residue of a gapping emotional wound into the garbage I went back into the living room and sat, numb and oblivious to what television program was playing. Tomorrow will be different, I promised myself. Today is the last day. Despondent, that is what I said every day for the previous fourteen years. It never was the last day…that’s what bulimia does.

“[Jesus] He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was completely restored.” (Luke 6:10, NIV)

Most often when this passage is read (Luke 6:1-11) the focus is on Jesus’s act of healing on the Sabbath and the Pharisee’s reaction. There is one verse—verse 10 which is a story unto itself. It is about a man in the crowd, a man with a shriveled or withered hand. What is interesting about this man is unlike other accounts this man did not run up to Jesus and ask to be healed. Jesus picks him out of the crowd. His motive is to show the Pharisee’s his divine power. He wants to create a stage for himself in front of these unbelieving and conniving Pharisees. Jesus singles out this one man—a recipient of his love, grace and mercy and says, "Stretch out your hand."

Maybe we don’t have a shriveled hand or an eating disorder that needs repair, but we all have our fallen nature—our pride and selfishness that we need to give him. Falleness is all we have. In his mercy Jesus he asks us to give it all to him. Scripture then says this man’s hand was completely restored. God did completely restore me from a deadly eating disorder and from binge drinking—yes completely. Although we’ll never be entirely rid of our sin nature here on earth if we give it to Jesus everyday he can shrink it considerably. We will be completely restored from sin when we get to heaven!

Give him your withered hand and let his strength be demonstrated in your weakness. It’s the only way he can show an unbelieving world his power. “We seek thy face, turn thy face unto us and show us thy glory. Then shall our longing be satisfied, and our peace shall be perfect” (Saint Augustine).