I'm a quadriplegic and that means I am pretty much dead weight. It also means that when I travel, I always go with two people. When I fly on an airplane, I have to be lifted out of my wheelchair and onto a little aisle chair, then from that little thing into the airplane seat. One person has to get behind me, reach through my elbows and grab my wrists... the other person stands in front, puts his hands under my knees, and on the count of 1... 2... 3, both of them lift!
Recently I took a trip back to Washington, DC and it was just my friend Judy and me. I was able to get on the plane okay, but when we landed in Washington, Judy had to quickly run out to the jetway to assemble my wheelchair. That meant I had no one to help me transfer out of the airplane seat. Well, two men came down the aisle with the aisle chair – I’m not sure what country they were from – I could barely understand them. I told one man to stand in front of me, lift my legs, and the other man I asked to please get behind me to lift my back. When I told him, “Now sir, grab my wrists,” he didn’t understand. I had to say it again and again. He became frustrated grabbing my shoulders, my hands, my waist, and I won’t say what else he grabbed… he didn’t understand what I was saying.
We both were getting frustrated and what hurt was that there were about four or five of the cleaning crew standing around watching us. I asked them, “Could one of you please tell this gentleman what I mean when I tell them to ‘grab my wrists?’” Not a one of them budged. Nobody responded. Not a one moved to help, lift a finger, or offered to explain or show this man what I was talking about. They just stood there and stared, watching to see what would happen next.
Finally the guys just grabbed me any which way and threw me into the aisle chair. I can’t begin to describe the humiliation – not so much at those men who couldn’t understand me, but at that cleaning crew… those people who just stood there and stared. When I got out into the terminal, I felt a little better, but I still couldn’t understand why… what good did all that accomplish? Well, later on I remembered that in the morning, that very morning, I had asked the Lord to reveal Himself to me in some new, deeper way. A way I hadn’t seen before…
And that’s when it struck me: Jesus had shown me His humiliation… His disgrace, His degradation. For, indeed, when He was on the cross, and He cried out… He looked for help, but sadly, people just stood there and stared, watching to see what would happen next. Not a one of them budged. No one moved to help Him or lift a finger in His defense. For me it was a taste – just a small taste of joining Jesus in the fellowship of sharing in His degradation; it was a way of joining Him in the humiliation of weakness. And the hurt of feeling abandoned, with no one to help. That was what He revealed… that was the new, deeper insight into my Savior. And for that reason alone, today I love Him all the more.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176