In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Jesus reveals to us a man who was so consumed with himself, his possessions and his own comfort that during the course of his life he never really noticed this poor beggar named Lazarus who sat at his gate day after day.  While preparing to preach this text a few months ago, I couldn’t help but see much of myself in the character of the Rich Man.  Often my own schedule, needs, hobbies and comfort blind me from the obvious needs of those around me.  It caused me to ask the question: who are the needy that are right in my midst, and yet are “invisible” to me?  It’s sort of a scary question to ask.  There are some obvious ones that immediately came to mind, such as the homeless in my community, the elderly widow two houses down, and even the young single girl across the street who desperately needs Jesus.  But it wasn’t until a couple of nights ago that I realized there is a whole group of people that are often invisible to me, even though they are all around me.  They are people with special needs and disabilities.

A few years ago, my dear friends, Chad and Jennifer, had a son who was born with an agenesis of the corpus callosum.  Basically, that means the band of tissue that connects the two hemispheres of the brain did not develop correctly, resulting in severe disabilities.  Since then, I have realized that if I simply open my eyes there are families with special needs children all around me.  They are often easy to overlook, because in truth, we don’t want to look at them.  We don’t want to think about the difficulty of their daily schedule, the endless doctors appointments, and the many nights with little to no sleep.  But obviously, the gospels are full of examples of our Savior looking directly at the needy people that no one else noticed.  He even said that these needs are there so that the work of God might be displayed in their lives. 

I think the question for those of us who follow Jesus is: are we taking advantage of these gifts that are right in our midst?  As we consider reaching out into our communities, loving the poor, and making our churches more ethnically diverse, are we also considering how we can better love these needy people who are plentiful in our very churches?  There is a special needs ministry in my denomination that is working to raise awareness.  Please take a few minutes and watch this video and consider those who might have been invisible to you up until this point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygZKM2YY4sc