Barth discusses something in this section which has fortuitously been on my mind as of late.
It has great consequences in a ministry which is deeply influenced by disability theology and disability advocacy as praxis. Barth is quite clear about a topic which is the cornerstone of much disability theory, advocacy, and theology: that able-bodied people, particularly able-bodied Christians, should know the scope of their influence on the lives of people with disabilities, and by extension the effects of their ministries. By this I mean that Christians should realize they do not have the power to shun people with disabilities as unchristian sinners based on their disability, they do not have the power to fix our problems simply by throwing the Bible at us, they cannot help us without being in solidarity with us, and they do not have the authority to heal us. This last point is especially true, if there is a claim that this can happen under a "healer's" own power; or that this is directly related to the intensity of a person's faith. I'm not saying that it can't happen, or that it shouldn't happen, but much like Calvin's theory of the elect, it is up to God to decide whom he chooses to heal and whom he doesn't. When it happens, through what avenue, and in what form and extent the healing takes place is entirely up to God. In fact, all of our ministry is ultimately up to God; we are just conduits and vessels. This is what Barth is addressing in my hub text, from page 835:
Again, however, no more is demanded or expected than this definite witness. The reconciliation of the world to God, the divine covenant, the kingdom of God, the new reality of the world, cannot be its work. Nor can the manifestation of these things. It is not itself Jesus Christ either acting in the world or speaking to it. It is only the particular people which on the basis of His gracious self-declaration may know about Him, believe in Him and hope in Him. It has to confess Him, according to the knowledge granted to it. It has to attest Him to the world as the work of God accomplished for it and the Word of God going out to it. What is demanded and expected therewith is glorious enough to render superfluous any grasping at higher possibilities. It is also serious and difficult enough to claim all its attention, fidelity, courage and resources. But it is not commanded to represent, introduce, bring into play or even in a sense accomplish again in its being, or action either reconciliation, the covenant, the kingdom or the new world reality. It is not commanded even in the earthly-historical sphere to take the place of Jesus Christ. In so doing it would only aggregate to itself something which is absolutely beyond its capacity, in which it would achieve only spurious results, and which would finally involve it in failure. In so doing it would do despite to Jesus Christ Himself as the one Doer of the work of God and the primary and true Witness of this work, becoming a hindrance to what He Himself wills to do and accomplish.This is important because Barth says that the Church and the community has its own specific purpose, and that our purpose is not to be Jesus Christ on the Earth. Our calling is already enough for us, we should not try to take on the role of God. We are not commanded to do so, and if we overstep our bounds, we are not only discouraging people from a real relationship with Jesus due to our arrogance, we are hindering the kingdom. Perhaps it is even through our discouraging and hypocritical behavior that we are hindering the kingdom from coming. We have to remember that even as we are Christians we are also sinners, and all the power we have comes through Jesus. We should be welcoming others into the community as newcomers, and as fellow witnesses to the Gospel. We should work with people, not as higher authorities of the Truth, or acting on their behalf, as if they know nothing, but instead as partners and fellow travelers on the journey of life. This is similar to our partnership and journey of our Christian vocation with Christ. During the Passover, Christ states that he treats us as "no longer servants, but friends". I challenge all of my readers to treat the people they minister to, with disabilities and without, Christians and non-Christians alike, not as servants or as somehow spiritually or intellectually lower than you, but as equal friends to be invited to the Table, just as Jesus would have done.
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