40. So much more than just healing... (John 5:1-9)
Posted by:
SeLahGirl on
January 28, 2008 at
2:27PM EST
So much more than just healing...
(John 5:1-9)
1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews.
Just to keep things in perspective. Jesus just left his hometown where
there was alot of unbelief. And this was "some time" after. Makes me
wonder what things were like during that "some time." I wonder if it
was a time of prayer and heartache after the rejection from those he
called his earthly family/neighbors. I wonder if the Lord was as hurt
by such a thing as we seem to be. Rejection by family/hometown can be
the deepest. Athough the details don't really matter I guess. I'm sure
that it was not a pleasant thing for him... and perhaps, we can find
some measure of comfort in that he understands our hurt when we feel
similar rejection.
2Now there is in Jerusalem near the
Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is
surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled
people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5One who was
there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him
lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long
time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
Some
times we look at such a question and we think, well, of coarse he wants
to be well. What is the point of even asking such a thing? But it was
actually a very valid question. It was not really a question of whether
the sickness made his life more difficult and that it caused him
certain pain and discomfort in life. All sickness does that.
What Christ was getting at was, "Do you want change?"
That's the real question we face any time we pray for ourselves or for
any one. Do you really want things to change in your life? no matter
the cost? no matter what may be required of you? no matter that it will
bring increase of good things to your life, and that to whom much is
given, much is required? Are you ready to be able to do more, and are
you willing to do it?
For some people the answer seems
glaringly yes! The question almost becomes insulting or ridiculous. But
for others, such a question causes them to hesitate and to reconsider
some things and to see some things about themselves they had never
realized before. Perhaps this man had grown accustomed to a way of life
as a cripple during those 38 years, and Christ was discerning something
deeper than the superficial, seemingly obvious answer to such a
question.
Perhaps, he recognized that this man needed not
just a change in his physical body, but a change in his goals and
ambitions about his life. Perhaps Jesus wanted not just complete
physical health for this man but mental and emotional health as well.
Perhaps Christ was concerned about wholeness and not just healing. That
the whole man would be well: body, mind and spirit -- perspective and
drive to accomplish all of the hopes and dreams that he had given up on
so long ago. Prolonged sickness is a weight and it can smother way more
than just physical ability. When you are robbed of health for such a
long time, it can actually rob you of your will to live an ABUNDANT
life. It steals your Hope and your Joy.
It was almost as if
that question was Christ touching the psyche of this man first, and
then his physical body. The result... well lets see....
7"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool
when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else
goes down ahead of me."
The initial response is one
based on the minds of men, on doubt, on what is seen, rather than what
is believed in Christ. For 38 years this man had hoped and sought a
cure, and for 38 years everything failed. He had given up. He saw
himself as unable, friendless, and destined to remain in that
condition.
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The question was like an unexpected slap in the face. "Do you want to
get well?" Such a FOOLISH question that it could have easily ignited
offense. But instead it ignited a flame in the mind and heart of this
man to actually think thru so much that he had come to accept. That is
all that is required for change... to question what you believe.
That change can be for good or for evil. This man had believed that
there was no hope, but Christ challenged that belief and asked him if
he really wanted change, did he really want his hope restored, was he
willing to try, was he willing to believe that it was possible. Rather
than to accept that it was impossible. Every choice we face, brings
change for good or for evil.
15 But if serving the LORD
seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you
will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River,
or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for
me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
(Joshua 24:15)
I think something blazed up in the heart of this man at hearing the
WORDS of Christ. I think he made a decision to believe that there was
hope and that things could change after such a long time. And I think
that was the mustard seed that Christ was looking for. I think that's
all that he needed to work with, to bring life, to pull that tiny seed
from the spirit of this man into the physical and to bring a miraculous
increase. Change. Healing. Complete Restoration and Wholeness. Body,
Mind, and Spirit. That is the goal. Christ doesn't want us to live a
little... he wants us to have it all, ALL the good things that he has
planned for us so that we can live ABUNDANTLY.
Oh if we
could just see into the spiritual when God begins to manifest things in
the physical. There is such a connection. Such a pulling from one realm
into the other. We act in obedience, often not understanding many
things, and suddenly Faith ignites in our spirit and we are able to
move mountains. Other times, we believe with the tiniest fraction of
faith in Christ, and suddenly the very ground moves under our feet and
God shifts the entire earth on our behalf.
EVERYTHING Jesus
does matters. There is no word that is insignificant or trivial or
wasted. Everything, the tiniest drop, that permeates from him is like
nitro, bearing powerful and explosively good events in every realm --
in every life that touches the situation.
Change is nothing
to God. It is effortless, It is the stirring and moving and parting of
the sea as he breathes ever so gently. I think sometimes we forget just
how powerful and miraculous he really is. We allow the world and the
enemy and our pain and sin to make him seem so small. But rather than
blasting us for it, he simply asks us questions in the most gentle and
still small voice imaginable. So loving and so kind is the voice of our
God, that we can sometimes forget that the universe bows at his will
and evil flees at his gaze and all things beautiful pale in his
presence. He is remarkable to behold. And yet, he favors us and
whispers to us and loves us.
He wants so much more than just healing for us.
He wants us to be whole.
Do you want to get well?
Do you want change?
Answering that question, allowing the possibilities to even enter your
head, the slightest glimmer of hope, of faith... that's all he needs to
pull a miracle from the spiritual into the physical for you. Believe
him, trust him, hope in him... and he will make the unthinkable a
reality that you can see and touch right where you're at, right where
you're standing, before you can even get the word's out of your
mouth...
He can change it.
