FRIDAY 19 March 2021 “Bethesda”

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Hello my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends.

Two weeks from today is Good Friday and in these days I’m leading us on a journey, with Jesus, toward His world changing Easter weekend. Today would you join me in John chapter 5? You may know there are four books of the Bible which tell us the story of Jesus. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the ‘synoptic Gospels’ and are very similar. John’s account is quite different with almost all of what John writes being unique to his perspective on the life of Jesus.

John alone gives us the story of the Samaritan woman who we met in chapter 4, and then the healing of a cripple man by the pool of Bethesda here in John 5. John reports Jesus had come to Jerusalem again for one of the many Jewish festivals. This would have been at least his second visit to Jerusalem after He launched His earthly ministry. We can assume everyone knew about this unusual place called the pool of Bethesda surrounded by 5 covered porches, and the many crippled people who were brought there everyday.

For some reason Jesus decided to visit Bethesda that day, and John tells us He focused in on one particular cripple whom Jesus learned had been an invalid 38 years. 38 years…don’t rush by that my friends. That’s nearly a lifetime isn’t it? Think back over the past nearly 40 years of your life… what if you had not been able to walk or work or do anything without help since 1983?

We don’t know his age, his name or the cause of his paralysis, but this we know… he assumed everyday would be as hopeless as the day before. John records that Jesus asked the man this question: “Do you want to be well?” (John 5:6) Does that seem insensitive or even inappropriate? Not if you consider human nature in almost every part of the world. With time, we grow accustomed to the undesirable, the painful, even despair! Look around your city, your society. Do you see people living in hopelessness? Have some apparently lived hopeless for so long they seem to have accepted it as their lot in life?

Now this cripple did say that he had attempted to get into the water in the past when it was stirred, but others got in before him and without help he couldn’t imagine anything would ever change for him. I suspect Jesus bent down so they could talk… about his family, his life story, his belief in God, what his life might be like if God unloaded some miraculous power into his despair! Then Jesus simply said to him “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”

Perhaps Jesus extended His hand, and after a moment or two of reflection, the cripple took Jesus’ hand and suddenly felt power surging into his lame limbs, and for the first time in 38 years the cripple stood up on his feet! Can you imagine the shouts and whistles and claps from all the other lame folks who spent everyday with him in this hopeless place? John reports: “At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked out.” (John 5:9)

May I ask us a question? What would happen if Jesus sat beside you right now, wherever you are in the world reading this today… and what if Jesus unloaded some of His healing power into your life, right at the point of what GOD KNOWS is your greatest need, today? What would God change in you today? What difference would it make tomorrow? Perhaps Jesus walked around the pool and spoke with other cripples, maybe He even healed some others. We don’t know that because John keeps our focus on this one man.

“The day on which this miracle took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish religious leaders said to the man who had been healed, ‘It is the Sabbath, the laws forbids you to carry your mat.” Oh my what a shame… and we see it all around us today don’t we? People disregard, overlook great things God has done in order to focus their attention on their doubts or their unmet expectations.

I wonder how the healed cripple felt? He was standing, walking for the first time in nearly 40 years and they wanted to talk about why he was carrying his old mat on the Sabbath? That mat was now his prize possession… it was ‘miracle debris’! It reminded him of his past bondage and new freedom. That mat was going to be kept in a special place in his home, because he was going to use it to tell his miracle story to his grandchildren and anyone else who would listen!

May I ask, do you and I have any ‘miracle debris’ in our home? Anything we use to tell our story about how much Jesus has done for us in changing our lives, miraculously?

John records “But the man replied, ‘The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk!’ So they asked him, ‘Who is this fellow who told you to pick up your mat and walk?” (John 5:9-11) Do you see something very wrong here? 38 years a cripple and they ask nothing about this remarkable miracle, they only want to know who this guy is who is helping people in a way that is not in accordance with their rules and regulations! How would you describe the hardness of their hearts, their refusal to investigate the miracle, their reluctance to have an encounter with Almighty God who was right there among them, changing lives that day! Do we fall into this trap sometimes and miss the power of God at work around us?

Later the man learned the healers’ name was Jesus, so he reported it to those who had questioned him. Look at their reaction: “So because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute Him. In His defense Jesus said to them ‘My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working.’ For this reason they tried all the more to kill Jesus, not only was He breaking the Sabbath laws, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal to God. Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” (John 5:16-19)

Now we’ve been following Jesus for several days, and the pattern is becoming clear isn’t it? People who have great need for God’s help welcome Jesus’ words of God’s truth, His compassion and His healing power. Religious aristocrats, prideful people, self confident people, want to argue with Jesus, they resist Jesus’ help and they reject the life giving truth Jesus proclaims!

With Easter ’21 only a few days away now, I urge you to listen to the conversation in your part of the world? It’s been over a year now, and still COVID deaths and vaccines and school closings and economic turbulence dominate the conversation around the world. And still, one year later, very, very few people talk of God’s role in this global disaster! What does that tell us about our world’s desire for God’s involvement even when dealing with something only God can understand… a global viral disease?

John reports some people wanted to silence Jesus, a few even looked for ways to eliminate Jesus rather than celebrate His life rescuing miracle in a man crippled 38 years! Is this how some people where you live view Jesus and Easter? In the verses which followed Jesus made it very clear that His mission was to do what God the Father instructed and empowered Him to do. God the Father gave Jesus His assignments here on earth and they would become more and more amazing in scope and significance with each passing week.

Jesus said “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be judged, but has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.” (John 5:24,25)

Jesus was becoming unavoidable! His miracles, His popularity, His words were challenging the status quo. Jesus was saying, people who were physically alive but spiritually dead were going to listen to Jesus teach God’s truth, and as they believed God, they would find new life in Christ now and eternal life with God after death. This was radical! It was outrageous! Jesus’ identity, His life mission, His relationship with God the Father, His undeniable power was shaking up Jerusalem, the Galilee region and even Samaria! Increasingly people were not able to ignore Jesus. They were compelled to seriously contemplate what He said, what He did and the impact He made in people’s lives!

So this Friday, with two weeks till Good Friday, one of most significant days in human history, let me invite you to take a fresh look at Jesus as we see Him in John 5. And then look at your life, your extended family, your city in March 2021. Where do you see needs for a John 5 type encounter with Jesus in your world? What difference could a powerful word and touch from Jesus make if He walked into your life situation today and touched your life right at the point of what HE knows to be your greatest need??

When that day began, I’m confident the cripple anticipated his life would be just as miserable at the end of the day as it had been for 38 years. Little did he know, God was coming to meet him and invite him to experience Jesus’ healing power that day! What might God have in store for you and me today? Now I found a song that has powerfully touched me today. Is your life ready for a John 5 type Jesus touch today?

Today’s Scripture is John 5.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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