Sermon nuggets Thurs March 20, 2008
Theme Faith
Verses John 5:1-15 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie-- the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
When 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?"
"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."
Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."
At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
But he 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 it up and walk?"
The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."
The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
FAITH IS OBEDIENCE vs. 5:1-15
The third story relates to an invalid. Jesus is back in Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews, possibly Purim. He is at Bethesda where the disabled people, the outcast, the blind, lame and paralyzed sit and wait for healing or for pity. They believed if the pool was stirred an angel did it and the first one in while it was stirring would be healed.
It would be impossible or the invalid to get into the pool first. Jesus picks this man for healing; there are others that he does not pick. Jesus had pity on him and it is often odd how or why God chooses the way he does out of grace, but that is a Biblical true characterization of God. He picks out of His will because it is His will and for no other reason.
No reason he should pick the 12 disciples he did, or Gideon or Moses but he chooses and picks those whom he wants to shine his glory and this is the case here.
The man had been in this condition for a long time. Jesus picked the worse, the most miserable, the most incurable and asked the incredible, “Do you want to be healed?
“Do you want to get well?” may seem like a funny question. Some would remain an invalid for then they would not have to bear the responsibility of self employment. Then they would have to make their own living. It's easy to be dependent.
But Jesus’ question is one that haunts me. One must make a decision and take responsibility for their healing. Do you really, really want to get well? There is a way-Jesus. Would he trust Him? When we want to really get whole we must be willing to be responsible for being open to the healing power of God or drawing on God’s strength to help change. To be willing to accept his condition is not blaming others for the fact that he can’t walk. That is what he does. “I can’t possibly get well, because of them. They wouldn’t put me in the pool first.” Too often we make excuses for our situation. That is not the question. Do you really want to get well? That is the question I believe Jesus asks him and me and you.
Vernon Bitner in his book called; You Can Help With Your Healing says “the significant issue, invalids healing, is whether or not we stop trying to make others responsible for illness. We must admit that we are responsible for coping with our illness, and that we are powerless over whether or not we have it.”
Do you sometimes seem like the invalid at the pool? Are you really ready to admit helplessness? Waiting and wanting to be changed? Indeed we are sinners in need of help and we are powerless over it, but there is one that by faith can change us and will. When we submit or surrender to receive Jesus is also to obey Jesus. For the power of healing comes with the command of Jesus and in the response, to obey.
Pastor Dale
