Brown's Daily Word 10-17-08

Praise the Lord.
It is Friday. Sunday is coming. Praise the Lord for the way He has created us and has redeemed us that we might live grateful lives of worship, witness, and ministry. Praise the Lord that we can serve Him in Freedom and Joy. We become energized by being spent in Kingdom. We get a thrill by being His servants.
I cannot imagine what it would be like to be paralyzed. Christian artist and author, Joni Earikson Tada, who is paralyzed from the neck down, tells of what it is like to have to have someone have to get you out of bed, brush your teeth, wipe you, bathe you, and feed you. She says that after 30 years of doing this, you would think she would be used to it by now, but she is not. Every morning she prays for God to help her through one more day. The feeling of being totally helpless and dependent on others would be enough to send most of us into deep depression. But imagine what it would be like before wheelchairs, motorized chairs, rehab, braces, hospitals, special devices, etc. That was the case with the man in John 6 — paralyzed with no benefits that we in the modern world have. He was lying beside a pool with other sick people. They were drawn to the pool by a superstitious tale that an angel would come and stir the waters of the pool, and the first one to get in would be healed. This myth promoted the false idea that God plays games with people, or that he treats them on a “first come, first served” basis. The notion was fostered by the fact that the pool was spring fed, and when the spring periodically flowed into the pool, the water in the pool was stirred. But this man could not get into the pool. He could do nothing on his own. All he could do was to lay there. He was totally at the mercy of other people. He would not eat unless someone brought him food. He could not drink unless someone brought him water. He did not move unless someone carried him. He was this way for thirty-eight years. He watched other people walk and go about with their normal lives, and he was tempted to despair and become bitter. But his condition was about to change. Jesus saw the man lying there and inquired about him. He learned that this man had been like this for a long time. Jesus turned to him and asked the most important question of his life: “Do you want to be well?” At first, the question seemed absurd. Why would he not want to be well? Why would he be lying next to this pool with its rumors of angels and healing if he did not want to get well? But what is interesting in the story is that the man never answered Jesus’ question. He only blamed others for not helping him. He complained that no one would put him into the pool, and that someone else always beat him to the punch. He was full of discouragement, and self-pity .But then Jesus asked the man to do something, and his healing was dependent upon whether he would do what Jesus asked. He said to the man, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” Even if the man were not paralyzed, laying on a mat for thirty-eight years would have atrophied his muscles and made it impossible to get up and walk. But the man felt life surging through his formerly paralyzed body. He obeyed the word of Jesus and picked up his mat and walked. Whether he was thirty-eight years old and never walked, or he was older and had been paralyzed from an accident for thirty-eight years, we do not know. What we do know is that he was immediately cured when he responded to Jesus, saying, “Get up and walk.” What is amazing is what we do not find in the story. There is no indication of faith on the part of this man. He never asked to be healed, and furthermore, there is no expression of appreciation when he is healed. In other accounts of healing, people express their thanks to Jesus and even fall at his feet in worship. But there is not a word from this man, no word of gratitude, no worship. When Jesus healed the leper, the Bible says, “When he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him — and he was a Samaritan” (Luke 17:15-16). When the blind man was healed, it says, “Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God” (Luke 18:43). This account tells us that the healing took place on the Sabbath. It was against Jewish law to carry anything on the Sabbath, and the man was carrying his mat, so the legalistic religious leaders rebuked him for breaking the Sabbath. The man’s reaction was to blame Jesus. He said, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” Then they want to know who the man was: “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” And the Scripture says, “The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.” What is really surprising is that the man made no attempt to follow Jesus or find out who he was. Wouldn’t your reaction be to find the man who healed you? Wouldn’t you want to know who could do something so wonderful for you? After 38 years of paralysis, wouldn’t you want to thank him? But instead it was Jesus who came back to him. He said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” Jesus was concerned for the man’s spiritual condition as well as his physical condition. He made it a point to find him and speak to him about his spiritual need. In spite of all of this there were no words of gratitude. There was no gladness about how Jesus had helped him. The next words in the story were, “The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.” This man who made no attempt to find Jesus went to find the Pharisees to tell on Jesus. He turned him in to the authorities, knowing what would happen. And then the Bible says, “So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him.”
It almost makes you wonder why Jesus would heal a man like this. There were many lying about the pool with various disabilities and diseases; why didn’t he heal any of them? This was not a place that normal, healthy people came near, out of fear of defiling themselves and disqualifying them for temple worship. But this was a place where Jesus purposely went. It is an amazing act of grace on the part of Jesus. It is interesting that the pool is named Bethesda: “House of Mercy.” He healed him, knowing what kind of person he was. He healed him in spite of the fact that he would get into trouble for this. In fact, the Bible says that the Pharisees tried all the harder to kill him (5:18). But this is not just the story of a single paralytic in Bible times, this is the story of all of us. We are the paralyzed one, dead in our trespasses and sins, paralyzed and in bondage by our own rebellion. Jesus has come to us and forgiven and healed us. And what is our reaction? Are we truly grateful? Do we seek Jesus out and follow him? Do we fall at his feet and worship? Do we live with grateful hearts? All of us have been healed. A simple cold could take us out if it were not for God healing us. Some of us have even had more serious illnesses from which we have recovered. God healed you. All of us have been affected by the disease of sin. All of us were helpless in our lost spiritual condition. But Jesus has come with unexpected and undeserved grace and favor, forgiving and healing us. The question is whether we will take responsibility for our lives and live for Christ in gratefulness, faithfulness and joy. I’ll tell you what I’m like. I get impatient waiting in line at a “fast food” restaurant, while people in other parts of the world have nothing to eat. I gripe about my common cold, while others are wrestling with life-threatening illnesses. I get frustrated with slow drivers, when others cannot walk. Andrew Carnegie, the multimillionaire, left $1 million to one of his relatives, who in return actually cursed Carnegie because he had left $365 million to public charities and had cut him off with just one measly million.The good news is that Jesus comes to us with mercy and grace and does not see as we are, but what we could be. He blesses us and is gracious toward us when we recognize his goodness — and when we do not. The Bible says, “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:10-14).
May the Lord provoke us to be grateful and worshipful.
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW4oJ0jTHqg