In a dramatic story, Jesus raises a young girl from the dead, but it’s a passage where there’s more than meets the eye. It’s ultimately a story about two miracles, not just one. And we see Jesus as the giver of life but also pointing to a restoration that only he can bring.
Tag: Jesus
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Sermon: The sun and the match – John 13:18-30
Jesus is at the last supper with his disciples. In this passage, we learn that it’s Judas who will betray Jesus but – with the exception of John – the rest of the disciples are oblivious.
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Grace vs Legalism. Studying John 5:10-14
A conflict between grace and legalism
In John chapter 5, Jesus heals a man who had never walked. It’s a miraculous sign which points to the power of Jesus. But we see him confronted by the Pharisees, who were experts in the Law of the Old Testament involving the fact that he had healed the man on the Sabbath.
The religious figures will disapproved of the timing of this miracle. As soon as this healed man picks up his bed, religious figures are ready to swoop in and bring judgment on him for violating the Sabbath.
John 5:10:
10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.”
Legalism without grace
The Pharisees are more concerned for their man made laws and judging this man for breaking the Sabbath.
In his commentary on John, Richard Phillips argues that an inevitable result of legalistic religion is that it treats people without compassion.
They’re not rejoicing in this miracle, they’re not glorifying God for this man who can now walk.
All they care about is that he has broken the law, in their eyes.
Legalism vs License
The Law of the Old Testament is good.
But men adding laws onto God’s law is not good. And it’s worse when we expect people to live based on extra-Biblical rules.
I’m not undermining things that the Bible commands. For someone who’s a professing Christian, expecting, encouraging, and exhorting them to live based on Biblical principles and values is not legalism.
But whether or not carrying a mattress on the Sabbath counted as work is another matter entirely.
In trying so hard to defend the Bible, they had taken themselves away from the Bible. In trying so hard to compel obedience to the Law, they had lost sight of the Spirit of the Law.
During his earthly ministry, Jesus is involved with several controversies regarding his various healings and activities on the Sabbath. In Mark 2:27, Jesus says: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
And the point was that God had given us the Sabbath as a blessing and a way to have one day in seven that was totally devoted to him and that was set apart and scared.
It’s easy to make rules. It’s easy to give people lists of things to do and not do. And you can follow all of the extra rules to the Sabbath and yet have no love for God.
During the ministry of Jesus, he will confront the Pharisees, the people who were experts in the Law but yet missed the true heart and purpose of the scriptures concerning what they’re truly about and what they point to, namely, Jesus.
In the prophets, Israel’s failure to keep the Sabbath was a source of divine judgment. They responded by going too far the other way in thinking that their justification was in observance to that and to their obedience to the rest of the law.
But to again remind us of the passage in Isaiah 1:13, God does not desire vain offerings. Just because you’re following the rules outwardly, but you’re cold and distant to God inwardly means nothing.
That is the great mistake of legalism.
And they lost sight of the greater commands of the Bible, loving God and loving people, and when the Lord healed this man, they could not appreciate that.
So you have the Pharisees and the man who has just been healed.
Verse 11, the man responds.
11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ”
He simply refers to Jesus as “the man who healed me.”
He also deflects attention from himself to Jesus. This can be interpreted as if this man is actually blaming Jesus for a supposed violation of the Sabbath since it was Jesus who told him to pick up his bed.
Either way, the Pharisees are quick to take their attention off of this man. They’re blind to the miraculousness of what Jesus has just done.
Verses 12-13:
12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”
13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.
Jesus has already disappeared into the crowd.
Verse 14 again moves the story forward:
14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”
Verse 14 is very interesting.
Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you?
Is it saying that this man’s previous handicap was the result of his sin? It’s possible, but not necessarily what the text is saying.
In John 9, it’s the story of Jesus healing a man who had been born blind – one thing we learn from that passage is that not all of our suffering is directly related to a sin that we specifically committed.
That sometimes happens. We see that in the Book of Acts where Ananias and Sapphira are judged and struck dead.
And certainly we are all sinful and live in a fallen and sinful world.
But in establishing a theology of suffering, we mustn’t think that all human suffering is directly a punitive response to a sin that a person committed and that had a person not committed that sin, they would therefor never have suffered.
Suffering is part of life for all people. So what does Jesus mean then?
Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you?
Is he saying if the man commits one more sin, something worse will happen?
I don’t believe so.
Consider for a moment a few other verses from this gospel.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God
John 8:23-24, Jesus is again talking to Pharisees:
“You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins
Jesus is talking about people having faith in who he is and the eternal consequences for rejecting him.
So I return again to our passage.
Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”
What’s the worst sin we can commit?
Not believing and trusting in Jesus as the Son of God.
And where he talks of sinning no more so that nothing worse may happen, he’s talking about something far worse than being paraylyzed for 38 years. He’s talking about spending all of eternity facing the wrath and judgment of God for not believing.
This passage tells us about superstitions. People going to the pool in Jerusalem in the hopes that the waters would heal them. Superstitious practices are not our hope.
This passage tells us about legalism. The pharisees added rules on top of rules. Following rules is not our hope.
Our hope is in following Jesus who calls us to sin no more. Yes, Jesus wants us to live lives of holiness and devotion to him. But more than anything else, we are called to trust God and live by faith and live as a result of that faith.
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Healing on the Sabbath. John 5:1-9
John 5 begins with a miraculous healing from Jesus.
Jesus travels to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish feasts. In other words, it’s one of the Jewish holy days. We don’t know exactly which one. John talks a lot about the feasts in this gospel. He mentions three Passovers, mentions the feast of booths, among others. The fact that he does not specify in this instance might be that the specific feast is not theologically significant to this event.
Verse 2 begins to tell us about a specific place to which he travels within Jerusalem.
Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.
Verse 3 gives us the likely reason for why Jesus is there.
In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.
So there are people who have various physical ailments and who regularly go to this pool.
From the context of the passage, it seems that they did this because they thought the pool itself was a place of physical healing.
The problem with this is that it is God alone who brings healing.
So that being said. I think it’s helpful to look at verse 3 and then continue it into verse 5.
3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
So lots of people who suffered from various disabilities would go to this pool. In verse 5, we’re introduced to a man who has been an “invalid,” as the text says, for 38 years.
Think about that for just a moment.
38 years, in a time that was before modern medicine.
We don’t know all of the ailments he might have had, but among them, as we will learn in this passage, he was unable to walk. 38 years of suffering. The average life expectancy in this period was about 35.
Verse 6, he encounters Jesus.
6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?
Jesus sees the man lying by the pool. There are others there. He doesn’t seek Jesus out, but Jesus seeks this man out.
Why?
We’re never told. It’s the divine initiative. It’s providence.
The text says that Jesus knew he had been there a long time, which is reminding us of the supernatural knowledge Jesus has as God.
And then he asks the man “do you want to be healed?”
An interesting question
It’s interesting to consider the first two sign Jesus has performed. When he turns water into wine, his mother comes to him. In John 4, it was the Roman official who came to Jesus and asked him to heal his son. But in this event, the man does not come to Jesus.
It is Jesus who comes to him.
That’s one of several reasons why this event is significant in this gospel and it’s making a theological point.
God heals whom he will. And it is not always because of great faith that he heals a person. Everyday there are people who God heals, God blesses in a multitude of different ways where they didn’t ask for it, they aren’t looking to God. It’s simply because of God’s own goodness, grace, and providence.
Verse 7, the man responds:
7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”
This guy thinks that being at this pool is his hope of healing.
He’s superstitious.
It’s not the pool that heals, it’s not being the first one in the pool that offers the promise of healing. It is ironic that he looks to the water as if it’s some mystical force of healing, when he’s in the presence of Jesus.
They’re in Jerusalem, the holy city. They’re near the temple, the sacred site which represented the presence of God on earth. And he’s focused on getting into a pool.
The point isn’t to fault this man for having the desire to be healed. Everyone who’s afflicted wants that.
But he’s looking to the wrong place.
Illustration – faith healing
It’s a point I made a few weeks ago, but our society and our world is drawn to people who claim to be faith healers and superstition.
In the early days of the Coronavirus epidemic, disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker was selling a silver substance which he claimed could cure a person of the virus. Peter Popoff who was another disgraced televangelist in the 80s continues to offer miracle spring water.
There are people who pray to statues or believe that praying in a specific place will carry unique favor with God.
Those are not Christian values.
Christianity is not a faith of superstition. It’s a faith that’s rooted in the almighty God of creation. God knows all. He is sovereign. Praying in special ways, or special places, or with special objects is not the basis by which God suddenly will hear us.
It’s idolatry.
But Jesus shows him grace anyway.
8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
As we’ve seen other times in this gospel, John is very matter of fact in his reporting of Jesus’ miracle.
Jesus tells him to pick up his bed. I’m sure the term “bed” is pretty generous here. It’s not like he had a sleep number mattress out by the lake. It was likely a very thin and dingy mat that he was using.
So that’s our first scene. The miracle which Jesus has performed for this man.
It’s another display of the power that Jesus has as God on earth, but it’s also important to this gospel because of what happens in the aftermath of this miracle.
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Seeing and believing. Studying John 4:43-48
A crisis
John 4:43 begins right where the previous section left off where Jesus was among the Samaritan people.
Verse 43 begins: After the two days he departed for Galilee.
Jesus is making his way north. Galilee is the region where Jesus grew up. Nazareth was the town where he grew up, but Nazareth was in the region. So Jesus is journeying to Galilee and immediately John interrupts the flow of the story with a side note.
Verse 44:
(For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.That’s an interesting comment to note. A prophet has no honor in his hometown, and yet Jesus is traveling to his home.
Yet verse 45 tells us:
So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.On its face, verses 44 and 45 can appear to be at odds.
Verse 44 says a prophet has no honor in his hometown, however verse 45 says that the Galileans welcomed Jesus.
How can these two things be? The answer to that question is important to making sense of this whole story.
As verse 45 reports, Jesus is indeed welcomed by the people of Galilee.
Jesus is welcomed by the people having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast.
This is referring to the Passover season in chapter 2 where Jesus is at the temple, turning over tables and calling out the religious elites. They have heard and seen Jesus, and they’re drawn to him.
But the issue we see in this passage is that they’re coming to see Jesus, not because of who he is, or because of the kingdom of God that he is bringing into the world. We will learn in this passage that they’re drawn to the spectacle.
Verse 46, Jesus comes to Cana in Galilee, the very same town where he had made the water wine.
John is reminding us that this had been the location of Jesus’ first sign back at the beginning of chapter 2. We talked about this at the time, but John’s gospel uses the word signs over miracles. Signs point us to who Jesus is as the divine son of God in the world.
So Jesus is in Galilee.
The story shifts us to a town about 20 miles away called Capernaum.
4:46-47:
at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
The verse mentions that an official’s son had been ill. When John refers to an official, he’s talking about a man who was an official of the Roman government. It’s likely that this man was therefore not Jewish, although we can’t be absolutely positive. So this Roman official approaches Jesus and his son who is ill.
The passage tells us that he’s at the point of death, so it’s very serious.
Jesus has become known in the area and this man approaches Jesus to see if anything can be done.
Verse 48:
So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”
The “you” to whom Jesus is referring is plural. He’s not only speaking to the royal official, but also to the crowd.
That brings us back a couple of verses where it talked of a prophet having no honor in his hometown and the crowd that had come out to see Jesus. That’s the larger audience to whom Jesus is speaking.
Many are drawn to the things Jesus does, but not to Jesus himself. Jesus does not merely want to be followed for what he can do, but of greater significance is who he is.
Jesus is the eternal God of creation who is all powerful. He’s the savior of the world. He is the one who forgives sins. And so what he desires are disciples and not spectators. People who are looking for a savior and not a genie. People who follow him because of who he is, not just what he does.
Question: why do we worship?
The character and glory of Christ is why he is to be worshiped.
In sports, there’s a term for someone who’s a fair weather fan. That refers to someone who is only interested in a team when they are winning but when they’re not playing well, they pay less attention.
We are not called to be fair weather Christians. It can be tempting to want to turn our backs on the Lord when things aren’t going how we want.
But he is just as worthy of our worship and praise in the difficulties as he is in the victories.
If things were always easy…
God does not always do what we want, give us what we want, even for things that are legitimate and good.
The Roman official isn’t asking for something frivolous. He has a child who’s near dying and this man has come to advocate for his child. But no matter how worthy the request, it is not always granted.
What is our response to Christ when things don’t turn out the way we wanted? No matter how worthy those requests were? That’s where the rubber meets the road. That is where the gospel becomes foolish in the eyes of the world.
In the eyes of the world, a good God would always grant the life and death prayer request. To not do that would make the world’s vision of God not good but evil.
Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe
We need to understand the goodness, and glory, and sovereignty of God. God is worthy of worship and praise because of who he is not just because of what he does. Faith needs to be rooted in the character of God.
If we make our worship and love for God hinge on getting our own way, then we are not worshiping God as God. We are not here to serve him, we are not subject to him, we make him subject to us and his goodness contingent upon how he satisfies us.
People wanted the signs. They want to be dazzled. We want to see the incredible story, we want to hear the unbelievable testimony.
Those things do happen. Praise God when they do.
And I’m not saying that an incredible work of life can never be used to turn a person to God. It can and does. But our faith cannot exclusively be in the marvelous and incredible events.
Because that’s not most days. And much of life and much of our walk with God is very ordinary. How do we respond in those times?
Even today, there is a temptation in our world to be drawn to mystics and faith healers. Our world eats it up. People fill arenas. These people travel the globe promising the miraculous and to heal.
“Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”
People who peddle a prosperity gospel revolving around how God wants to bless you and that get away from the gospel of sin and salvation and preach a message that revolves around man’s worthiness of blessing and that puts our focus on material blessings dominate the world of televangelism.
In 1 Corinthians 2:1-2, Paul says:
when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
That must be the basis for our study of the Bible, our preaching and teaching in churches. And it needs to also be the basis for the preaching and teaching to which we expose ourselves.
