When I started reading John 5 this week, I could see it was going to have TOO MUCH to process in 1 week. So I decided to read only through verse 17 each day. I will get to the other half next week. That ½ is Jesus directly speaking so...
The 1st ½ of the chapter is about the man who had been ill for 38 years and is lying at the pool where healing is known to happen. He was not seeking Jesus out. He was sick and hopeless. When Jesus came to ask him if he wanted to be well, his answer reflected his hopelessness.
The 1st ½ of the chapter is about the man who had been ill for 38 years and is lying at the pool where healing is known to happen. He was not seeking Jesus out. He was sick and hopeless. When Jesus came to ask him if he wanted to be well, his answer reflected his hopelessness.
Again I say, the man had been ill
38 YEARS.
Uggghhh!!!
But Jesus saw him.
There were a multitude of hurting people there that day,
But Jesus chose him.
Why? I don’t know.
But He saw this man’s need; He sought this man out; He initiated the conversation; He healed the man without the man asking.
Wow!
Mercy in action.
(38 years–It is NEVER too late for God Almighty to work in a seemingly impossible situation!)
“Do you want to be healed?” v6
A good ? for all of us.
A good ? for all of us.
When Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be well, and the man gave his hopeless answer, Jesus didn’t wait until the man ‘got it’. He didn’t even tell the man who He was. He gave him a gift of physical healing. Anyone would think this was just what that poor man needed.
Jesus then left without revealing anything else about Himself.
Later, Jesus again SOUGHT the man out. The man wasn’t looking for Him. Jesus knew right where he was and found him again. Then He told the man his TRUE NEED, his need for spiritual healing, for freedom from sin.
Jesus left the man alone long enough for the man to really enjoy his new found health. Then He came back and said, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” Jesus knew all about him and just what he needed.
The man now had a choice to make. Would he live in victory or wallow in sin?
(We all have this choice to make.)
Some day, I will find out the ‘rest of the story’.
And oh how I hope it is a GOOD one!
And oh how I hope it is a GOOD one!
“Jesus said to them,
‘My Father is
‘My Father is
ALWAYS
at His work
to this very day, and
to this very day, and
I, too, am working.’” v17
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