House of Mercy

Intro

what you’re looking for is right there in front of you

Healing at the Pool

Likely Passover

a pool by the sheep gate- the gate closest to the temple- marked as sinful for their ailment

Bethesda- house of mercy

blind, lame, paralyzed all waiting on a miraculous story to come true

removed because it was not in older manuscripts and because the validity is unlikely

Jesus comes to a man who has been there for a long time

he has been invalid for 38 years, nearly a whole biblical marker of a generation

Do you want to be healed- an interesting question to ask a lame man

the man answers regarding the miracle, misunderstanding what’s being asked

this is a turn from a lot of healing stories, including the one before where people come to Jesus to be healed

he’s counting on something he can’t be sure of, putting his faith in a story that even then should have sounded ludicrous

of course he wants to be healed, he wants life, he doesn’t want to be a lonely unholy outcast anymore

but he’s been looking in the wrong place and waiting on the wrong miracle

at the word of the son of God he gets up and is healed

Romans 1&5

as was read before people are inclined to choose to follow the creature rather than the creator

God is able to be perceived in this world as he was from the beginning

thinking they knew what they really needed from their own limited understanding

like a lame man waiting on an angel from a legend to come and stir up the water

rather than recognize the savior right in front of him

despite ourselves, Christ died for us while our sin put us in opposition with him

he dies for us even though we don’t deserve it

he reconciles our relationship, he brings us back to him despite the chasm we made between us

because he loves us, and he has mercy

Application

we live in a world where it is easy to be distracted

its easy to devote yourself to any number of things in the information age with amazon and youtube at your fingertips

we seek joy and peace and contentment and purpose and fulfillment in created things rather than in the creator himself

we might even try by all of the wisdom we can muster to save ourselves and deem ourselves righteous

everything other than Christ and his body falls short

through him alone can we be really healed in the way all of our broken and guilty selves are really looking for

through him and him living and working through those that follow him will we find all those things listed before

don’t waste a life waiting on a fairy-tale that’s never going to come

realize the healing you’re searching for is here