Living Miracles: The Power of Compassionate Intervention
Living Miracles • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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This year is going to be a great year for our church. It will be a year full of growing in our faith and reaching for the desires of God. We are back into our series on living miracles that follows the 37 miracles of Jesus as He walked this earth and prepared to become the sacrifice that would provide freedom to the World. This scripture today points to the compassion that Jesus had and how He saw people. Jesus truly saw people and did not look through them or past them. Jesus engaged in conversation and engaged in a desire to heal. Jesus did not take His time walking this earth for granted but took every opportunity to engage and point hearts back to the Father. Today we will see Jesus and how He Saw the suffering, Offered the Change, and Challenged Customs. The reason Jesus we see Jesus perform this miracles was because He lived a life of compassion. Jesus continually looked for opportunity to provide hope and freedom. The religious world around Him at the time He was walked the earth sought to put the followers under the law and under penalties.
In 1873, a Belgian priest named Joseph Damien De Veuster was sent to minister to lepers on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai, but the people there shunned him. No one responded to his ministry. After 12 years, Father Damien decided to leave.
As he made his way to the docks to board a ship, he wrung his hands in despair. As he did so, he noticed some mysterious white spots and felt some numbness. He realized he had contracted leprosy.
When he returned to the leper colony, word of his disease quickly spread. Hundreds gathered outside his hut, understanding his pain; but the biggest surprise was the following Sunday. As Father Damien arrived at the chapel, he found hundreds of worshipers there. By the time the service began, there were many more with standing room only; and many gathered outside the chapel. His ministry became enormously successful. The reason? He was one of them. He understood and empathized with them. (Parables, Etc., June 1984, pp. 5-6)
The Jesus we follow chose to become one of us. To walk in our shoes, experience our joy, our growth, our pain, and our suffering. Today it is my prayer that our hearts will share in this mindset and we will lead with compassion in our world.
1. Seeing the Suffering
1. Seeing the Suffering
1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 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. 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?”
First let us address the elephant in the room. Some of your Bible’s have John 5:4 and some of you think that I just missed the scripture. I did not miss the scripture. It is not in the ESV Bible and it is not there because the earlies manuscripts that we have and the majority of them do not have verse 4. If you are wondering what it says, it says that an Angel would come and stir the waters and that the first into the water at that time would be healed. We are going to move past this because while there may be questions in regard to this, it does not affect the purpose of this passage of Scripture. What we do see here is the Pool of Bethseda and we see a man surrounded by many, many people needing healing. What we notice here is that Jesus was coming back for a feast. This would mean that Jesus intended on spending time with his friends and family. While some argue that contact with this man would have made Jesus ceremonially unclean. I do not find this to be the case. Ceremonial uncleanness is often associated with contact with animals, bodily discharges, or the dead. While Jesus may have come in contact with people at the pool who would have had bodily discharges, there is no scripture here that says that Jesus even came into contact with the man He healed. I also ascribe to the thought that this does not change the point that most people try to make when they bring this argument. They are trying to make the point that Jesus even in the middle of going somewhere He wanted to be with people He wanted to be with, He stopped and risked the time with His family and friends at the feast. Here is what I will say about it, I believe that Jesus was on His way to the feast and while He was on His way, He still saw the needs of others as more important than what His initial desires were. How many of us share this in common with Christ? Are you willing to ignore your destination and desire, to be a blessing to others in your path? We see that Jesus overrode His desire for the need of this man. We see that Jesus saw this mans need. We are called as believers to see the need in others lives. I am not saying that you need to stop at every person you drive past and give them money or get out and pray with them, although if the spirit puts it on your hear to do so, you should. I am saying that we need to live our lives looking for the needs in others lives. At work, in school, in all the areas of our lives. It was Jesus compassion that led Him to intervein in this mans life. What it challenges us with is, do we live lives of compassion looking for the needs in others lives.
I remember riding with my youth pastor to Sam’s club and driving back to Macclenny. As we cam around the on ramp from I-295 to I-10 we saw a man under the overpass. We looked at each other and we were in the church van and figured, the guy is not likely to kill us in the church van. Let’s see if he needs some help. We had groceries for the football breakfast the next morning and we had things that needed to be in the fridge. We still stopped. We met a man named woody and we gave him a ride to Macclenny. After finding out he had no place to stay my youth pastor put him up in a hotel and went and got him dinner. We then went back and prayed with him and found that he was looking for work. Long story short, Woody is one of the managers at Woody’s BBQ in Macclenny now, he has gone back to his home town where there was a warrant for his arrest, he served his time, got out of jail and came back to Macclenny where he now owns a home, helps the community, and goes to work every day. I saw that day through my youth pastor this example of seeing people, really seeing them. He could have acted like he did not see the man on the side of the road and could have continued driving. He showed me that day that no matter what we are doing or where we are going we should take time to see the people around us.
Scripture tells us how we are to see others around us and to take time to have compassion on them. It also tells us of the Lord’s compassion for us.
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
9 The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.
32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
17 Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord,
and he will repay him for his deed.
We are challenged to live like Christ and to see those around us. Can I challenge us as we all go back to work and to school that we take initiative the first day to see others needs. To be attentive to the needs around us and not the things we want to do or the places we are going. Jesus did not only see this man, and his need. Jesus did something about it. Jesus offered the change.
2. Offering the Change
2. Offering the Change
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?” 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.” 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.
Now that day was the Sabbath.
Jesus did not just see this man’s need and pass him by. Jesus did not see this man’s need and say a prayer for the man as He walked by. Jesus got involved. Notice too that this man had been at the pool for so long and when Jesus engaged with him Jesus did not say, if you tried harder and did something for yourself you could have been healed earlier. I believe that we have been given the information that this man had been an invalid for 38 years and had been at the pool for a long time, because we are being given a mirror into how we are called to love those around us who continue to struggle, those who continue to fail, those who continue to be oppressed. We are also given this example because in love Jesus engaged and offered the change in this man’s life. Jesus gave no lectures about what this man should have done or how he could have tried harder. Jesus simply extended healing to the man. How many of us are living this out and doing this in the lives of others around us? See if you are like me you probably see the need and you pray for the need, how many of us though get personally involved in offering the change in people’s life. Here is the thing Jesus could have simply prayed for the man. Jesus could have offered life advice on trying harder. Jesus could have told the man how he needed to scoot closer to the edge of the pool. Jesus could have told him that no one else is going to help him, he needed to help himself. Instead of any of these things Jesus offered a compassionate hand of healing to this man and offered him the change. What I want you to notice though is that Jesus first offered it to the man, Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be healed, when the man said that he did want to be healed Jesus offered him the healing. How many of us are taking time to offer the change in people’s lives and then being personally involved in helping them reach that change? We cannot be content with only seeing people’s need, offering them the change, we must get intimately involved in helping them receive the change.
While walking his parish one day in his clerical garb a minister was called by a couple of kids from across the street, “Hey, mister, would you stop being a minister long enough to give us a hand?” Stunned by the words but braced for the challenge, Jerry crossed the street. When he arrived on their side he found that the chain of one of their bikes had broken and needed to be fixed. So he knelt down right there on the sidewalk and started to dismantle the bike and remove the chain. The two young brothers couldn’t believe that this minister would actually get down to help them. And they were even more surprised when he proved skilled at fixing their problem. When he had finished repairing the bicycle, they apologized for making him get his hands so filthy with oil and grease. Jerry shrugged it off. “No problem, fellas. Want to learn how to get off grime like this?” “No way,” one of them said, “you can’t get that off here.” “Let me show you,” Jerry continued. Once again he got down on the ground, but this time he gathered up dirt and “washed” his hands in some loose soil. After he scrubbed the dirt into his hands, he turned to them and said, “Do you know where we can find some water?” The boys said, “We live right around the corner. Come with us.” So the three of them went marching right into the kitchen of their house, much to the surprise of their mother, who was asked to move over at the sink as she stood openmouthed at the strange priest her children had brought home with them. “Thank you for letting me wash my hands here,” Jerry said as the boys watched the water work its magic on his hands, restoring them to spotless purity. The mother then asked him to stay for tea. Jerry confessed that this was “one of the strangest pastoral calls” he had ever made.
This is a post-Christian culture that doesn’t think the church has anything to offer it except when we stop doing church the way we’ve been doing it: “Hey, mister, would you stop being a minister long enough to give us a hand?” People today aren’t coming over to the Christian side of the street. We have to cross over to their side if we’re to give a hand. And ministry happens best not in planned ways but naturally, organically and often when we’re on our way to do something else.
The church must get its hands dirty and offer the change and be a part of change in people’s lives. Can I challenge us not to simply tell people we will pray for them, we will pass their need on to others, we will tell our pastor? Can I challenge all of us to get involved on a personal level like Jesus did and meet the need.
15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Jesus was active in this man’s life and Jesus was not content with simply offering a prayer, Jesus wanted to get personally involved in providing for the needs. Jesus saw the need, Jesus offered the change, but Jesus also challenged the customs.
3. Challenged Customs
3. Challenged Customs
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.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” 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. 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.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
This is the most difficult part of this message. You may say, well why? Because in this we are being provided an example and an expectation. Jesus broke the status quo here and we are no longer allowed to live in our comfortable spaces with our comfortable lives and churches. Jesus broke with how things were done, Jesus broke with how everyone before Him had done things and He did so to meet the needs of others. There is some symbolism here in the scripture first go back to verse 1 and 2.
1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.
Jesus entered through the sheep gate. This was the gate that the temple sacrifices would be brought through. This example of Jesus bringing healing after coming through the sheep gate was purposeful. Jesus sacrifice would bring the ultimate healing to all and His sacrifice was different than all of the previous sacrifices.
1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Jesus was going to change the way things were done and Jesus was more concerned with reaching the world with Salvation than He was with what He wanted to do or how others had always done things. We must learn to do life differently, to do church differently. To reach needs in a way that is effective and efficient. This hurts, this feels weird, this seems to go against things we have always done or how we have always lived. Let me calm your fears in here today, I am not saying that next week we will come to church and some radical change will take place and you will not have the church you see here today. I won’t say that God cannot do that, He can if He desires to. But as your pastor I am not going to be leading some revolutionary charge to change how or what we do dramatically. What I am asking for as your pastor is that our hearts and minds will be open to what God may be calling us to do or to change to meet the needs of the world around us. Jesus challenged the standard culture and the standard customs and He did so to free the world. Are you willing to become uncomfortable if it means that 1 soul would find their salvation?
7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
Will we share in a heart that is more excited for one to find salvation, than we are to keep our customs and traditions? Are we willing in our lives, our personal lives to live this way. It is one thing to live this way as a corporate body of believers, it is so much more to live this in your personal life. The Jewish leaders were more concerned with Jesus healing on that Sabbath than they were excited that an invalid of 38 years had been healed. Can I challenge us to never be more offended by our traditions being broken than we are excited for one soul to find Christ? This morning we have been offered an expectation of how we are to operate as a church and as believers. Are you ready this new year to accept the challenge and change the world?
