Jesus Heals The Paralytic

Introduction

Welcome to our new series called “Jesus’ Miracles”. The title is exactly what we’re talking about. We will spend the next few weeks going over some of Jesus’ Miracles. Some of them are very well known ones and others are ones you might not have heard of. But regardless the reason were talking about it is because when we talk about Jesus miracles in scripture there seems to be a disconnect.

We read these amazing things in scripture and it sounds amazing but often times we’re left wondering “What does this have to do with me?”. So we will go through some of these and answer the question “How is this applicable to me?”.

Big Idea: Jesus still does miracles

The reason this is the big idea is because too often we read about the miracles in scripture and not only do we wonder “What does this have to do with me?” -

but we wonder “Does Jesus still even do stuff like this? Do miracles like this still even happen? Jesus is no longer physically here on Earth but miracles still happen, and Jesus is the one behind it.

Scripture

We will get started tonight by looking at the miracle itself, we will be in

John 5:1–15 “After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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?” 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.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. 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.” But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 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.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.”

Theres 3 points we will hit tonight and the first one is

1. “Do You Want to Be Healed?”

Its important to note that Jesus is not being sarcastic when he ask this question. There are many reasons he asked this question and this question still applies to us. You see Jesus knew that when you live with something for so long and you have this problem a few things will happen:

It becomes your identity

It becomes your excuse

It becomes what you expect

All of these things are very sad but their true. We get to a spot with our struggle and our way of living that we become comfortable in it. And that is what we see in the man that was at the pool. He didn’t seem like he was making any major effort to be healed. He was convinced that this was his destiny.

This is a real thing that happens all the time! So often there are people who make mistakes, or they give up on themselves and they just decide they can no longer go on and this is just the way things are.

People who are jobless because they got fired from one job!

People who hold grudges and push people away because they have one bad experience!

People who give up on school because they had one bad teacher!

People who have never stepped foot back in church because they had one bad experience.

And then when you confront these people and you ask them why they haven’t changed or why they’ve given up they respond and say “Well that one thing happened! Well this is just my situation I’ve accepted it”

After hearing all of that it makes a little more sense why Jesus asked questions like “Do you want to be healed?”. He ask this question so that the man he was talking to would be forced to think to himself “Do I really want to be healed?”.

2. Excuses vs. Encounter

When we look at the conversation between Jesus and the man we see something really interesting. We see the man doesn’t even answer the question Jesus asked. He didn’t say “Yes, but…”. He immediately said 2 things:

I have nobody to help me

Someone always gets there first

And honestly these excuses aren’t untrue. They are pretty valid excuses. But the issue is that he truly believed his excuses were the end all be all. There is one major thing that this man learned on this day and it is that.

An encounter with Jesus is greater than any excuse you have.

I even said that his excuses were valid, they made sense. But how often do we treat our excuses as the ultimate authority. We might be dealing with a situation the same way the man by the pool was. Our situation might be a really difficult one and we’re not sure what to do about it but we’ve listed these excuses and we’ve talked ourselves into believing that these excuses are just the end result.

Moses had this same issue in the Old Testament.

Exodus 4:10–14 “But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”

Moses had the same issue! God wanted Moses to preach and Moses had all these excuses, but what changed? He had an encounter with the almighty.

What would it look like if lived with the confidence to know that Jesus can destroy our excuses at any moment. If when asked about our situation we said excuses excuses excuses BUT… Jesus can do whatever he wants.

An encounter with Jesus is greater than any excuse you have.

3. Healing Requires Action

Faith isn’t just believing—it’s moving when Jesus speaks. This one might feel a little confusing but go with me. When Jesus gives the command for him to get up and walk the healing hasn’t happened yet. In order for the man to receive the healing he physically had to get up and begin to walk.

James 2:14–18 “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 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? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

The man by the pool had to physically get up to receive the healing from Jesus. If he would have said “thanks Jesus” and laid there he wouldn’t have gotten it. He had to attempt to get up without fully knowing if he was healed or not. That took faith. You don’t think someone else thought they could fix him at one point or another? You don’t think that man has been let down in the past? It took faith for him to physically stand up and receive healing.

What does that look like for you?

Maybe there is a situation that you need healing from. But you have become so comfortable and complacent with the way things are that you choose to sit in it. You choose to let that situation and those circumstances rule over your life because you don’t have enough faith to do something about it.

You don’t have enough faith to put yourself out there, to try something you’ve never tried before, to step outside your comfort zone.

Healing requires action

Conclusion

There is a question I want you to reflect on while we sing this next song and while you watch this video.

“What is one area of your life where you’ve been stuck—and what would it look like to actually let Jesus change it?”

There is no general answer for this, this is going to look different for every one of you. But what would have to happen? What would it look like for you to let Jesus change that thing? There is someone in here that is battling addiction, battling depression, battling anxiety, battling toxic relationships and you feel like your stuck.

and what would it look like to actually let Jesus change it?