A Healer is Coming March 22, 2020

Good Day everyone. I was going to say morning, but I am not sure when you will be watching and listening to this sermon. This is the first of possibly many sermons that will be delivered to our folks in Merritt that are not present as I give this message.

I had to really think about this process as I often prepare a message and plan to deliver a message to a live audience, but this one is the first where I know everyone will be gone.

If you were in church last Sunday, or listened to the sermon online, you would have heard we began a new series called the Road to the hill. This is our series that we prepared many months ago looking towards Easter.

Isn’t it amazing how quickly things can change. We often spend an enormous amount of time in planning and preparation which is not bad, but what happens when the plans need changing. For some of us listening to this, that can be the scariest part of the world in which we live today.

May I encourage you today as you may or may not be isolated, that you reach out to others in ways that you can.

Phone someone, text if you can, email. Write a letter take time to connect.

It’s vital as believers to stay connected with one another and to think of those who are feeling the loneliness this time in their lives.

This morning’s passage is one that I think models Jesus’ life. A life as disciples that we need to model. He took time for those in need.

I hope as you are listening this morning that you have your bible open. I hope this morning if God is speaking to you directly, that you take the time to listen.

If you are with a group (family) listening the you pause the recording if there is a question arising from the discussion. Pause and answer or talk about the question.

If you listening to this alone, may I encourage you to pause if God Spirit speaks to you. Pause and pray, journal, take notes.

It’s my prayer as we move forward that when we spend time virtually interacting with the Word of God that we go away changed people.

Turn with me now to this morning’s passage.

I’m reading from the ESV

John 5:1–18 ESV

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. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

A Healer is coming

When I sat down several months ago to plan out the sermon series, I had no Idea that was coming to face us as a community, country and world. I named this message a healer is coming preparing us for what Christ has done on the cross for us. How critical today that we know we serve and follow a God who heals.

But today’s message is about Jesus preparing himself and the world for the cross.

In our passage today, we find Jesus and his disciples making their way to Jerusalem. We all know and understand that Jesus was born into a faithful Jewish home. It was not uncommon to follow the various festivals held for the Jewish people. As we look towards Easter, Good Friday, we as believers have practiced the coming together to celebrate what the first Easter morning would have looked liked,

But for Jesus and his followers, they were off to the big city to attend the festivals.

I remember for our 25th wedding celebration, Heather planned a fabulous trip to her families homeland, Holland. She squirreled away money and planned a wonderful trip for the two of us.

It was a wonderful time, but one thing was overlooked. Timing is everything.

You see if you haven’t traveled to Europe from Canada, you will arrive with a 7 hour time difference. And for us it was the morning for them and it was night for us. We had planned to have a small afternoon nap to allow our bodies to adjust.

Timing is everything. We arrived in Holland and made our way to the place we were staying, a small B&B overlooking the small town’s village square.

For the most part, it was a lovely place to be, but like I said, timing is everything.

You see we arrived on a National Holiday, Queen’s Day. A day to celebrate the Monarch of the country. It was a festival…

Timing is everything. Not only was it a festival, but it was the day the queen passed over the throne to her son, It was a celebration greater than any other day.

It was a good thing for them that the Covid-19 was not happening then as it would be a far different celebration today.

Timing is everything.... there we sat in our B&B overlooking the village's square where all the activity was happening. Trying to sleep both in the afternoon and evening was a challenge.

Timing is everything

This festival that Jesus and this band of roughinens were coming to attend was a large gathering.

Timing is everything,,,, A Healer is coming.

Jesus sought out the man

Jesus sought out a man. Amidst his busy schedule, Jesus goes after people. The group had come to Jerusalem to what many believe was the celebration of Passover, yet Jesus took time to find the man

Jesus took time for the broken-heartened

Jesus also today is seeking the broken-heartened. If you are finding yourself in a spot where you are not only physically isolated, but spiritually isolated, may I encourage you to reach out. Jesus desires that we have a relationship with Him. He is not in isolation. If you are struggling this morning, give me a call, or talk to someone and we can show you in God’s Word that He longs to have a relationship with us. Jesus not only is a healer of our physical wounds but also our spiritual wounds.

John 5:6 ESV

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?”

Do you want to be healed?

A simple question should have been easy to answer.

Yes.

A healer is coming not only for the physical things in our lives but also for our will.

Once commentary writes,

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 9: John and Acts 1. The Healing of the Paralytic (5:1–15)

Jesus thus challenged the man’s will to be cured.

Can you image day after day you make the difficult journey to the pool. Maybe at first he was able to make a slow and painful journey to the pool by himself. It was all he could muster to get to the pool. It was the possibility of healing that would drive him to get there. The days turned into weeks, months and years. His body would be getting worse. Maybe he had to have someone carry him, day after day, a friend would be faithful to bring him, yet the despair begins to set in.

Sickness leads to despair. Despair can lead to a loss of hope. A loss of hope is where we find this man today.

During this time of isolation, do not let the fear set in. This is for a time. It too will pass. We serve a God who has never left us nor will leave us. In one way I am excited that we are going through this time. It forces us to value what we have. We have the ability to encourage one another. We look forward to the time where we will be once again together. Sunday morning gatherings will be once again come and we will be excited to come together and worship.

But this is not where the man is at. John points out, that Jesus knew he had been sitting there a long time.

We can tell by the response

John 5:7 ESV

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.”

Woe is me… the man says to Jesus.

My situation is the worst. I can’t possible face this anymore.

Their lives are better.

The man is back to the if only statements of life.

His response is a response of the loss of hope in his life.

Like the women at the well, he had approached this day like all others. He came and however he made his way to the pool, he had come to expect the ordinary.

Disappointment.

During this time of dealing with Covid-19 we as believers have a choice in how we are going to respond. We must realize that no matter what the days will bring, God is faithful.

There may be days coming where it might be hard. Sickness may come, financial hardships may come, But with all that is coming, God will not leave or forsake us.

Our hope is in Christ.

Jesus Heals the sick

The good news for this man is that he was talking with Jesus. It wasn’t some reporter asking about the pool.

It wasn’t a documentary being filmed about the healing properties of the pool,

IT was the creator of the world. God incarnate standing by him and for him that meant the ordinary was about to change to the extraordinary.

John 5:8 ESV

Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”

Jesus Heals the sick. Jesus walked up to a man who had been battling this illness for many years and healed him.

One commentary writes.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 9: John and Acts 1. The Healing of the Paralytic (5:1–15)

Jesus supplied even the will to be cured!

What was interesting in this story is what happened next. Jesus began to be under scrutiny as a healer.

John 5:9–10 ESV

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.”

Jesus was under scrutiny as a Healer

Think about that for a moment. I can image that the area by the pool was a large gathering. You would have many people lying around waiting for the opportunity to jump in the pool because it was their belief that if they made it into the pool they would be healed.

I could image it was a depressing place to be in with sick people all around.

It was a place of anticipation and potential,,,

Then along comes the healer…and he heals one of the locals.

Being there as many years as this man had been..... he would have been known.

Image sitting a few hundred meters from the scene.

You see the man who has his normal spot He has been there day in and day out and now a man and some others are standing around him talking with him.

If you were there, you would be wondering what is happening. Why are they talking with him? They you watch the dialogue and the conversation back and forth then the unexpected happens. The man gets up, picks up the bed or mat that he had been sitting on and begins to walk.

Can you image that your first words or thoughts would be…

Wait… it’s the sabbath, you shouldn’t be walking and carrying your bed.

The Jews missed the healing

The Jews missed the healing.

The ordinary turned to miraculous, yet they missed it.

It’s not lawful to take up your bed.

I mean,

that is the take away from the scene you just witnessed.

The God of creation, the Emmanuel just performed a miracle and we begin to make it work into our lives.

When God wants to enter into our lives, we sometimes bring up issues that can’t possibly work with our way of thinking.

It is in those moments in time where have settled on the ordinary. We come expecting the ordinary and miss the extraordinary.

God comes and we need to not miss his working among us.

If you have been following along on my short video’s on the church’s website under ministries called touching points, I have been leading us through some touching points as we go through these time of isolation. The other day I posted a point called the 444 Connect. I challenged the listeners to connect with one another at 4:44 pm every day. May I encourage you to go to the website and listen to the VLOG

It is my prayer that as we experience this time that we discover the extraordinary in each other’s lives.

These are different times than we have ever experienced.

God is going to work in a way that I don’t want to miss. I come each day expecting the God who desires to heal to come to experience His working in our lives.

The man missed the healer

The interesting aspect of this story is that the man also missed the healer.

Jesus knew that this would not stir up the water for the many at the pool

but the conflict and therefore he slipped away.

But the man didn’t even notice that Jesus has quickly left.

He hadn’t realized that it was God standing if front of him. To follow him. To put his trust in him.

John 5:11 ESV

But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ”

I think my response if I was the man would be .... I’m healed.

The man’s response was very different

He made me take up my bed.... That man, wait where did he go… It was him......

The man missed the healer..... He missed the change in his life. He missed the point that God entered into his life and from that moment on, life had changed for him.

What about us. Do we recognize when God enters into our lives and we are changed forever more. Do we tell others of the way God has been faithful in our lives and we wake up every day knowing God is with us.

We realize that if God is with us, who can be against us.

The second part of this narrative takes us back to Jesus once again seeking out this man

John 5:14 ESV

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.”

Jesus sought out the man

See you are well. I wonder if Jesus had to remind the man of his new found freedom. His ordinary life for many years of heading to the pool are over. We find him at the synagogue in fellowship with one another. Jesus comes up to him and this time there must have been a deeper conversation.

This time the man was interested in the person, not the law violation.

John summarizes the conversation with the simple phrase of Sin no more

You are healed..Sin no more

There has been much discussion on this phrase as biblical scholars attempt to determine the true meaning of sin no more.

Does this mean that the sickness the man had was caused by sin and if he returned to the sin, the result would be even greater? If this were fully the response Jesus was looking for we would be hard to distinguish what sin would cause sickness and what won’t . We would have to look at all sin and assume poor health is coming. There may be some truth to this, but I not sure if that is the focus of Jesus as he told him to sin no more

Is He telling the man that his focus should be on the healer and not the law or following the law because the law will judge you more than the grace Jesus was offering him. Paul addresses many people who have found the faith, yet return to the law instead of Grace. It’s a good reminder, but may not be the full focus of what Jesus was saying.

I look at this passage and it gives a picture of Jesus’ deity.

The New Bible Commentary focuses on the man’s response to Jesus and his healing.

The New Bible Commentary 5:1–18 The Healing of a Lame Man

However, it may be that Jesus was warning about a moral lameness which would be worse than the physical lameness from which the man had just been delivered. The imperative is in the present tense with the sense, ‘Do not continue to sin’. Why did the man at once go and inform the Jews, knowing their hostility? It showed little appreciation of the benefit Jesus had brought him but reflects rather a slavish sense of duty.

The man and the Jews around him missed Jesus’ calling

John 5:15–16 ESV

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.

The man missed the calling

The man missed Jesus’ calling.

Jesus came and sought him out. He healed him. Yet the man was more concerned with heading the voices of the fellow Jews around him. Unlike the disciples that willingly followed Jesus because of calling, the man was more concerned with his actions to his fellow man

The Jews missed the calling

The Jews missed the calling as well. They to saw that this prophet who was gaining in popularity was not promoting the lifestyle that they had come accustom to. IT was challenging their way of righteousness rather than listening to Jesus’ words and drawing closer to God.

John 5:17–18 ESV

17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” 18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Jesus claims authority

The final claim that Jesus made during this interaction with the people was his claim to deity.

My father and I are working together for you. I am God.

I am God incarnate. God in the flesh coming into this world for the salvation of the people

This was the road to the hill that hew was waking towards Easter.

He was coming not only to bring about healing of our physical needs, but our spiritual needs.

The title of this message is a Healer is coming.

In these days of a virus spreading throughout the world and affecting how we live our lives, we must be reminded that a healer has come for our spiritual lives.

Christ came to this world, walked the road to the cross, willingly dying on the cross for our sins.

As we make our way through these next few weeks, isolating to help reduce the spread of this virus for those who are more at risk, let us remind ourselves that we serve a God who is a healer not only of the sickness in our lives, but also of our spiritual death we can have if we do not come to him and give our lives to the one who give us spiritual healing and a right relationship with God.

May I encourage you this week. Continue to follow along on touching points found on our website. Continue working through the 40 Days of Prayer Devotional.

If you have any concerns or questions, contact us. Pastor Anthony and myself are here to help you through this time. Although we may not be able to go out for a coffee, there are many ways to connect with one another.

Let me leave you with this verses for the week

2 Corinthians 4:5–12 ESV

5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Go now and proclaim the work of the Healer in our lives who has healed us from our spiritual sin and brought us into his presence.