Looking the Wrong Way

INTRODUCTION

This morning we continue our examination of anonymous people in the Bible who encountered Jesus...

Today we consider a man who was paralyzed and in a desperate situation when Jesus came along. His story and the actions of those involved in it reminds us of the peril that comes when we look the wrong way.

There was a time in my life when I looked the wrong way and it caused me a great deal of pain...

1. DEVASTATION: Looking the wrong way can be overwhelming.

John 5:1–3 NIV

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.

Jesus is in Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.

We do not know which festival.

It really does not matter.

The Sheep Gate was a gate in Jerusalem where shepherds would bring sheep into the marketplace.

It is interesting to note the five covered colonnades have actually been found in archeological excavations just north of the temple area.

a great number of disabled people were gathered here.

With so much need in the world it would be easy for us to become overwhelmed and simply give up.

After all, we can’t meet all the needs!

We lack the resources to take care of all the poor, all the sick, all the people who need something, so what are we to do?

We are looking the wrong way when we become focused on all the needs in the world today.

Our responsibility individually and as a congregation is to meet the needs God brings across our path, the person who needs a meal, the single mom who needs a little help with her kids, the teenager who needs someone to show they care.

Let us all look the right way by noticing the needs of those God brings across our path and meeting them to the best of our ability.

2. DESPERATION: Looking the wrong way can make us hopeless.

John 5:5–9 NIV

One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,

Talk about a hopeless situation!

This poor guy has been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

Apparently, everyone gathered around this pool was convinced they would be healed if they were the first one into the water when it was stirred.

This seems to be looking the wrong way, doesn’t it?

And yet, how many people look the wrong way when trying to get through a seemingly hopeless situation.

Hopeless people can get very desperate and do some crazy things:

Bookstores are full of “self-help books,” and “get rich quick guides,” and “fix-your-life-in-five-easy-steps manuals.”

These books all have two things in common:

They offer unrealistically easy solutions to important, difficult problems.

They are expensive and someone, somewhere is making money off of someone else’s desperation.

Jesus asks a great question, Do you want to get well?

The man’s answer articulates his desperation and frustration, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.

At that point, Jesus had enough. Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.

…and the man did both.

If we look for solutions to life’s problems anywhere but Jesus we are looking the wrong way.

Self help is a myth - get God’s help.

Rather than pursuing wealth and riches, let’s pursue the peace of God. Remember, Jesus said, “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).

Jesus is the one, the only one, who can fix what is wrong with our lives.

No matter what you are dealing with today look the right way and bring it to Jesus.

3. DISTRACTION: Looking the wrong way can keep us from seeing God.

John 5:9–13 NIV

At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ” So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath… so what?

...so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

Let’s stop and examine this scene for just a moment:

We have a man who has been an invalid for thirty-eight years. That’s right, thirty-eight years.

...and now the guy is walking around with his mat stuck under his arm.

Rather than seeing the miracle that had taken place, the Jewish leaders saw someone breaking the Sabbath laws.

Sabbath laws by the first century had reached the point of being ridiculous...

Remember, Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

The Jewish leaders (probably Pharisees) were so concerned about enforcing the Sabbath laws that they completely missed the miracle.

God is at work all around us, but we are often too distracted to notice and that is a great tragedy.

The stuff of life has a way of consuming our attention so much so that we fail to see the miracles of God all around us.

The problems we are dealing with can steal our focus to the point we fail to see God at work in them.

We get so wrapped up in what we are doing that we fail to see Jesus in the form of a person in need and walk right by him.

Let us be determined to look around on purpose and see the miracles of God all around us.

4. DESTRUCTION: Looking the wrong way can cause us great harm.

John 5:14–15 NIV

Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

It is important to note, Jesus is not chastising this man when he says, Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.

The fact that the man was healed tells us he had at least a measure of faith.

Remember when Jesus was in Nazareth? “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village” (Mark 6:5-6).

Jesus is not chastising the man, he is warning him about the destruction sin brings with it.

Sin is the ultimate example of looking the wrong way.

Of course we know, “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

But, even in this life, “everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34).

In short, sin will destroy us.

But, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Let us all look the right way, avoiding sin the way God defines it, and avoiding the terrible destruction it always brings.

CONCLUSION

Are you looking the right way so that you see those in need that God brings your way and do what you can to help them?

Are you looking the right way so that you recognize no situation is hopeless and bring whatever circumstances you are in to Jesus?

Are you looking the right way so that you see the miracles of God all around you?

Are you looking the right way so that you understand the terrible destruction of sin and resolve to live according to God’s Word?