June 25, 2021Dear friends,
On Wednesday night, our Bible study group on Zoom looked at the story of a man who had an infirmity for thirty-eight years. His name is not recorded in the fifth chapter of the gospel of John, but the Lord Jesus “knew that he had been in that condition a long time” and asked him if he wanted to be made well. At first glance, the Lord’s question appears to be odd. Who wouldn’t want to get well? In “The Bible Knowledge Commentary,” Dr. Edwin Blum writes: “Jesus’ seemingly strange question was designed to focus the man’s attention on Him, to stimulate his will, and to raise his hopes. In the spiritual realm man’s great problem is that either he does not recognize he is sick (see Isaiah 1:5-6 and Luke 5:31) or he does not want to be cured. People are often happy, for a while at least, in their sins.”
As we read more about this man, we learn that he not only had no strength, he also had no family or friends to help him. Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk” and immediately the man was made well. No longer would he sit by the pool, waiting and watching others. John notes that the pool in Jerusalem was called “Bethesda.” In his Study Bible, Dr. David Jeremiah writes: “Bethesda means ‘house of mercy,’ a fitting name for such a pool because those who gathered there needed healing. John calls the gathered ones ‘astheneia,’ which is translated ‘without strength or power.’ Spiritually and physically, the people had no strength and were in need of God’s mercy.”
When the man who was healed by Jesus was confronted by Jews who told him that it was not lawful for him to carry his bed on the Sabbath, he revealed that he didn’t know it was Jesus who healed him. After Jesus found the man in the temple, He said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” Then the man “told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well” (John 5:15). As we read this, do we think of neighbours, colleagues, family and friends that need to hear the Good News of God’s mercy? Maybe you have never asked God’s forgiveness for your sins and realize that you need to turn from your sins and trust Christ to save you. As the Lord Jesus told the Jews who were persecuting Him: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (v. 24).
Scripture for the weekend: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6 (NKJV)
Thought for the weekend: “Anyone who is not a friend of King Jesus is, in the end, an enemy of King Jesus. Whose side are we on?” – Michael Raiter in “Journey through Luke: 62 Biblical Insights” published by Our Daily Bread Publishing, Grand Rapids, MI
Steve