John 5:1
After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
John 5:2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
John 5:3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
John 5:4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
John 5:5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
John 5:7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
John 5:8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
John 5:9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.
Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,
If you went to Heaven today, do you think you would meet “Blind Bartimaeus”, “Simon The Leper”, or “The Woman With The Issue Of Blood”? Of course not. Not only has God removed their condition of sickness, but also it’s no longer their identity. They’re now “Simon the Whole” and “20/20 Bartimaeus”. But God saw him as “Simon The Whole” long before he became whole. While he was still a leper, God saw him as healed and whole.
Rom. 4:17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
The eyes of God see with the perspective of His Will. Is God wrong to identify us according to His view of us, rather than labeling us by our temporary conditions? Conditions that linger may take on a sense of permanence in our minds, but they’re still temporary in the mind of Him whose will usurps them.
Mark 5:39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.
I doubt seriously that you would accuse Jesus of irresponsible thinking. Yet you might accuse someone who thought and spoke like Him of irresponsible thinking. Why is it OK for Jesus to speak from Heaven’s perspective, but wrong for us? Surely it’s not because He’s Jesus and we’re not. Because if you take that position then how in the world do you then turn around and explain that we are called to think, act and believe as He did?!
Mark 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
Mark 11:23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
This mind-boggling statement from Jesus is surely limited to those “mountains” which God has said should be cast into the sea. And that certainly includes the personal example He demonstrated without exception, that of healing sickness. Concerning healing, He has set a solid precedent.
The man at the Pool of Bethesda had a deep-seated, lingering disorder. This was no momentary affliction. It was a “Boundary-Setting Illness”. When people have such afflictions, the infirmities define the boundaries of their lives. The infirm and crippled person may courageously expand their limitations, by playing guitar with their feet, painting with their mouth or playing sports in a wheelchair. But still there are boundaries which limit their abilities. However sickness may control your living, it should never define your life. Jesus healed Bartimaeus because the Bartimaeus God saw wasn’t blind. Jesus just put him into the condition God saw him in. And Bartimaeus BELIEVED He would do it! Can Jesus put you into the condition God sees you in?
When Jesus went in to heal Jairus’ daughter, she had died by the time He arrived, so they told Him it was too late, she’s dead. But Jesus didn’t see her as dead, and he said as much:
Mark 5:39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.
And look at the reaction He got from the mourners. It’s the same reaction we get today from Believers when confronted with the same faith:
Mark 5:40 And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.
Sometimes you have to just put out the doubters, and get Jesus in there alone with you.
Mark 5:41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.
Just like Lazarus, Jesus talked to this girl’s corpse as though she were alive. Because in the mind of Him, whose will counts the most, she was alive. He had said so! What has He said about you? Check His Word, not the mourners’ opinions, but God’s Word.
Mark 5:42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the ageof twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.
Of course they were astonished. They defined her as ‘dead’, while He defined her as ’sleeping’. He defined Lazarus the same way:
John 11:11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friendLazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
And in the mind of Jesus, your condition is as temporary as sleep. He came to awaken you from your temporary condition. Sickness may control your living, but it should never define your life. It may describe ‘how you are’ for the moment, but it must never define ‘who you are’. Jesus communes with you on the basis of ‘who you are’, not on the basis of ‘how you are’. When Jesus visited the man at the Pool of Bethesda, his life had been completely controlled by his condition. And no doubt that in his thinking, his own identity was defined also by his illness. So Jesus approaches him with a most peculiar question:
John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
“Will you” be made whole? Not, ‘can you be’ made whole. ‘Can’ addresses the man’s ability, which of course, is overwhelmed by the condition. But Jesus engaged the man on the one level that his sickness could not control: his will. Of course the man didn’t possess the ability to make himself well. But now he was faced with Jesus, Who did have, not only the ability but also the will to heal him. Upon gazing into the compassionate eyes of the Son of God, the man lifted his own will from the paralyzing arms of sickness, and placed it into the Hands of Jesus. The sickness never had a chance!
Stay On The Path
Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Portraits Of Jesus by Nick Champlin
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