JP19: JESUS DEFIES RELIGIOSITY AT POOL GATHERING: WHAT HE TEACHES US ABOUT PEOPLE, PRIORITIES, AND PREFERENCES

If you're like me, you know someone who has struggled under the powerful grip of toxic environments, unhealthy choices or lingering sickness.  People that we love and pray for God to restore, heal, or make aware of his great love for them.  Yet, the years tick by without evident change.  

We can relate to their struggle, reflecting on our former years and the kindness of God that led us out of similar darkness.  We want our friends and family to experience transformation according to their unique needs.  But, what do we do when restoration and healing are slow to come?  When the deck seems stacked against those who need help the most?

While there are no easy solutions, we can look for answers when the kindness of Jesus intersects with profound human needs.

John writes,

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. 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.” John 5:1-10

Jesus Slams Religious Preferences

Jesus' ability to bring about reconciliation and restoration defy all efforts to limit his reach, including the religious extremists who were more concerned about breaches of fabricated Sabbath laws than the complete healing of a paralyzed human being.  Time and tradition fostered thirst for position and control, withering their concern for people.

Though tensions over proper Sabbath-keeping in Jesus’ day are largely silent now, religious preferences modeled after the modern industrial complex fosters a contemporary thirst for position and control.  In this way, the “successful church” “must: grow bigger, collect more resources, consolidate power, create stronger hierarchical structures, experience exciting rapid growth, connect with consumers so they can purchase the goods and services.”1

This observation is in no way meant to disparage people or churches in general, rather to address unhealthy structures, where they do exist, that unknowingly prioritize preferences and process over people.  

Finding Our Way Back To Jesus’ Priorities

The industrial shift to the church leads some pastors and church leaders to spend less time with more people instead of more time with fewer people, as Jesus did. Jesus spent three years investing in twelve disciples, teaching them how to love and serve. He later sent seventy-two followers out in pairs into surrounding cities and neighborhoods. This strategy prepared leaders to extend his presence in a way that launched a worldwide movement.

In patterning ourselves after Jesus, it’s helpful to remember that we always find him traveling, speaking, and acting with a loving, outward focus.  A heavenly agenda drives him to seek out every type of exile while making clear to everyone in Judea and the surrounding areas that he is the promised Messiah. Such is the case as Jesus enters Jerusalem to attend a Jewish feast.  But, Jesus has more on his mind than feasting.

Jesus speaks instruction and delivers healing at the same time.  Atrophied muscles and joints are miraculously, instantly restored, freeing the man to walk immediately.

This miraculous healing and setting echo Isaiah’s prophecy,

"...then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;  the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes." (Isaiah 35:1-7)

One can imagine Jesus reflecting on Isaiah’s imagery as he entered the pool area.  People looking for the Messiah would have connected the dots too; lame man leaping, waters breaking forth, sand (desert) becoming a pool, haunt of jackals (the religious leaders), where they lie down (the lame man).  

Jesus Rebukes Religiosity

In contemporary terms, this man had little hope of finding healing. There was no one to pick him up and drive him to the local church building, where religious goods and services reside under tight control.  Jesus’ healing the man on the Sabbath was a rebuke against religiosity in Jesus’ day.  His actions beckon us to thoughtfully and courageously examine religious remnants in ours.

Don’t Give Up: Jesus Is Pulling For You

Have you ever felt like you or someone you love is living in a hopeless situation?  Have you hoped for a change that doesn’t come while continuing to follow the same patterns of thinking and living?  It’s hard to break habits learned from youth, routines built under toxic formative environments.

Jesus’ heavenly rule is one of abundance, unbound by earthly structures.  His power and reach defy control, cast out the vilest demon, crush the most anchored stronghold of the devil, and bring into the light every divisive lie of Satan.

He reconciles every repentant soul, raises us out of the depths of the deepest sin and despair, takes intrusive thoughts captive (2 Cor 10:5), and restores the years that the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25).

Don’t give up.  Consider the love and grace of Jesus as he healed the paralyzed man.  He wants to heal you too, and He can break every stronghold.  Instead of spiritual jewelry, mystic ornaments, cryptic crystals, and confining preferences, trust the power of King Jesus alone.  

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, thank you for your tremendous love and grace.  I praise you for the grace that is greater than all of my sin.  I acknowledge my need for you today and every day.  I know that nothing is too complicated for you, so I bring you my life with all of its brokenness and ask that you make me a new creation.  I want to be healed, Lord.  Would you please help me to remember that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that works within me to make me like you?  Amen.

What Jesus Teaches Us About People, Priorities, and Preferences

1. Don’t Give Up.  You are supremely loved and valuable to God at all times.  Draw near to God through humble repentance and avoid allowing negative thoughts, shame, or guilt to define you.

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” James 4:7-10

“Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”  As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.” Mark 1:14-18

2. Pray and ask Jesus to heal you.

“Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:13-16

3. Wait for Jesus.  He sees you and knows you by name.  When healing doesn’t come, trust that he works all things together for your good.

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31

4. Ask yourself hard questions.  Do I prefer my preferences over people?  Do I value safety and control over faith that equips and empowers all people to extend the presence of Jesus into the farthest reaches of my city?

He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?  He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent?  I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. Matthew 12:3-14

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1 Dan White Jr., “Church as Movement, Not Industrial Complex,” V3 Movement, https://thev3movement.org/2016/08/08/church-as-movement-not-industrial-complex/ accessed July 16th, 2021.