{"id":222,"date":"2016-04-22T07:09:45","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T14:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smallchelle.com\/?p=222"},"modified":"2016-04-22T07:14:09","modified_gmt":"2016-04-22T14:14:09","slug":"house-of-mercy-john-5-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smallchelle.com\/?p=222","title":{"rendered":"John 5 Part 1- House of Mercy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bethesda means \u201cHouse of Mercy.\u201d What do we need more than mercy when we are thoroughly wrapped up in our own self pity?<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2014blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. John 5:2-5<\/span>
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I haven\u2019t done anything for 38 years. Maybe breathing since I\u2019m just barely that old. But I have had significant times of both physical and spiritual lameness in my life. I\u2019ve spent much of the past three years in a state of daily physical pain due to a hip injury. I\u2019ve also spent much of the past few years paralyzed by fear. Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of responsibility, fear of being wrong, fear of messing it all up. All these fears have been for me a spiritual bondage leading to inaction.<\/span>
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\n<\/span>This is the account of a significant healing miracle that Jesus did in the life of one man. This passage says there was a \u201cmultitude of invalids.\u201d Do you ever feel like just one of the crowd? Do you ever wonder what difference can one person make? What difference can I make? How can I help anyone when I can\u2019t even help myself?<\/span>
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It\u2019s very easy to talk yourself out of something that you know in your heart of hearts that God has called you to do. It\u2019s easy to convince yourself that you are crazy and tell yourself God couldn\u2019t possibly have picked you because you are so desperately unqualified. I fight these thoughts daily. <\/span><\/p>\n

We are all so broken. There is a point we come to where enough is enough. Sometimes we don\u2019t realize it, but Jesus is right around the corner. We don\u2019t have any discernible faith, just a pocket full of lame excuses. But Jesus comes and finds us. For that man at the pool, this was his day.<\/span>
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When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, \u201cDo you want to be healed?<\/span>\u201d John 5:6<\/span>
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What compassion! Where are you hurting right now? Physically? Relationally? Emotionally? How long has it been? Jesus already knows.<\/span>
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\n<\/span>Do you want to be healed? Do I want to be healed? Is our answer something like this?<\/span>
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The sick man answered him, \u201cSir, 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.\u201d John 5:7<\/span>
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Do we say, \u201cYes, but\u2026\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cI\u2019m not good enough.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cI\u2019m not strong enough.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cI\u2019m not smart enough.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cI wouldn\u2019t know what to do with myself.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cGetting in the water is my answer but I can\u2019t get there.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cGetting to church and community group is the answer, but I can\u2019t get there.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cGetting in the word and prayer is the answer but I don\u2019t have time.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cI\u2019ve sinned too much for too long.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cMy past is too dark. I\u2019m ashamed.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>or like the childhood classic my dad used to sing me when I was in the midst of a self-pity party\u2026<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cNobody likes me, everybody hates me, I\u2019m goin\u2019 out and eat worms\u2026\u201d<\/span>
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\n<\/span>The absolutely radical thing about Jesus and His healing power is that it has nothing to do with us. Let me say that again. It has nothing to do with us. It is His mercy. Sometimes His mercy looks like His sufficient grace and mighty strength made perfect in our weakness. Sometimes it looks like radical, miraculous healing. <\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus said to him, \u201cGet up, take up your bed, and walk.<\/span>\u201d And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. John 5:8-9<\/span>
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Jesus healed so many people so many different ways, but the goal is the same. Action.<\/span><\/p>\n

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These last few months for me this looks like being healed of fear, getting up every morning, taking up my keyboard, and writing. This looks like finally letting go of all the excuses why I can\u2019t or won\u2019t or shouldn\u2019t write. It looks like doing my physical therapy, getting to the gym and getting back to a place of physical fitness despite the hip pain. (Ironically, the more I go the less it hurts because then the joint doesn\u2019t get stiff.) It\u2019s seeing His mercy in my every-day life. It\u2019s seeing Jesus looking at me and loving me, even when I\u2019m the most broken and the least lovely. It looks like me sitting at His feet every day and letting Him wash me with the word.<\/span>
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\n<\/span>How has Jesus touched you, healed you, been fixing your brokenness? Where in your life do you need healing now? What excuses have you been making? He\u2019s right around the corner. He sees you. He loves you. He has new mercy for you today. So\u2026 Get up\u2026 take up your bed\u2026 and walk.<\/span><\/p>\n

As always, thanks for reading. I\u2019d love to hear from you. Feel free to comment on this post and share it with someone you know who need this encouragement today. Join me again next week when we\u2019ll look at what the Pharisees had to say about this healing which took place on the Sabbath.<\/p>\n

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