We rejoin our traveler as he walks the darkened cobbled path that he had been directed to by a merchant in the market. The groans of the ill and the smell of the street makes his stomach turn.
“I believe He can do it again!” Says a man laying on the stones, his legs bandaged.
“It was a fluke. Some strange medicine from another land.” Replies another.
“Medicine that could make a man you and I have seen to be crippled for all the years we have been here, get up and walk?”
“You think too much.”
“I have hope. If He healed one He may return to heal more.”
Our traveler walks over to the two men who are speaking and asks them of what they speak?
“None of your business.” The one replies, but the other, smiles.
John 5:2-3, 5-9 ESV
[2] Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. [3] In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.
[5] One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. [6] 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?” [7] 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.” [8] Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” [9] And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.
“Can you believe it?” The man asks excitedly.
Our traveler nods his head, “Yes. I certainly can.”
Our traveler goes back to the market and buys bread and fruit and returns to the alley where he dispenses the food between the people there.
I have always had trouble with the pool of Bethesda. Not the mystery of it, there could have been something God was doing there, or ot could have been a mineral pool. We do know there were stories of people who went in and came out healed. What bothers me is the healed man. There were most likely many people there. Near that exact spot. All of them. Every. Single. One. Needed healing. Yet, Jesus chose to heal only one. I don’t understand that. I never will. Sometimes we see someone receive something that we deserved. We were just as good, we worked just as hard. Yet we walk away with nothing. Why? We cannot always understand God’s will. There are times when it confounds us to the place of doubt. Yet He is still good. Remember what the three Hebrew boys said in Daniel? “And if not He is still good.” To have that faith. To watch the Messiah heal one man and walk away when there were many others there who needed Him just confuses me to no end. But He had a reason. We still don’t know what that reason was. Was it the man’s faith? Jeuss does not say so. Was it because he was Jewish? There were probably other Jewish people there. Was it simply because he had been there the longest? Perhaps he had prayed and Jesus had come in answer to that prayer? We won’t know the answer until we see Jesus ourselves and ask Him. Even if you are the man in the alley, still crippled; or the woman on the stairs, still blind. Jesus has not overlooked you. He sees you. He has a plan and a purpose for your life just as you are now. Would a miracle be great? Of course. But sometimes He only heals one, yet He still has a path for the others. Don’t lose hope because you are still sitting by the well. He sees you, He knows you, He understands you, and He has not forgotten you.
Tag: belonging
Following the fourth Wiseman- John 3:16
We find Our traveler sitting on the beach today. His eyes are looking at the clear water and the way the breeze moves it, but they are not focused on that. His mind has full control over him, he has heard words from His Messiah through a passerby. The words were nothing he had ever experienced before, and he now can do nothing but sit and think on them.
John 3:16-21 ESV
[16] “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. [18] Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. [19] And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. [20] For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. [21] But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
What was your first thought when you read this verse for the very first time? For God so loved the world. He have us Jesus. We wouldn’t give our place in a Tim’s lineup to people, and God gave us who are so unworthy, His Son. He sent Jesus to save the world. God knew what Jesus had to say would be hard to swallow. He know that people would feel like they were being condemned to death by how narrow the path is, so Jesus reminded us that He came to save the world. He is the light. Yes, the path is narrow, but it is possible for those who know and love Jesus. Run to the Light. Run toward Jesus. This verse, John 3:16-21 is the whole gospel in a nut shell. Jesus came to save us because He loves us and we weren’t making it on our own. He came to be a light to show us the way. The only way to Heaven is by knowing and loving Jesus. Those who love their sin will hate Jesus and will hate those who love Him. But Jesus will continue to shine bright, so even those who once hated Him can come to love Him. Those who love Him, walk in light.
We quote John 3:16 to the place where it’s almost over used. Non Christians quote it as a joke. Athletes put it on their jerseys (which is wonderful). It’s written in the air by sky writers during big events. We hear it all the time. But do we take it in? How do we feel? How did you feel when you first read this verse? Do you still feel like that? Our traveler is lost in his thoughts of overwhelm because of the mesmerizing words. Do these words still overwhelm us? Or have we forgotten how precious they are?
The blood part 6
Revelation 5:9 NIV
[9] And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
Again I find us ending in Revelation. With your blood you purchased. We talk about the purchase, but do we know what it means? Think of this. You are a fifth class citizen living in a kingdom, you are a slave. Suddenly the king rides out to greet His people, He looks at all around Him and changes every status so that no one is 1st class or 5th, He sets you free. But your old masters argue, many old masters argue, that their slaves are theirs, they own them. So what does the king do? He buys you. He purchases you at a ridiculous price that you know is beyond your worth, then He takes you home to live in the palace. Not as a slave, but as His child. It makes me think of the Price of Persia when I think of our redemption in this way. The movie, not the video game. I never played the game because my uncle who owned had a high score he didn’t want us kids ruining. We still tease him about that. But didn’t the king find the boy, who later became the Prince who saved the world as they knew it, on the street as an orphan and take him up on his horse and take him home as his son? It was a long time ago I saw the movie, but that’s how I recall it. How much more for the King of all to purchase us from ourselves? Because in the end of the story, we were our own masters, our sins which we had chosen were our bonds, and we were the ones demanding a high price for lives we knew weren’t worth that cost. But God.
Jesus felt we worth dying for. He died for each of us as though we were the only living soul on earth. His payment was individual. He thought of me. He thought of you. He even thought of the person who would never turn his or her life over to Him.
His blood bought me. His blood was the gold laid before the money changers demanding payment. Like Edmond in The Lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. We belonged to the witch, to the darkness. As the law of Narnia stated, all traitors belonged to Jadis, their blood was her property, only by the pure blood of the son of the king over the sea, could the traitor be set free.
We belonged to the evil. We were born into sin. Our blood was the devils property. Only by the pure blood of the sacrifice of the son of God, could we be saved and set free.
Now we praise Him, our Lord and our God. Because thanks to Him, to His blood, we are redeemed.
Like the old Petra song, “All over me. All over me. I’ve got the blood of an innocent man all over me.” That’s the only way we can be saved from death, is if we have the blood of the Lamb all over us, washing us clean, setting us free.
The shepherd
The shepherd
What is the role of the shepherd in the pasture? He’s the whole purpose. He’s the one who wants the sheep and calls the sheep and cares for the sheep. But not just the sheep. He cares for the collies and the lamas too. He knows each animal in the field and knows how each one needs to be cared for. He also knows which sheep is hurting, which is afraid, which is prone to run away, which gets lost easily. He knows each sheep by name. He sits in the cold, the rain, the dark, the blazing sunlight, the icy snow and he watches over His flock.
God is the great shepherd. Psalms 23.
God knows each of us, He knows our names and He knows our minds, our hearts, our strengths and our weaknesses. He knows who needs a shoulder to cry in or who needs a healing hug. He knows who needs a hand to hold and who needs a gentle poke from the staff. Rain or shine He us always there. Night or day He is with you. He knows you and how to take care of you, not just as one of the flock, but as (insert your name here). He doesn’t say “it’s okay number 33687.” He says “it’s okay Lynne. It’s okay John. It’s okay Max.” Because we are special to Him as individuals.
Some of us are sheep
Some are lamas
Some are collies
But there is only one true shepherd and I thank God for shepherding me.
I am a sinner, but I leave that all behind me and choose to follow the third man on the hill, the one the people call Jesus.
We are all the two thieves. We’ve either asked Jesus to remember us or we have mocked Him by not believing Him. The two thieves were a physical example of the two paths to take. A sinner set free by the blood of the Lamb – or a sinner still attached to his/her cross. You can choose to follow Jesus to Paradise or you can choose to stay the way you are. He leaves the decission up to you. But only one road leads to Heaven. Only one way takes you away from death eternal. Jesus is the only way- the choice is up to you.
Down that road is where I long to be.
There’s a road that keeps on calling me.
The pathway of tears, the road of sorrows, the Via Delorosa; the road has many names and titles, yet it always leads one place, to the cross. Oh I don’t mean the Spiritual Cross. I mean the literal cross. The worst part about anything you are dreading is the leading up to it; the road to your school or office, the hall to the doctor’s office, the first signs of a cold. You know what’s coming, and you dread it, yet you are given no choice and must walk down the path to where you are supposed to be. Many walked this road carrying crosses. Only one held no sin. Many felt the pain and shame and fear of going down that road, only one went down it by choice. Many were nailed to crosses to pay for their crimes, only one was nailed to a cross to pay for my crimes, and the crimes of all those who would choose to lay their sins aside and follow Jesus.
There’s a road that keeps calling me. The road to the cross. Yet when I stand on that hill I am not accused, because I gave my life to Jesus and He paid my debt for me.
Hands
Hands
Our hands do so much and they are unique to each person. I don’t just mean because of our hand lines or gen codes. They are unique i what they do. My nana had hands that were often found playing the organ, crocheting or holding a cup of hot tea. My dad’s hands are usually found doing the work I don’t want to do like cleaning the barn, they can also be found gripping a tennis raquet or an old book. Mom’s hands are always working, dishes, laundry, meals and not just for her own household; they are also happy holding a hot cup of tea or a good book, but are happiest in the dirt of the garden or trimming flowers. Poppa’s hands are always covered in dirt from working in his shop or with his welder, that’s when they aren’t hugging his Bible or typing up sermons. My dog’s paws are even unique to him, not many dog toes are found in kayaks and climbing through hay bales. Our hands speak of our personalities, hobbies and jobs. They speak of our passions and what we love and who we love- my hands are often covered in animal hair because they are often touching my dog or horse, so they say, ‘yep, she’s nuts about her fur family.’
Jesus’s hands told His story too, they still do. Hard and calloused from His work as a carpenter and His time tenting during His ministry. Yet gentle enough that a colt would let Him touch him. Strong enough to lift a hammer, soft enough to be pierced by a nail. If Jesus stood before you and held out His hand you would know it was Him instantly because no one else would have His scars. Funny how everyone in Heaven is healed, except Jesus; His wounds remain as a reminder to us of His passion, job, personality, what He loves and who He loves. We are all in His hands.
Carried in the cross 