Thursday Night Fellowship
Study of the Gospel of John
April 6, 2006
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Snack and Fellowship
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Drama
Lesson
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Prayer
What are some of the best excuses you have given to your parents?
From what you can remember of the four gospels, can you remember Jesus ever healing somebody who didn't want to be healed?
Drama Reading of John 5:1-9
Parts
narrator
blind person
deaf person
paralyzed person
Jesus
Let's read John 5:1-6 and then we'll look at it.
May I have volunteers to read verse four in their different versions. It is true that some version do not have a John 5:4. What does this mean?
So were these sick people waiting to be healed or were they there just to beg or hang out?
Verse 7 tells us that they were there to get healed according to the response of the lame man.
So our main character here has been sick for 38 years. That is a long time to be sick. According to our passage Jesus sees the man and knows how long he has been sick. He asks the lame man, “Would you like to get well?”
Why does Jesus even ask the question? Isn't it obvious that the guy is lame?
There is a scene from the movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves where the Sheriff of Nottingham walks briskly into the witch's room, picks up the knife and starts stabbing the table. The witch replies, “Something vexes thee?” This is an example of understatement.
Was Jesus understating here when he asks the lame man if he would like to get well? I don't think so. Why doesn't Jesus just heal the man? Does Jesus ever heal people without their consent or desire?
You may have heard of the popular phrase, “God helps those who help themselves.” This isn't a true statement. Here is a true statement of Jesus: “Only the sick need a physician.”
The wise God-man knows that people must first acknowledge their need of divine intervention. A man who doesn't think he needs help will not accept it.
Salvation is a form of healing. Salvation is not merely fire insurance, but is a continual process of being healed by the Great Physician from emotion, physical and spiritual trauma that others and ourselves have afflicted upon us. Sometimes the effects of these wounds are very visible, but other times the pain is hidden deep within our souls and only manifests itself subconsciously through our behavior.
Turn to Isaiah 61:1-4
God promises to redeem us, to bring freedom, comfort, and good news. He promises to restore beauty and praise. He promises to rebuild broken lives and families.
Turn back to John 5
Look at the paralytic's response. Does he answer Jesus' question? No. He only gives excuses for why he is not well.
So let's break this down so we can draw some application from this.
How does the paralytic interact with Jesus:
Makes excuses and dodges truth vs 7
Obeys Jesus vs 7
We oftentimes respond with excuses when Jesus engages us instead of responding truthfully to him, but Jesus is faithful. He gives us second chances. The lame men then responds in obedience to Jesus' command to get up and walk. We too can respond to obedience to the word of the Lord even if we haven't in the past.
How does Jesus interact with the paralytic:
Prompts the man with an engaging question to reveal his heart (vs. 6)
brings physical healing(vs. 8)
Gives words of truth of warning against sin and judgment (vs. 14)
Jesus knows how to speak to us exactly what we need to hear to move us to where we need to go. Not only that but Jesus does still perform miracles today. He still heals and redeems. But just like Jesus had more concern for this man beyond his physical healing, he also is very concerned with how we live our lives. He wants us to love him and to obey him. He will come again to judge both the living and the dead. We must live in the light of this truth.
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1 comment:
I think the reason that many Bibles don't have John five verse four is because it is controversial whether it was in the original book of John or was later found near that same place. I don't know alot about the excavation of the Gospels, but I believe that that verse was found at a different time from when they found the bulk of John. But that leads to a question, how do we know what is what? There has been a lot of confusion over the gospels, not about their authenticity but about their author. In John when Jesus told the people that were about to stone the woman "Ye who is blameless, cast the first stone." Many scholars believe that that was writen by Luke, not John. I don't know the details, but if they aren't sure about who wrote something, than it is very possible that the omission of JOhn five verse four is that same type of thing.
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