Making things Whole Again AM Sermon 1.30.11

Making Clean what was Not and making Whole what was broken
Several years ago, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks did a comedy skit called “The 2013 Year Old Man”. In the skit, Reiner interviews Brooks, who is the old gentleman who has lived for over 2000 years. At one point, Reiner asks the old man, “Did you always believe in the Lord?” Brooks replied: “No. We had a guy in our village named Harry, and for a time we worshiped him.” Reiner: “You worshiped a guy named Harry? Why?” Brooks: “Because he was big, and mean, and he could break you in two with his bare hands!” Reiner: “Did you have prayers?” Brooks: “Yes, would you like to hear one? ‘O Harry, please don’t be mean, and hurt us, or break us in two with your bare hands.’” Reiner: “So when did you start worshiping the Lord?” Brooks: “Well, one day a big thunderstorm came up, and a lightning bolt hit Harry. We gathered around and saw that he was dead. Then we said to one another, ‘There’s somthin’ bigger than Harry!’”
The last few weeks we have been looking at the Gospel of John and we have met a Jesus that is bigger than one can imagine.
I would call John’s view of Jesus as Cosmic – To big to contain with words – Jesus is the very God that Created the Universe –
We get insight into this in the prologue – John has let us in on his secret in the prologue – we know who Jesus really is, and we get to see His interaction with others that have no clue but start to get a glimpse of His glory.
In last week’s story we saw Jesus in Samaria – He didn’t have to go through Samaria geographically but he had to for other reasons.
We see the woman at the well believe and man Samaritans turn to Christ.
Jesus stays with them for two days – these people that were once unclean to the Jews have been made clean by the Gospel.
BACKGROUNDS-
We see at the end of John chapter 4 that Jesus returns to His hometown of Galilee and they receive Him because they have heard of the great things that He has done In Jerusalem.
The Receive Him because He has worked Miracles – Here is the irony of the whole thing – Jesus is accepted by the Samaritans by Just HIS TEACHINGS but the Galileans are convinced only because of His Miracles.
Who has the more mature and full faith, those that are convinced by the teaching of Christ or by just miracles?
Which one will have faith that really connects the heart, and mind.
There is much Irony to this.
Jesus is constantly turning things upside down on their head.
In the final portion of John 4 we witness Jesus healing a Nobleman’s Son – John informs us that this is the 2nd Sign or Miracle of Jesus and he does this at Cana of Galilee where he turned the water to wine.
A nobleman comes to Jesus to have Jesus heal his son. Jesus tells the man to go home and his son will be healed.
The passage says specifically in John 4
John 4: 49
Jesus said to him, "Go ; your son lives." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off.
This is a key phrase for the rest of John’s Gospel-
THE WORD OF JESUS – this man believed the word of Jesus –
As we go through this gospel we are going to have to grapel with this idea of what Jesus says, Will we do what Jesus says?
The man finds out that his son was healed the very hour that Jesus told him his son would be healed.
After this second sign in Cana of Galilee Jesus returns to Jerusalem in the South.
He is there for a feast of the Jews.
Just as there are Seven miracles in John’s account there are seven feast in John’s gospel.
John chapters 5-10 will focus on each feast that Jesus attends of the Seven.
Most people think that this feast is Pentecost and Pentecost would be one of the three feasts that required a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Pentecost is the Highest Sabbath day of the year. The Sabbath fell on Saturday or the Seventh day of the week.
Pentecost fell on the seventh week after Passover
Pentecost was called Shavout or literally – The feast of Sevens – the Feast of weeks.
Now imagine that this time is the most holy time of the Jews as far as the Sabbath is observed.
This is the passage that we are going to focus on this morning and that is John 5: 1-24
John 5: 1-4
1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. 3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters ; 4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water ; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.]
Let us set this story in its geographical setting – the Sheep gate is where the sheep were brought into the Temple for slaughter.
This was the first gate built by Zerubbabel and Nehemiah when they first rebuilt the Temple. This gate was close to the Temple so that the sheep could easily get to the Temple.
This pool was where the sheep would be washed as they were about to go into the Temple.
There was a legend that an Angel of the Lord would stir the water and the first one to get in the water would be healed by God.
Many sick would line this pool underneath these porticos for shade to go into the water to get healed.
John 5: 5-7
5 A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, "Do you wish to get well ?" 7 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me."
1) Get into the action-
This man was lame for 38 years – now this number is significant. If you remember Israel was in the wilderness for 38 years. We think of the wilderness wanderings as 40 years but the actual wilderness wandering was 38 years.
Israel spend 2 years at Sinai and then spent 38 years in the wilderness. As this story unfolds we will see more and more of the plight of Israel in this man’s story.
Deuteronomy 2 tells us that it was 38 years of wandering
Israel spend 38 years in the wilderness captive to sin and disobedience. They were literally locked up in sin and needed liberation.
Jesus is coming to liberate this man from his bondage.
This man was just as Israel was and found himself in a miserable situation that felt like he would never get out of. He was locked in a rut of doing things the same way all the time.
Jesus comes to offer a new way of living – Something different, something special, something radically different than before.
The man’s response was not very spectacular – he basically said that he could not get into the pool unless someone helped him. He is totally helpless and has been in this state for 38 years.
Just as the woman at the well last week had five husbands and those five husbands would make one think of the 5 idols that Samaritans had worshipped at one time and had muddled their Jewish faith- This man represents the Jewish people and their time of disobedience.
The Jews in the time of Jesus were still in bondage and in a spiritual sense they were locked up in sin just as their ancestors were in the 38 years of wilderness wandering.
The Samaritan woman had 5 historical husbands and this man was literally sick for 38 years but they also stood as representatives of their people and the current spiritual conditions of both Samaria and Judea –they both were in need of Christ to lead them out of their ignorance and their bondage to sin.
Jesus = a new way of living – a radical call of liberation and new living.
When I see this man’s response to Jesus – I think of a man I met at Riverside Christian Academy - the man was Robert Reed and he came to speak to the kids at RCA.
Robert had Cerebral Palsy and was severely disabled – he could barely speak and was severely limited in his motor skills.
But this guy had gone to Abilene University and earned a degree in Latin- He then graduated and moved to Portugal to be a missionary –He lead in one year 70 people to Christ by sitting in the park and when people would come and talk to him he would share Jesus.
He was determined that his disability would not get in the way of sharing Jesus with others.
I was so inspired when I saw this guy, I think about how I complain about the simplest things in life but he some many people cope with things every day that I could never imagine.
We as Christians in a way are sitting on the side of the pool like this guy.
I will tell you how I thought for years and sometimes think this way now.
I thought that I would wait on God to show me where I needed to go, what Church I would need to go to or what grand scheme that He had for me.
I would just study my Bible, learn from it, maybe be a missionary.
I was totally missing the point. God is calling you to get involved just where you are.
Let me speak candidly to you for a minute. This is something that begins at this pulpit with me and at the door of my home. It also is on you too. This is on all of us.
There is not one of us here that could not get involved a little more with the work of this Church. We need to go home and pray that God will allow us to be more active in this church.
If you think that you could serve the church in some capacity we need you to step up to the plate. If you can help with Wednesday night and our kids please help.
We need people teaching our young people in our classes. The same people tend to constantly teach the classes, we need helpers, we need teachers.
I have heard people say that if I teach a class I will not learn and I will miss out on my classes. Let me tell you something – the best way to learn the Scripture is to teach. You will grow more from teaching than from ever sitting in a class.
We lost a precious sister last week in Christ – I look at her and I want my daughters to grow up to be like her. I want them to be godly like that.
Folks that doesn’t happen in a vacuum. People like Miss Eleanor are not easily made. It takes formation by Scripture and study and the life of the Church. She did things behind the scenes like order flowers for anyone that needed them. We need folks that will step up and get involved like that.
For the future of our children, for the future of our church, for the future of the lost in this community – if you can be here on Wednesday with your children please come, if you can teach a class please teach, if you can just help us find ways to make this church better please share.
Don’t sit there like this guy did and wait.
Basically Jesus had to coerce this guy to get healed. Don’t do that to Christ and His Church.
Some of the earliest Christian sermons have been preserved through the ages and St. Augustine and others saw in this passage great symbolism.
They saw this man as an example of how one is saved. They see that Jesus asks him if he wants to be healed- He has to want to get of his situation.
God calls us and we must respond that call. The next part that is interesting is that the man is healed but the words Jesus speaks to him are significant. –
He says – RISE- if you are an early Christian – what would you think of if you heard the word RISE – we would automatically think resurrection.
They taught in the early days of the church that this passage could be seen as an exemplar for man’s condition. WE are called by God to be healed from our sin and if we respond in Faith we will Rise again in the Resurrection from the dead.
John 5:8
8 Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk."
2) Jesus can make clean what was unclean.
Jesus heals this man that has been sick for 38 years in one command. That quick, Jesus overturns the situation in one fell swoop.
We’ve already seen Jesus take what has been turned upside down and turn it back right side up. Jesus makes the Samaritans clean who were once unclean.
Now He is bringing His power to bean on this man that was sick.
Jesus is restoring things back to their rightful place.
Jesus throughout the Gospels is displaying this theme of taking what man has claimed to be unclean and making it unclean.
In Matthew’s Gospel it is really demonstrated:
1) Matthew 8:3 – the Leper- Jesus touches the Leper and this would make a Jew unclean – but it is Jesus that makes this man whole instead of this man making Jesus unclean
2) Matthew 8:7 – Jesus offers to go to a home of a Roman soldier – this was off limits for a Jew –
3) Matthew 8: 28-34 – Jesus heals a demon possessed man among the tombs and the demons are cast into the swine – all three images of unclean – Tombs were off limits, demons were unclean spirits, and swine were un-kosher as they come for a diet of a Jew – Jesus transforms the situation casts out the demons into the swine and destroy the unclean animals.
4) Matthew 9: 18-26 – A woman with an issue of Blood – she is ceremonially unclean and touches Jesus but she is healed, Jesus touches a dead body that would make one unclean for a week but Jesus brings her to life
Jesus puts it back together and makes whole what was broken – Jesus transforms and makes clean
Max Lucado tells this story:
“Over a hundred years ago, a group of fishermen were relaxing in a Scottish seaside inn. One of the men gestured widely and his arm struck the serving maid’s tea tray, sending the teapot flying into the whitewashed wall. The innkeeper surveyed the damage and sighed,
“The whole wall will have to be repainted.”
“Perhaps not,” offered a stranger.
“Let me work with it.” Having nothing to lose, the proprietor consented. The man pulled pencils, brushes, and pigment out of an art box...
In time, an image began to emerge: a stag with a great rack of antlers. The man inscribed his signature at the bottom, paid for his meal, and left.
His name: Sir Edwin Landseer, the famous painter of wildlife.”
Lucado concludes: “In his hands, a mistake became a masterpiece. God’s hands do the same, over and over. He draws together the disjointed blotches in our life and renders them an expression of his love.”
In the hands of Jesus things that looked bad can be made good – In today’s story we will witness how Jesus can make things new and whole again.
Let us never think that Jesus could not use us in His kingdom – He can take any situation and make it whole again.
John 5:9-19
9 Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day. 10 So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet." 11 But he answered them, "He who made me well was the one who said to me, 'Pick up your pallet and walk.'" 12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Pick up your pallet and walk '?" 13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "Behold, you have become well ; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you." 15 The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But He answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working." 18 For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. 19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing ; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner
This is a long passage and it seems very difficult to sift out but I want to focus on a few things we need to take from this today.
We have already noticed that Jesus can make things whole that were broken, he can bring life
We have also noticed that Jesus wants us to get into the game – to get going – to seek Him – the get off of the side of the pool so to speak.
He also wants this man to quit sinning and lead a life of devotion.
Now we see a time of controversy-
The Sabbath was a time of rest – Jesus healing and this man carrying his mat would both be seen as breaking the Sabbath.
The irony is that the man doesn’t even know who healed him but Jesus is the one that heals him.
Jesus then throws gasoline on the fire by basically making Himself equal with the Father – In other words Jesus is claiming to be God.
Jesus makes an extraordinary point that we need to slow down and really grasp and it is two fold.
First of all Jesus cannot break the Sabbath because He is God. God doesn’t rest on the Sabbath- Babies are born on the Sabbath every day in Israel. The Jews during the time of Jesus saw this as evidence that God was still working on the Sabbath.
Also, God had to be at work on the Sabbath holding the universe together. If God took a break then the universe would stop functioning. Jesus is equal with God so he must work on the Sabbath because God works on the Sabbath.
Fascinating answer and one that could have easily got him killed.
The second part of Jesus answer goes back to the prologue.
In the prologue we are reminded that:
John 1:18
18 No one has seen God at any time ; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
Jesus in John 5:19 says that the Son cannot do anything unless He sees the Father doing it.
No one had seen God but Jesus came to reveal God – In Jesus we see God in the flesh – the very power of God that created the world was there among these people.
This man didn’t even know who had healed him.
John 5: 24
24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
The last verse in this episode of this man ends with this passage of comfort.
We can now in the present tense pass out of death into life.
We can have life in Christ now a true life. Just as this man was saved from the bondage of his illness we can be pulled from the bondage of sin.
We can be prepared for death because we know that Jesus has come to give us true life.
This life in Christ begins now.
We don’t have to worry about falling into Judgment but we can look forward to life in Christ – those that are without Christ have only the judgment of God to look forward to.
Speaking of life:
Jim Valvano was head coach of the N.C. basketball team. He rose to fame when his team started winning championships. Everybody liked him. He was always cracking jokes & had a winning way of dealing with people.
But in 1991 Valvano learned that he had inoperable bone cancer. During Christmas time, 1992, he said, "It’s difficult to be thankful this Christmas because I’m not sure I’ll be here next Christmas." And he wasn’t. He died in 1993. "But," he said, "this Christmas I’m getting down on my knees & thanking God for every day of the 46 years of my life."
Jim Valvano understood how precious life is.
I would like to propose to you that there is a life that is more precious than all.
Christ came to show that he can make things whole again – He can bring us from death to life,
He asks us to get off the side of the pool and get going – to accept the grace and new life that He has to offer.
Just as this man was asked, we ask do you want to be healed, or more importantly do you want to be saved? Do you want to be saved from your sin?