John 4:43-5:15 | Come and Be Healed | Shaun McGregor

Instant power over disability and death. Could anything stop you seeing and believing?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

I open the pantry doors. I'm looking with all my might. But the peanut butter is clearly not there. It has disappeared. Someone has eaten it all. It is gone. Someone has put it somewhere else. It is not in the pantry. It's not there. I say, I cannot see it. And then my wife comes and moves the vegemite which is in front of it. And even I can see it. Sometimes it's important to see something, sometimes far more than that. And sometimes we have trouble seeing, don't we? Sometimes the stakes are much higher. Can you see what needs to be seen? And sometimes it's not just that we are male, or that we are not walking carefully, or that we fail to move the thing in front of it. Sometimes, sometimes we cannot see. Because the problem is our hearts. In our series in John, our theme is come and see. Come and see what? Come and see Jesus. And the stakes are very high. For Jesus is the one who gives eternal life. This morning we come and see, for he reveals his power and his grace again, that we might believe and have eternal life. But we will see that some refuse to see. After the two days, Jesus left for Galilee. Where has he been? He's been on his way to Galilee, but he stopped. He was waylaid or deliberately waylaid in Samaria, if you're with us last week. He had to go through Samaria so that he might meet a particular woman, and so that she might come and see who he was, and so that she might say to others, come and see. Now he has come to Galilee. And verse 46, once more he visited Cana in Galilee, John wants us to remember, where he had turned the water into wine. But something far more serious is happening this time. Do you see it in verse 46? And there was a certain royal official whose son lay ill at Capernaum. More serious. He is laying ill, verse 46, verse 47. He is close to death. This father has heard about what happened at the wedding, perhaps. He's heard about the other miracles that Jesus has done. And so when his fat his son is close to death, he walks from Capernaum, where he lives, to Cana. 38 kilometers. And begs Jesus, come down. Before my child dies, can you see this? I think we understand his desperation a bit, don't we? This is my greatest fear. My child dying. It's my greatest fear because I know that it happens. Indeed, I've sat with a father whose son has just died. And some of you this morning have experienced it yourselves. We feel the man's desperation, we see his desperation and see. See what Jesus does. Verse 50. Go, Jesus replied, your son will live. The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him. And then the father realized this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, Your son will live. Jesus revealed his power. We are used to remote controls, aren't we? Though they are only 50 years old or so. We are used to Bluetooth and voice activated everything. But Jesus does it from 38 kilometers away. And he is not controlling a mobile phone. He is saving a boy from death. Just with his word. Jesus revealed his power, and Jesus revealed his grace, his compassion, yes. But this man is a royal official. Where does he work? With King Herod. He's not one of the good guys, I think. Jesus revealed his power and his grace. Do you see how wonderful he is? And Jesus revealed his power and grace over disability. Again, Jesus goes from Cana in Galilee up to Jerusalem for a festival. Not to the temple this time, but to a pool in chapter 5. A pool, not a swimming pool, but a pool with a certain superstition. You see that in the footnote at the bottom of the page. That at certain times when the water is stirred, you can get in and be healed. And so this pool is not like a swimming pool, but more like a day centre for the incurable. Lying there with false hope. Verse 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie. The blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. A great number. But Jesus focuses on just one man. Verse 5. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When I have a cold, I think two or three days is more than enough. Time to leave. Many of you here this morning think that's ridiculous because you experience chronic sickness and chronic pain, and you have done so for years, and this man has chronic pain, he is paralyzed, he is lame in some sense, and he has been so for 38 years. Imagine. And so Jesus picks him. He sees him and picks him and says to him, the rudest thing you can imagine. Get up, pick up your mat and walk. I was at Bundina Beach during the week. Last week I mentioned I was at a cafe. I want you to know that I do do some work from time to time. I was at Bundina Beach this week, sitting with a group of guys. We're inside, but you could actually see the water from where we were sitting, and one of the men who was actually looking in that direction as we were having lunch suddenly stood up and said, There's someone in the water. He's in great distress. He's calling out, I think we should go. So we jumped up. Half of us ran down to the water. We could see that, yes, indeed, there was a man gasping with his hand up. We could see that there was a canoe far out now heading out further to the ocean. Clearly he had fallen out and perhaps couldn't swim or was having some sort of medical emergency. Someone was swimming towards him. Someone else then began to swim towards him. One of us managed to find something that was a flotation device and went out as well. They dragged him into the shore. Thank God there was a trauma nurse happened to be at the beach that day. Two people are on the phone ringing up, and so we got two groups coming to help. The local rescue service, because Bundina is in the middle of nowhere in a national park. Four of them turned up with all their gear, and a few minutes later, three paramedics turned up with all their crash cart and their equipment, and one of us ran to the chemist to get the uh the defibrillator. We were all on board to save this man. He staggered up the beach eventually. They loaded him onto the cart and he went past me heading out to the ambulance, heading off to the hospital. And about two hours later, I saw him at the burger shop just down the road. Is that him? He had the same dog with him, and his partner was the same partner was with him. I was confused. How could he have got to the hospital, been treated well, and got back again? Who knows? I asked one of the other guys, one of the ones who were down at the beach. I didn't know he was down at the beach. There were so many people gathered around. I asked one of them, what had happened? He said, Yeah, they checked him out. He was still staggering around, still acting as if he was dying, but eventually one of the paramedics said to him, Come on, mate, there's nothing wrong with you. Get up. And so he was at the burger shop a couple of hours later. I want you to see, this is nothing like that. The man has been an invalid for 38 years. And Jesus says something so similar. Get up, pick up your mat, and walk. And he does. Even if there was a surgery that could fix his ailment. Do you have any idea how many months of rehab a man who has been the invalid for 38 years is going to need? How much physiotherapy? He'll never be able to walk normally, surely. And Jesus gives him three impossible commands, and verse 9, he immediately at once is cured, picked up his mat, and walked. Jesus has power over disability. And Jesus reveals not just his power, but again his grace. Many times in the Gospels, Jesus heals someone and he says, Your faith has healed you. And some Christians will tell you that you must have faith to be healed. And if you are not healed when someone prays for you, it's because you do not have enough faith. Well, how much faith did this man have? Did he know who Jesus was? No. He had no faith before he was healed, and he had no faith in Jesus afterwards. Here is a clear picture of everyone's salvation in Christ. Whatever it may seem like to our experience, it's that Jesus chooses, and that Jesus is the one who saves his power and his grace. Jesus revealed his power and grace over death and disability. Do you see how wonderful he is? But you have to ask, why did Jesus do this? Why did he do this for them? Especially the second man. Where Jesus initiates it. And as we'll see later on, it leads to a great deal of trouble for Jesus. More than that, why does Jesus not do this today? It seems. Why is it that children are close to death in Westmead Hospital? Every day. And every day they die. Why is it that this has happened perhaps to your family or yourself or your friends? Why is it that my great aunt was in a nursing home at Gordon paralyzed all down her right hand side for about twelve years until she died? Why does Jesus not use his power over disability and death? Secondly, Jesus revealed his power and his grace so that you would believe and have eternal life. It's not a miracle, but a sign. And a sign is not the thing, it is something that points to the thing. This is the second sign. What was the first? When Jesus revealed his power and his grace by turning the water into wine at Cana. Jesus gave a sign that he was the bridegroom who would provide cleansing to his people and the great feast, as God had promised in Isaiah 25. On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine, the best of meats and the finest of wines. What are they celebrating? On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all people, the sheet that covers all nations. What is that? He will swallow up death forever. Even at 102 years old, there is a shroud that enfolds all people. And the second sign that he does here, when he heals the boy close to death, it points to the same, doesn't it? This shroud hangs over the father. The whole household enjoys Jesus destroys the shroud for the boy with his word. The third sign when he heals the disabled man, it's just a slight change of direction, it's still death, I think. Death is not just the end of life, but the distortion, the disruption. It's the ruining of life on the way to death. And God had promised in Isaiah 35, then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the mute tongue will shout for joy. Jesus is fulfilling. Jesus is revealing, he is showing who he is and what he has come to do. Why did he choose these people? Why did he reveal this? That's a sign that we might see. See who he is and what he came to do. Why does he not save all people from death and all people from chronic sickness? He will. That's the eternal life that he comes to bring. Here are two signs of what Jesus comes to bring, of what Jesus achieves at that first Easter, when he died himself, and when he rose again forever. And these signs are so that we might believe and have eternal life. The Father heard about Jesus, didn't he? And so when his son was close to death, he comes, he begs, he takes Jesus at his word. And when he hears that his son is living, he hears that it's at the exact time that Jesus said, he sees the sign and believes. Do we need a sign? Do we need to see? Like he did. Thomas thought he did, didn't he, in John chapter 20. He could only believe if he saw the sign. But Jesus says, Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book, but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Jesus revealed his power and his grace. And John wrote them down so that you would see them this morning. And that you would believe this morning, whether for the first time or the thousandth time, come and see his signs. Come and see Jesus. Believe and have eternal life. Jesus revealed his power and his grace so that you would believe and have eternal life, so that you don't refuse to see. How would you do that? By just wanting his gifts. Come back to the beginning of the passage, verse 44. It's quite confusing. After the two days he left for Galilee. Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honour in his own country. Therefore, it says, when he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. Now is that confusing to you? It should be. Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honour in his own country. That's Galilee. So when he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. What is going on here? Well, they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, verse 45. And John talked about that before back in chapter 2. Back in chapter 2, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. They saw and believed. But was it a real belief? Did the signs really point to Jesus? No, Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. A prophet has no honour in his own country. Therefore, with a touch of irony, he says, the Galileans welcomed him, because all they wanted to see were his signs. Instead of seeing the signs and believing in him, they saw the signs and simply wanted more. I think that's why Jesus says in verse 48, unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe. The disabled man is worse, isn't he? He doesn't just see the sign, he experiences it. Thirty-eight years, an invalid, and in a moment his life is changed forever. How does he respond? Does he see the sign? See Jesus and believe? No. When the leaders ask him, who is this fellow who told you to pick up your mat and walk? The man who was healed had no idea who it was. This man has just healed him after 38 years, and he's got no idea who it was, and he hasn't bothered to find out. He's looking for the peanut butter, but he doesn't even move the vegemite to have a look, move the thing in front of it. Go look and find out. Is he interested? No. He just wants Jesus for what he can give him. Even worse, when he's accused of carrying his mat on the Sabbath by the leaders, he passes the buck. It's not my fault. The man who healed him healed me. Don't know who he is, but the man who healed me, he told me to do it. And when Jesus found him later on and identified himself to the man clearly, so that he might believe in him, the man threw Jesus under the bus and daubed him in to the leaders. Do you see the people of Galilee, and especially the disabled man, they just want Jesus for the things that he can give them. They are not interested in seeing and believing Jesus. Would people today be like that? If Jesus got off the train at Linfield and you'd heard about what he had done elsewhere, what he had done in the first century, what he'd done in Jerusalem, how do you think people would respond? People would be lining up, wouldn't they? There'd be busloads of people or train loads of people coming down from the uh hospital at St. Leonard's. We want what Jesus can give. But would people see the signs and believe in him? Sometimes people say, I'll believe in Jesus, if only he would give me a sign. And they're not willing to open up the Bible and see them. Move the vegemite and see. Or less hypothetical. Why have you come to see Jesus this morning? Is it for Jesus? Or what Jesus can give? Because he can give you community, he can give you meaning in life, success in life, perhaps, he can answer your prayers. As someone even said once, I'm here because I'm looking for a husband. And so once you have what you want, or when Jesus can no longer give you what you need, or if people accuse you or mock you because of Jesus, you will give up on him. Do you see Jesus? Because you want what he can give. Well, how do you feel when someone uses you? His gifts, his signs are signs of his goodness and who he is and of the eternal life that he brings. The points, the signs point to something. To someone. Do not refuse to see Jesus just because you want his gifts. But there's another way that you can refuse to see Jesus. It's because he must fit your rules. How do the leaders respond to the disabled man? Verse 8. Jesus said to him, Get up, pick up your mat and walk. And once the man was cured, he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, the Jewish rest day. And so the Jewish leader said to the man who'd been healed, It's the Sabbath. The Lord forbids, the law forbids you to carry your mat. But he replied, The man who may be well sent to me, pick up your mat and walk. So they asked him, Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk? I don't know which is more unbelievable, do you? For healing the man after 38 years or the way the leaders react. Daniel and I enjoy a TV show called Pit. It's about the ER room, the emergency room. It's like ER, if you remember that show, it's like the emergency room at the Pittsburgh Hospital. And again and again people come in who are close to death, like the boy. Others are more chronic sufferers who come in again. They are the regulars at the emergency room. Imagine for a moment that one of the regulars has MS. They are paralyzed. They are chronic. And imagine that one of the nurses just heals them by his word one day. And they don't keep the man for observation, they don't send him to Rehab because it's totally unnecessary. He simply walks out of the hospital. Extraordinary. And imagine that the head of the hospital walks past at that moment at the very entrance, recognizes the man who's been coming to the hospital for years, but instead of being overjoyed that he's healed, asks him for his discharge papers. This is a hospital, you know, says the head. You've got to have the right papers. Who did this to you? They'll have a disciplinary hearing. Well, this is worse than that. It's not a hospital with rules, it's the Sabbath. The day when they remembered they were to keep that God rested and enjoyed his creation. He gave them the land, and so he commanded the Sabbath. And Jesus has come to fulfill that, the Sabbath, and this is a sign, this healing of what he's come to do with the Sabbath, to bring healing and new life and to set everything right, and yet the leaders are so focused on their rules, they cannot see the sign and they cannot see Jesus. Worse than that, we'll see it next week. They completely reject Jesus. Now there are very few people today who are concerned with the Sabbath. But many people see Jesus' signs, and they refuse to see because Jesus does not fit with their rules. What do I mean? Miracles don't happen. Everything has got to make sense in my head, it's got to fit with my experience. How could a man paralyzed for 38 years, someone simply say a word and at once he gets better? That doesn't fit what I expect. Or perhaps he doesn't fit with your ideology. He's not politically correct. His views don't fit with your ideas about sex and gender and politics. Or perhaps he is simply too intolerant, for he says he is the way, the truth, and the life. He does not fit with your ideas, and so you reject him. Last week we saw that without doing a sign, Jesus met a Samaritan woman, an outcast, and a sinner. She heard him, she believed him, and she said to her whole town, Come and see. And they believed as well. I encouraged us, I challenged us that Jesus wants us to say, Come and see, for the harvest is ready, people will respond. But John immediately gives us a reminder, doesn't he? That not everyone will see and believe. Jesus revealed his power and his grace through his signs. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. So I want you to know that even today, many people just want his gifts. Many people expect him to fit their rules and so will not see him. Especially, I think, people who are familiar with Jesus already. Jesus wants us to say, Come and see. But many will refuse to see. Don't be discouraged. We expect that. Finally, though, it's not just the expectations we have of others and how they might respond. There is a warning here to us, isn't there? Did you notice what Jesus said to the man in verse 14? He went and found him. So that the man now knew who Jesus was. Verse 14, later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, See, you are well again. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you. Now I was wondering this week, does this mean that the man was sick because he sinned? And so Jesus is warning him that you'll get sick again if you sin again. Well, sin does not usually specifically lead to suffering. When we suffer, it's the result of being in a fallen world. But there are occasions in the scriptures when that is the case. And when we are sick or suffering, we should ask the question, God, are you telling me something? Are you calling me to repent? But that's not the point here. Stop sinning is a present continuous, it is something he is doing right then. Like if I said to you, stop sitting. You are sitting right now, and I'm expecting you to stop and get up. Don't do it, stay there. He says, Stop sinning. What is it that he is doing right now? What is sin in John? It is not disobeying the Ten Commandments, it is not failing to love your neighbour. No, John says in chapter 3, whoever believes in Jesus is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict, light has come into the world. But people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Jesus says to the man he is healed, who didn't even bother to find out who he was. Stop just wanting my gifts and not me. Stop rejecting me. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you. What could be worse than thirty-eight years of not being able to walk? Well, eternity can be a whole lot worse. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. Jesus revealed his power and his grace so that you would believe and have eternal life. But if you refuse to see, because you just want his gifts, or Jesus does not fit your rules, something worse. The worst will happen to you. So come and see today. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this glorious revelation of Jesus' power and grace to this boy and to this disabled man. Father, we long for, we look forward to the day when this is the reality, this is the life, this is the eternal life that Jesus shows that he will bring. Father, help us to see and believe. And Father, please save us from the big mistake that the people made in these two events here. They refuse to see because they just wanted what Jesus would give, or because he just did not fit their rules. Father, help us to see and believe. And as we share this good news about Jesus, tell others about the signs that he did. Father, we pray that you have mercy on them and open their eyes so they might see and believe and have eternal life. We pray that you would help us to turn our eyes upon Jesus in his name. Amen.