Two Healings, Two Responses (1)

 

 

Have you ever compared the two healings recorded in John’s Gospel? I’m speaking of the man lying by the pool of Bethesda in John 5, and the blind man in John 9.

 

Both occurred on the Sabbath (5:9; 9:14) in Jerusalem. The fact that Jesus healed on the Sabbath set the religious leaders off, it made them crazy (5:10, 16; 9:16).

 

Lately, I’ve been wondering about the emphasis the Gospel’s place on Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath. In Mark 3:1- 8, early in His ministry, Jesus heals on the Sabbath in a synagogue and the religious leaders and Herodians conspire “as to how they might destroy Him.” Later in His ministry, in Luke 13:10 – 17, Jesus heals a woman who had been afflicted for 18 years, and once again stirs up religious opposition.

 

In Luke 13:15, in response to being attacked verbally by the synagogue official, Jesus says, “You hypocrites…” He doesn’t say, “You don’t understand, hang in here with Me and I’ll explain it to you.” He gets right to the point and calls the religious group “hypocrites.” This is a pattern we see in all four Gospels, and it is especially highlighted in the Gospel of John.

 

This reminds me of Jesus’ approach in His hometown synagogue in Luke Chapter 4 (I recently did a series on this). Rather than take things nice and easy and work into His Message, He gets to the point about who He is (Luke 4:18 – 19) and then throws gasoline on the fire by pointing to God’s working in the lives of two non-Israelites (Luke 4:25 – 27) which so infuriates His hometown neighbors that they try to kill Him.

 

Why didn’t Jesus spend the first few weeks or months of His ministry playing by the religious and cultural rules, while healing six days a week and not on the Sabbath? Why, early in His first extended sermon does Jesus say, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20)? Why not wait a few weeks or months before confronting the scribes and Pharisees and try to win them over?

 

From the very beginning of His ministry right up until its conclusion during Holy Week, Jesus is confrontational with the religious establishment; nor is He seeking to persuade people to follow Him, quite the contrary (John 6:60 – 71; 8:31 – 59; Mark 8:31 – 38; Luke 9:57 – 62). He says, in effect, to the people, “Don’t follow Me unless you know what you are getting into. Don’t believe in Me unless you give Me all that you have and all that you are.”

 

I don’t know the answer to my questions.

 

There is an adage in pastoral preaching that we are to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, and while there may be an element of this in Jesus’ approach to ministry, I don’t think it captures the entire picture. One thing for sure, Jesus doesn’t leave any middle ground, He didn’t do it then and He really doesn’t do it now.

 

Yet, we do seem to be a people of the middle ground, of compromise with the world, the flesh, and the devil; of compromise with money and possessions and marketing and political and economic and social agendas.

 

I wonder what our own untouchable “Sabbaths” are. That is, what are those things that Jesus dare not touch in our lives and congregations, that are off limits to Him? I can look back and see many in my own life. There must be some in my heart today, dare I ask Him to reveal them to me?

 

What are the religious (and other) practices and doctrines and traditions that we defend from Jesus?

 

Yes, the Sabbath is Biblical in that it is in the Beginning (Genesis 2:1 – 3). However, the true Sabbath is Jesus Christ, with all the Sabbaths and Holy Days of the Old Testament pointing to Him, to relationship with Him, to His glorious Person and work (Hebrews Chapter 4; Colossians 2:16 – 17; Matthew 11:28 – 30).

 

What do you see when you compare the healings of John 5 and John 9?

 

We’ll pick this back up, the Lord willing.