Every Monday morning throughout my early gradeschool days I developed the habit of retelling stories I heard from Sunday School to my wide-eyed classmates who were always eager to hear what I had to share.
There are stories I remember from my early Sunday School days that never cease to fascinate me, especially those that contained anything supernatural- Moses and the parting of the Red Sea, Jesus feeding the five thousand, Elijah and the widow's "bottomless" oil and flour, Jesus rising from the dead.
One story that stands out is the healing of the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5! Before it was destroyed in 70AD by the legions of the Roman general Titus, the pool of Bethesda was located on the eastern side of the city near the Fortress of Antonia. Bethesda means "house of mercy." The water source was a nearby spring. According to the Bible there was a local tradition that an angel moved the waters at certain times and anyone who jumped into it while it is angelically stirred was healed.
A paralytic man layed beside the pool for 38 long years. Since he was a paralytic, he couldn't get into the pool when the water is believed to be stirred by the angel. And so, the paralytic pitifully spent 38 years of his life lying at that poolside and perhaps seen hundreds of people get healed! Jesus came, spoke to the man and with just spoke the following words (verse 8) "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!" Immediately, he rose, picked up his bed and walked. Can you just imagine how that site could overwhelm anyone?
Jesus heals. If he can heal then, he can heal now- according to God's will. There are prayers that get answered, there are prayers that don't. It's all in God's hands, but He supplies the grace people need!
A couple of thousand years later, Joni Eareckson Tada was a teenager when in a diving accident in 1967 suffered an injury that has left her a quadriplegic since. In her despair and self pity, she prayed that God would take her life and cease her agony. As a Christian, she was tempted to and gave into going to every faith healing crusade. A Faith Healing evangelist encouraged her to claim for herself John5 and believe that one day she'll be well. That didn't do anything other that to devastate her all the more! Did she lack the faith that could make her walk again? Does God really love her? But her handicap provided way for her to be a witness to God's grace and goodness despite her limitations.
At the Moody Founders Week sometime ago, she shared a moving story.
In 2005- 38 years since her accident, she visited Israel and was wheeled into what used to be the location of the famous Pool of Bethesda. As she observed the area and recalled the Bible story, all she was able to say was, "...when I looked at that pool, I thanked God that He had not heal me in those 38 years because of all the grace and all the ministry that He gave me as a result of my infirmity."1
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Incidentally, when I began typing this, I was all bundled up. I had come home from the Church Office with fever and was chilling. I had to ask somebody else to lead the singing in our Midweek Service because my throat is sore. It still is. I still have diffculty breathing due to cold, but the fever is gone!
No question that, while walking the earth, Jesus was known as a wonderful healer. In all of the current squabbles among scholars concerning the real identity and character of the historical Jesus, most agree that, in his day, he was widely known and highly regarded as a healer. Well, He is God-Man and, his healing often functioned in a seemingly subversive manner given that his reach touched the least, the last, and the lost. He was indiscriminate in who he might heal, or who he might forgive for that matter. Often, it was the outcast- an amazing picture of grace- Christ extending healing to anyone who needed/needs it!
Pray for me. I need to get well soon and regain my speaking and singing voice- I have a wedding to be at on Saturday, a birthday dinner on Friday, worship leading on Sunday, and a retreat to be at on Monday! Or God could be saying, "Slow Down! Take a Sabbath!"
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1 Dr Erwin Lutzer, When the Answer is Denied, Moody Memorial Church 020109
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