At our church here in Kasana, our pastors are preaching
through the book of John. This past Sunday we were looking at the story of the
man healed by the pool of Bethesda, from the first part of chapter 5.
The preacher reminded us that we must watch out for false
religion, which makes us feel comfortable but actually fails to give glory
& praise to God when He works in our lives.
Later in the afternoon, I spent some time journaling &
reflecting, and the Holy Spirit helped me draw a contrast/see a lesson by
comparing this man in John 5 and the blind man in John 9.
On Sunday morning, the Holy Spirit stopped me in the middle
of a funk mood when the preacher was reading the passage, before he had ever
spoken a word of his sermon. It was verses 6 & 7 that caught me: Jesus asks
this man who had been an invalid for 38 years, “Do you want to be made well?”
And his answer? “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.”
Sitting there in church, I could suddenly see that too often
I’m like that man. I want some person or some physical situation to provide the
setting for healing. I want it to seem momentous.
What this man didn’t know was that The Healer was asking him
this question. Jesus simply said the words, “Rise, take up your bed and walk” –
and immediately this man did! After THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS. [I haven’t even been
alive that long yet!!!]
But, Jesus had done a big no-no! It was the Sabbath day when
He did this! And so when the Jews found this man carrying his bed, they scolded
him soundly. But the man didn’t know who had healed him. Then Jesus found him
in the temple, and said “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a
worse thing come upon you.” (vs. 14)
And what did the man do? Worship the one who had made him
well? No, he went back to the leaders and told them it was Jesus who had healed
him, and that made serious trouble for Jesus (vs. 16) – this is the first
mention of the leaders wanting to kill Jesus!!!
Contrast that to the man in chapter 9.
In this case, the disciples start the conversation by asking
Jesus “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jesus’ reply brought tears to my eyes & a catch in my voice yesterday
afternoon: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God
should be revealed in him” (vs. 3).
Then Jesus made mud, “anointed” the blind man’s eyes, and
sent him to the pool of Siloam to wash.
“So [the man] went and washed, and came back seeing.” As
simple as that.
But again, it was the Sabbath day. And evidently spitting on
the ground is work?? Because again, this man and Jesus got in trouble with the
religious leaders of the Jews. This time there was almost a whole trial – they called
the man’s parents and everything to make sure he had really been born blind. The parents hedged because of a threat from the Jews (vs. 19-23).
The formerly blind man shot straight though: “One thing I
know: that though I was blind, now I see.” And so they excommunicated him. But
Jesus came and found him (vs. 35-58):
“Do you believe in the Son of God?” He asked him.
“Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”
“You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with
you.”
“Lord, I believe!” And he worshipped Him.
Do you see the difference? A
totally different response & attitude on the part of these two men!!
But really, which one had more
reason to be bitter about the years of less-than-full life, or which had reason
to boast for his role in the healing?
Jesus seems to imply that the man
in John 5 was sick because of some sin he had committed (vs. 14). But the John
9 man is specifically cleared from any connection between the blindness and a
sin.
The John 5 man did nothing to be
made well – absolutely nothing – Jesus spoke the word, and he was healed. Whereas
the man in John 9 is the one who washed the mud off. If he had wanted to, he
could have argued that Jesus had made things worse by smearing spit & road
dirt on his eyes. His eyes didn’t open immediately, only once the man himself
had washed the mud off could he see.
But look at their responses.
The man who may have been sick because of his own doing but
who did nothing to heal himself is the one who shows no indication of saving
belief, who instead went and ratted to the religious leaders.
But the one who was innocent of sin connected to his
blindness, and who worked (in a small way) to bring about his own healing? He
is the one who stood up to the religious leaders and defended Jesus’ righteousness
(vs. 17, 30-33), and who worshipped & believed Jesus when he saw Him again.
Our preacher on Sunday pointed out that the John 5 man’s faith
& trust were in the angel, a moving of the water, and in his own ability to
get into that water first.
The man in John 9 also had faith – but it was the simple
faith of hearing & obeying the instructions he was given. He somehow knew
it was Jesus (vs. 11), though we don’t know how much he knew about Him. Maybe
he had heard about Jesus & already believed His claim to be the Son of God.
We aren’t told that, but from his fruit we can see that his faith had the right
focus.
I don’t want to be like the man in John 5. I want to be more
like the one of John 9.
But all too often, it’s too easy to be stuck in misplaced
trust, or in the ensnarement of false religion.
May the Lord continue to heal & purify my heart!!!!
