Feb 7 2021 - John 5 - Learn from Different Perspectives/Receive a Sabbath with Joy

John 4:43 - At the end of the two days, Jesus went on to Galilee. For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

Luke says – in his hometown.

This comes between the woman at the well in Samaria and sets up the next story for us. Jesus was from Galilee and was not welcome in His hometown.

⁴⁶ Therefore He came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was imploring Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death.

So we have a royal official who comes to Jesus whose son was dying. This man would have been in cahoots with Herod who was in cahoots with Rome. People would have viewed this man as a traitor or sell-out. He most likely was rich, and the folks of Galilee struggled to make ends meet – so there would have been animosity and negative views about this man.

. ⁴⁸ So Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe."

At first glance, this seems rude – we would think, give the guy a break, Jesus – his son is dying. But Jesus would not be rude – so something else must have been going on.

Unless you people… - he is speaking to the entire crowd. They had known Jesus – and didn’t see him as a prophet or anything special – just one of the guys – but they did know that He had made water into wine and performed miracles – and that was all they were interested in – and Jesus is addressing that.

The official has heard of Jesus and His miracles – and he probably saw Him as a healer. Might this Jesus guy be for real?

He probably had no clue what Jesus’ mission was.

Jesus was addressing that.

⁴⁹ The royal official said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies”

In his desperation, when crisis hits home, all the disagreements in his world (Galilean vs. official) drop by the wayside and only one thing matters to this man – his son is dying, and he comes in desperation to Jesus.

Sir – come down before he dies

That is all he is concerned about

Jesus responds to his cry of desperation - ⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, "Go; your son lives." – Jesus responds to our cries of desperation. Sometimes being desperate and expressing that causes shame – like, we should go with this faith instead of desperation. We think if we are desperate, we don’t show faith. Jesus says, no, it is the opposite. He longs for our desperation and cries. It stirs Him up to act on behalf of this father

⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, "Go; your son lives." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off. ⁵¹ As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living. ⁵² So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." ⁵³ So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives"; and he himself believed and his whole household.

We see this progression of faith – believing Jesus’ word – (what does that mean? He believed Jesus was a healer – and when Jesus said your son lives – he believed. Then when it got down to the very hour – He himself believed and his whole household – this is a phrase of conversion. This man has become a follower of Christ – changing his loyalty to Jesus)

The official – if you were a Galilean, you would think this official would be the LAST to believe. Jesus brings in all types. It was hard for the leaders – they had spent all their lives keeping out (we talked about last week) – and now Jesus welcomes them in. The Bible speaks of every tribe, tongue, nation – diversity – all kinds of folks! And we hear that – and think that is great – every type of person worshiping God – and we think – let’s do it here! Wouldn’t it be great if church were like this here?! YES! But there is one problem. Rarely does it happen.

I think there is a reason – even if it comes from a good heart, most of us are comfortable with a certain type of person and a certain way. And when you bring everyone together, there are many different perspectives of how to do worship, teaching, social/cultural issues – different political parties – and even worse, some are Baptists, or mainline Methodists or fundamentalists or whatever – and so we naturally drift back to being like people like us.

We are taught as churches to talk about our distinctions! Yes, people need to know where we stand! But there is a huge difference between personal distinctions and Christian distinctions. Christian distinctions are really few – personal and cultural distinctions are vast.

Differences are great – when everyone thinks like me!

But we have so much to learn from Christians who have different perspectives, views, and traditions.

There are some ways to do this. – Podcasts, Youtubes – from those who follow Jesus from a different tradition from you. There is so much to learn and appreciate.

We will be together for all eternity! You may as well start now

John 5:1

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.

In different translations – vs. 4 is not there.

This brings us to John’s theme of water.

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 had been coming to this pool for years – Jesus probably knew his story…

He said to him, "Do you wish to get well?"

That seems like an odd question. I used to think that Jesus was questioning his sincerity – like, he couldn’t be who he was without his illness. I don’t think this way now.

I think Jesus is asking – what do you believe to heal you?

Water, we see in John – is always ineffectual – the water into wine – all it could do before was to clean your hands. Something else has come (Jesus) a new wine that cleanses not only the hands but the soul.

Then the woman at the well – you drink from this well and get thirsty again – but I offer you water which if you drink, you’ll never thirst again.

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." ⁸ Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk."

The water doesn’t heal. Jesus just SPEAKS – and the people get better.

There is no evidence of faith – Jesus just made him better. Jesus just did it for him.

John 5:9 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 '?"

So, these stories are showing us WHO Jesus is – and also, Jesus’ confrontation with the religious leaders. Jesus told the man to pick up his pallet and walk – basically saying he had authority over the Sabbath. For the religious leaders – it was about religious rules.

For Jesus – it was a gift of rest and joy and delight for humanity from God.

For us, it is hard to understand how important these differences are.

Say someone comes in and says – stop sending out missionaries, evangelizing and doing outreach! We would be like, WHOA! It is such a part of our DNA and calling. At the level that is part of our calling – that is the Sabbath for them. Jesus is rewriting it.

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.

So here we have – this line, right in the middle – don’t sin anymore – or it will be worse.

At another point – a blind man – was it his sin or his parent’s sin? Neither! But somehow, this man’s disability was related to his sin! It doesn’t tell us how or why.

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.

So we go back to week 1 – In the beginning was the word and the word was … God.

Everything Jesus did from day 1 was with one purpose in mind – to lead him to the cross. This man’s healing was for the glory of God, but a different glory of God.

It is on the cross where we see the true glory of God. The fact that God loved us so much that He would set aside His privileges and rights as God – not to just do miracles, but to die and suffer for us and our sins.

I want to close with 2 brief practical applications – these miracles happened because Jesus spoke it.

We need to believe God’s word, especially as it relates to blessing – we need to learn to live with God in a receiving relationship – receiving grace, mercy, love, forgiveness – not doing FOR God – and God wants us to live receiving from Him.

If your focus and center of relationship is not on receiving from him, you will never do for him. We will never do the Christian life just by determination – you will fail miserably – we only live faithful Christian lives by receiving from Him.

Sabbath – the word produces guilt and stress – because we don’t have a clue or the capacity how to do it! – To have a day of rest is Anti-American! A Sabbath that is about receiving God’s gifts and enjoying them – for one day a week. Here are some helpful suggestions – not laws and rules.

If we were honest – when is the last time you truly had a sabbath?

Here are a couple things that might help:

First – STOP! Determine a time to stop. For some, maybe it is a Sunday – it doesn’t matter – nothing says it has to be on Sunday. That is the first thing.

Second – Start! Begin a day of rest! What I think is a good way of doing this? Starting in the evening – starting at dinner time – like Fiddler on the Roof – rushing around and then stop – dinner.

Say it is Saturday – you come home from work – it is over.

Find patterns/routines/ to remind us to take a rest. Maybe it is 6:00 on Saturday – movie night – game night – this is my stop time – rest time – that is what goes on here.

What is important? Discovering what gives us rest/joy/delight! Not rules of I can’t do that, or God will strike me dead – for some, sitting at a computer during the week – the most restful thing you can do is to dig in your garden. Hike – golf – cookout with a neighbor – Relax – enjoy the gifts God has given. A day of delights and joy.

If it doesn’t give me joy – get rid of it – if it doesn’t give me joy – on that day I don’t do it.

Lord, thank You – help us to live lives of receiving your grace and mercy and not trying to perform and do for you. You don’t need our performance or doing – You have all that You need – but in receiving from You – we become faithful – and our focus is on You – moment by moment.