Miracles Six

Last time we discussed some of the miracles performed by Jesus on the Sabbath.  Another such healing is recorded in John 5:1-16.
Upon entering Jerusalem to observe a Jewish feast day,  Jesus passes by a pool called Bethesda or Bethsiada.  A multitude of sick, blind,  lame and withered people are waiting at the edge of the pool with the hope of being the first to enter the water after it has been stirred by an angel. One of these people is a man who has been sick for 36 years.
"Do you wish to get well?" Jesus asks the man in verse six.
"Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up," the man answers, "but while I am coming, another  steps down before me."
"Arise," the Christ commands, "take up your pallet, and walk."
The man immediately takes up his bed and begins to walk.   The only problem is that it is the Sabbath day.  So the Jews inform the man that it is unlawful for him  to carry his pallet because of  the Sabbath-day restrictions on carrying burdens.
"He who made me well was the one who said to me, 'Take up your pallet and walk,'?" the man tries to explain.
"Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your  pallet,  and walk'?" the Jewish leaders demand.
The man doesn't know the identity of the One who healed him,  so he leaves.  Later on Jesus finds him in the temple.  The sad thing about  the story so far is that the man has been healed physically, but he has missed an opportunity to benefit from the spiritual healing  that Jesus offers. He doesn't even know who Jesus is.
The Lord points out the man's greater need in verse 14.
"Behold, you have become well;" Jesus notes, "do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may befall you."
The man goes to tell the Jews who it was who healed him.  His  reason may not have been to tell on Jesus as much as to share with the Jews  the identity of someone who might be able to benefit them, too.  But they are not interested in getting any help from Jesus.
Instead, they persecute Jesus for healing on the Sabbath.
"My Father is working until now," the Son of  God explains,  "and  I Myself am working."
The Jews understand exactly what Jesus means; that He is equal  with God.  So they seek every opportunity to kill him.  Of course, they do not succeed until God is ready according to His own timetable.
The night before this happens,  Jesus spends some  time with His apostles and then goes off to talk with His Father.
Before going to pray in the garden of Gethsemane,  Jesus gives some last-minute advice to His apostles.
In Luke 22:35 He reminds them of an earlier time when He sent  them out to preach without extra clothing or supplies.
"You did not lack anything, did you?" He asks.  "No,  nothing,"  they reply.
"But now, let him who has a purse take it along," the Master  advises in verse 36, "likewise also a bag, and let him who has no sword sell  his robe and buy one."
Jesus is trying to impress on  them  the commitment  that will  be required, and He is trying to stress to them the fact that their task will not be an easy one.  But, as usual, they hear the physical part of what is said without understanding the point the Lord is trying to make.
"Lord, look, here are two swords," they note.
"It is enough," Jesus responds.  We know from other passages such as Matthew 26:52 that Jesus has no intention for His followers to fight with swords.  So it is not likely that He is saying that two swords are enough for what they need.  What He literally says  is,  "It  is enough,"  which could just as easily be translated, "Enough of that!"
But Peter doesn't quite understand, so when  the officers  come  to arrest Jesus this apostle pulls out his sword and starts swinging.   He cuts off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest's slave.
"Stop!  No more of this," the Lord tells Peter.  Jesus then  restores the ear.
Through this miracle the Son of God teaches us a couple of  lessons. First of all, He rejects the use of violence to accomplish His purpose. Some religions even today try to use force to make people  follow  them. But the power of God is the word and not the sword.  Paul tells us this in Romans 1:16.
Another thing that we pick up from this healing is that Jesus came to open the ears of people, and not to make them so  they cannot hear.   He wants the spiritually deaf to gain their hearing.

Jesus is master over physical ailments and diseases.  Looking back at the first few chapters of the book of Genesis, we  realize  that sickness and death entered the world through sin.  We can thank the devil  for  the things that we suffer.
By triumphing over physical illness, Jesus displays His power to win over Satan.  The devil cannot withstand the might of the Lord.
But some of the illnesses we read about in the gospels are not  the diseases we face today.  During the ministry of Jesus the demons seem  to have power they did not possess before and have not possessed since. There seems to be a direct confrontation with the Son of God.
In Matthew chapter 17 Peter, James and John go with Jesus to a high mountain.  While they are there,  the Lord  is  transfigured.   His  face shines like the sun and His garments become as white as light.  Moses and Elijah appear and begin talking with Jesus.
For the Jews, God's book  consisted of  two parts:  Moses and  the prophets.  Elijah is sometimes selected as representative of  the  latter. So two of the figures on the mountain represent the Old Testament,  while one stands for the New Covenant.
In the last chapter of Luke Jesus  is explaining something  to His disciples before returning to heaven.
"And beginning with Moses and with all  the prophets,"  verse 27 records, "He explained to them the things concerning Himself  in all  the Scriptures."
"These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you," Jesus says in verse 44, "that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."
"And so, having obtained help from God," Paul  says  in his defense before Agrippa in Acts 26:22-23, "I stand to this day testifying both  to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He should be the  first  to proclaim  light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles."
During the transfiguration, Peter, who always seems to be eager  to say something, suggests that three tabernacles or sacred tents be erected for these three individuals.  While he is still speaking, a bright cloud overshadows them and a voice says, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; hear Him!"
The three apostles fall on their faces, and the next time  they  look up Jesus is alone.
According to God, are we to listen to the Old Testament or  to the New?  Jesus came to fulfill what had been promised in the Old Law and  to replace it with a new one.
When Jesus and the three men return  from the mountain  they are confronted in verse 14 by a man whose son is possessed by an evil spirit.
"Lord, have mercy on my son;" the man pleads in Luke 17:15,  "for  he is a lunatic, and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire, and often into the water."
"And I brought him to Your disciples,"  the  father  continues,  "and they could not cure him."
"O unbelieving and perverted generation," Jesus comments in verse 17, "how long shall I be with you?  How long shall I put up with you?  Bring him here to Me."  The Lord then rebukes the demon and cures the boy.
It is hard to say to whom Jesus is directing His statement about  the "unbelieving and perverted generation."  It is doubtful that the Master is addressing His disciples, and it sounds like He is referring to more than just the one man.  It may be that Jesus is talking  to the multitude in general.  Here the Lord is coming from the tremendous spiritual  experience of the transfiguration, and He is confronted immediately about an argument concerning a physical healing.
No one rushes up exclaiming, "Lord, we missed You.  We couldn't wait for you to get back so you could share more spiritual  instruction with us."
Instead, He is greeted by, "Your disciples couldn't do this  for  us, so you need to straighten things out."
It is easy to look at these people and see what they are doing wrong. But are we ever guilty of the same thing?  Jesus died to give us eternal life.  Do we ever frustrate Him by getting caught up in things that really don't matter all that much?
Do we ever exhaust our time and energy entangling ourselves with petty things while He offers us the truth that will set us free?

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."