Lessons from a Familiar Story

I have always loved the story of Jesus healing the crippled man at the pool (John 5:1-18).  I love how Jesus notices the man in his hopeless situation, and how he takes time out of his busy schedule to talk to and heal this man.  To me, it shows me so much about Jesus' character and the priorities he set during his ministry.  I think it is also a good lesson in what our character and our priorities should be as Christians.

The setting for this story is that Jesus is in Jerusalem during one of the Jewish feasts on the Sabbath.  As he is walking near the temple, he notices a particular man, among many diseased, sick, and crippled man who had gathered around the pool.  They were there, because legend had it that an angel would come down to the pool, and stir up the waters.  The first one into the pool after it was stirred by the angels would be healed.  

This particular man had been there for thirty eight years, waiting for his miracle.  He had no family, and no friends.  He was crippled, abandoned, helpless...and essentially hopeless, yet he still sat by the pool...waiting for his miracle.  What a sad situation for this man to be in.  

Jesus goes up to the man, the first thing he asks is basically,"Do you want to get well?"  

The man replies by recounting his situation to Jesus, that he has no friends or family and that every time the pool is stirred, someone else gets into the pool before he does.  The poor man was helpless.  Seeing his hopelessness, Jesus heals him and tells him to get up and take his mat and walk.

At this point, we should all be happy.  After all, a man who had been crippled for 38 years, a man who could not help himself, was finally free to move about on his own.  He could walk!  

But...the religious people of Jesus' day were not happy.  A law had been broken, because no work was to be done on the Sabbath. The man was questioned about why he was carrying his mat on the Sabbath, and healing was evidently in their eyes, work.

The laws regarding the Sabbath would allow you to do certain things, like help and animal who was in danger, so why is this a problem?  After all, we are talking about a human life being forever changed...isn't that what the Sabbath is supposed to be about, resting in God and getting spiritual healing?  Well, the Pharisees did not see it this way, and gave the man and Jesus a hard time.

Another thing I noticed, is that Jesus had compassion.  Jesus was probably on his way to the temple, after all, it was the Sabbath, and a special one at that...it was a feast day.  There was a lot of preparation involved in preparing for those extra special holy days.  In the midst of all that he was involved in, Jesus still had time to notice the man and heal him.

How many times do we hurry through our busy days and not notice someone who is alone, hurting, and hopeless.  Jesus' top priority was doing God's will, and a big portion of that was helping others.  Jesus regularly took notice of specific people with a desperate need when he was busy with other things.  Jesus set his priorities in a way that showed that other people were a priority, and treated them with love and compassion--rather than the interruption that they were.  How many times do I fail to do this?  More than I can count and want to admit.

Christianity is about the relationship that we have with God, and our fellow believers.  It is about those relationships more than the rules. Sometimes we have to jump in and do the work at hand to help others, after all, isn't that what Jesus did?

Taking the High Road

I have been taught since childhood to take the high road.  You never know who is watching, so always act with integrity and go beyond others expectations so that you are known as a person who takes pride in themselves, their work, and their relationships. 

As I have gotten older, I am learning that this is easier said than done.  Expectations are high.  You get tired.  Sometimes, you just get tired of dealing with the same struggles day in and day out.  Sometimes we just want a shortcut or an easy way out, because life can just get too hard at times. 

Taking the high road is difficult. It is a tough road to follow, especially when life begins to nip at your heels and you begin to struggle with all of the stress that seems to land on your plate.  I know…I have been there, done that, and have all too many t-shirts that advertise my struggle to stay on the high road.

With all of the difficulties, sometimes I wonder if it is really worth it.  After all, who would really know if I took the easy way out?   Who would know if I compromised my beliefs on this one thing?  Well, for me the answer was at least the two most important would know…me and God.

Being raised in a Christian home smack in the middle of the Bible belt, I am all too familiar with my conscience and the havoc it will bring on a poor compromising soul trying to sleep.  I know…again, because I have been there and done that-- in my younger, dumber days.

I truly believe that one of the few things that we have outright in this life is our character.  It takes a lifetime to build a good one, and just one poor decision to destroy one.  For me, it is one of the things that I treasure, because it is the basis of who I am and what I stand for.  A wise pastor of mine always recited the quote that “Character is who you are when no one is looking.” 

So often it is those moments when no one is looking, where we make the decisions that make or break our character.  One compromise can lead to another…and before we know it, we are off track taking a long walk down a road we never meant to take in the first place.  That road is usually riddled with more potholes and obstacles than the high road ever had.  The price of compromise and altering course is normally much higher than if we would have just hunkered down and did what we knew was right to begin with…even if it was difficult to do.  Compromise can destroy your character, your reputation, your relationships, and even yourself as a Christian.

You have to deliberately choose to take it with every choice and every step you make in life and that is what makes taking the high road so difficult.  It is the consistency that makes us who we are…and it is consistency that will keep us on the “high road”.

The Journey

This year, our church is challenging us to read the Bible through in a year.  I am following the chronological plan they provided, and am currently reading through Exodus and the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt and into the promised land.  

As I read, I am realizing that so much of this story illustrates the Christian walk.  God called Moses to rescue the Israelites from the bondage of Egyptian slavery.  Their life in Egypt was one of working in temperatures of over 100 degrees F, in the mud and muck making bricks.  They had taskmasters who would make sure the slaves met a certain quota.  As the slaves worked, I am sure the taskmasters would get to know the slaves in order to learn how to best motivate them and get the most amount of work out of each and every slave.  The taskmasters knew how to get every ounce of work out of the slaves without excuse, and when the slaves did not meet their quota--I am sure there was a severe penalty to be paid.

You would think that because they were living in those conditions, that they would be happy to escape with Moses--even if it led to wandering through the desert or fighting for their land.  Anything would have been better than what they left behind in Egypt...right?

Well, as with anything, the newness of their freedom begins to wear off, and life begins to get difficult.  They begin to miss the food of Egypt, complain about too little water, and I am not even going to mention that they make and worship a golden idol when Moses is away for a few days meeting with God.

But before we condemn the Israelites for being spoiled, ungrateful children, let's take a look into our own hearts.

As the Israelites, we were rescued from the bondage of sin by Jesus.  We were enslaved by Satan and doomed to live a life of sin without God.  Jesus rescues us from that and calls us into the Journey of the Christian life.  At first, we are on fire, ready to impact the world for Christ.  After all, we have seen his power first hand, and we want others to know feel what we have experienced.

As the days and years drag by, the newness begins to wear off.  Our short attention spans forget the miracles, wonders, and the lengths that Christ went to to save us from our sin.  We forget how helpless we were, and that we were enslaved by a cruel taskmaster whose soul purpose was to torment us in this life, and in the afterlife.

Life gets hard, and we lose faith.  We begin to try to do things in our own power, only to find out that we can't.  We look back to the good old days when we were captive and remember those pet sins that we used to indulge, or those days with no responsibility---because after all--slaves do not make decisions about their life, they just do what they are told.Then we grumble, just as the Israelites did as they wandered through the desert and the wilderness.  

God took the Israelites on a round about route to the land of Cannan, because they were not spiritually ready to fight the native people of the land.  He led them on a longer path, to build their faith.  I think sometimes God does the same with us.  He knows where our weaknesses are, and works those things out before we ultimately find that sweet spot where God meant for us to be.

We were not created for this life.  We were created as eternal beings for paradise, but sin came in and our purpose was altered.  We are not supposed to be comfortable in this life, but in the one yet to come when we enter Heaven.  Until then, life is a journey, and God uses this life to transform us into who we were meant to be.  As we travel on the journey, we will learn joy, peace, patience, love, and the other fruits of the spirit.  We will be transformed and even live an abundant life here--if we just trust God and allow him to work in the ways that He needs to in this life.  We are on a journey, and the purpose of the journey is to transform us and to make us like Jesus, and to have fellowship with him and obey his commands along the way.