What He Does

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

WHAT HE DOES

John 5:16-23

16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17 Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."  18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

19 Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

NIV

Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath and he, being God, can do whatever he wants to do, whenever he wants to do it. We know this, but the Jews, who have to be the Pharisees or teachers of the law cannot wrap their minds around the truth for they are so steeped in their own form of religion. They have taken the commands of God and twisted them to fit into their idea of being religious. What did they do on the Sabbath? Did they go to synagogue? Did they eat at all? Did they dress? They did their form of work, and the poor priests had to work conducting the service in the synagogue, but they form of work was acceptable, but healing a man and having him take his mat and walk away from a place filled with other lame and blind people was unacceptable. So Jesus tells them God is always at work and so is he, which in short, he is saying he is God. They just could not get it. Sometimes it seems there are Christians who have tried to make it very difficult for themselves to simply just get it. The scholar-theologians have overthought everything about Jesus. As an example, they have come up with five different working theories of his work of atonement, much like the Jews overthinking the commands of God. Here we are seeing the truth about Jesus will always heal. That is the work of God he is talking about in this situation. That is the nature of God, and it is the nature of the Son, Jesus, to heal any day of the week, even on the Sabbath. It is just like our nature is to sin and we sin every day of the week, even on Sunday. To say we do not sin only serves to prove we are a liar and that we call God a liar which both are a sin. Jesus goes on to explain to them the relationship between him and the Father. This is what our relationship is supposed to be like with God as well.  Because we have been given the right to be called children of God, we are now, in fact, his son or daughter. We are his children and as such, just like Jesus, we are to do the same as our Father. The Father loves us and he will show us everything he does. Although we are not in the giving life business as the Father and the Son are, in some sense we are purveyors of life. When we witness or testify bringing the truth of the gospel to light in someone’s life, we are bringing them life, or at least giving them the opportunity to be exposed to the light, to the Son, in order they may have life. This might be a little off the point Jesus was making to the Jews, as he was telling them he is the Son of God, he is the Messiah they have been waiting for. He did not say it as plain as that, but how could they not understand that truth? Again they were blinded by their own brand of religion because it gave them authority over others. That is why they felt they had the right to question this former lame man regarding the work of carrying his mat on the Sabbath. These are random thoughts stemming from this response of Jesus. We should stay focused on that idea of Jesus always doing what God the Father does and because we are in Christ, we should be doing the same thing. So we could start with something simple. God loves.

It was Jesus

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

IT WAS JESUS

John 5:8-15

8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."  9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat." 11 But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'" 12 So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?" 13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. 14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."  15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

NIV

We go back a verse to include the moment Jesus told the man to get up and pick up and mat and walk so that we get the context of what happened next. It is interesting the Jesus did not ask the man if he believed in him, if he was born again, or which denomination he belongs to and if he believed in the gifts of the Spirit, such as healing. It is interesting that Jesus simply healed him by telling him to get up. There was no fancy rite, or long prayer, or even the laying on of hands, or anointing him with oil. True this is Jesus, the divine Son of God, who is God himself in the flesh. But there is it, just healed because Jesus did it. He does not change, he still is able to heal just with a word. However, there is another thing going on here as well since Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath. Jesus was fully aware it was the Sabbath and that the law forbids the man to carry his mat on the Sabbath and yet Jesus told him to just that. He is making the point, without saying it yet, that he is the Lord of the Sabbath. The Jews mentioned here are most likely either the Pharisees or the teachers of the law, or members of the Sanhedrin. They were questioning the man about breaking the law by carrying his mat on the Sabbath. Although they knew he was made whole, that he was healed of his thirty-eight-year infirmity, they were only concerned about him carrying his mat on the Sabbath. Who cares about his walking now, having been healed? It is the rules, the law that is more important. Let’s not break protocol, after all, rules and rules, and we have to abide by the rules. So they questioned him why was he carrying his mat. The man tells him that it isn’t his fault for breaking the command, it is the fault of the guy who healed men, he told me to pick up my mat and walk. What a guy, he could not just tell them, look I am walking, I been healed, who cares about this darn mat, or whatever, I am healed, yippee, and get on with walking. But no, he blames the guy, for he did not know it was Jesus, who told him to get up and take his mat with him. However, Jesus did catch up with him a little later and it is interesting Jesus told him to stop sinning. What kind of sin does a lamb man commit? What kind of sin does a man who cannot even get to the water before someone else, for thirty-eight years of trying? Maybe he was bitter, or jealous, or envious of others. Maybe he was full of anger, being hateful toward others. We just do not know exactly, but Jesus told him to be careful and do not continue in this path of sin he was in, or that sin would cause something worse than being physically lamb. We know it would cause death, a spiritual death which is far worse than physical death. So what does this man who Jesus healed do, he goes and tells on him. He heads off to those Pharisees or teachers of the law and tells them it was Jesus. This could have been a great testimony, he could have given a great witness, saying something like, “Praise God, he used this man Jesus to heal me”. “What a wonderful gift I have been given by God”. Maybe he did, but all we are told he now knows the name of the man he was blamed for him walking with his mat on the Sabbath and he was telling the Jews. We need to make sure we give God, give Jesus all the credit for our healing, our salvation, our walking and leaping and praising God. We should not blame Jesus for any trouble that comes our way, as it may well be our own fault. Let us live praising Jesus for all his has done for us, in us and through us. We should always be saying, it was Jesus.

Do You Want to Get Well?

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL?

John 5:1-9

5:1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie — the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.   5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" 

7 "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." 8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."  9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

NIV

We should note there is another version of this narrative about this pool of Bethesda which some manuscripts. which are considered by some as less important. include other details. Yet several other versions of the scriptures such as the KJV, NKJV, NASU all have this verse 4.

3b— and they waited for the moving of the waters. [4] From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease he had.

NIV

It is not that important to the narrative or the truth of the situation in which Jesus takes the initiative in the healing of this lamb man. We are told Jesus learned of how long this man had been in this condition and he went to him and asked if he wanted to get well. It is interesting the man does not answer Jesus’s question directly but instead gives him a reason why he is not well and still in this condition. The result is the same, but we would have thought the man would have simply said, “Yes”. Nevertheless, we are seeing the compassion of Jesus being demonstrated. Jesus could have just walked through this crowd filled with the blind, the lame and the paralyzed and waited for someone to cry out, “Help me Jesus” or something to that effect. But Jesus went to this man and extended himself to him. “Do you want to get well?” is the question of the ages. Who would not want to get well? Who would want to stay in their infirmity? Because it appeared from the man’s answer, although not directly, Jesus understood his predicament and told him to get up. This is a man who had someone carry him to this spot every day for thirty-eight years and go back and pick him up and carry him home each night. This is a man who relied on his friends or family to provide food, clothing, and shelter for him for all those years, even to the point of helping him go to the bathroom if they had those rooms, and now Jesus tells him to get up. This is going the change his whole life as he has known for the past thirty-eight years. “Do I want to get well?” “Do I want to live my life free of all this reliance on others?” Or something like that could have been flooding through his mind. But he must have come to the conclusion, he wanted to change his life, so he got up. This brings us to the question of why are we still living with our infirmities? Do we want to get well?

A Word About Faith

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

A WORD ABOUT FAITH

John 4:43-54

43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there. 46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. 48 "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."  49 The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies." 50 Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour." 53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed. 54 This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.

NIV

It is noteworthy to consider all three of the other gospels record the event in which Jesus made the statement about having no honor in his own country. It does not appear he was speaking of Galilee in general but specifically of Nazareth, his hometown where he grew up. Each one of the accounts includes the townspeople making comments about Jesus being the son of the carpenter, just a lad who grew up in town, nobody special. However, Jesus headed over to Cana and this is where he encountered the royal official. Jesus’s response to this urgent begging of the nobleman was not pointed directly at just the nobleman, for Jesus used a plural, “You people”. If we see what is going on here, the royal official came some way to seek out Jesus because of his sick and dying son. This is not a man of no faith, this is a man who believed Jesus could do something about his son’s condition. However, it would appear the Galileans, in general, were lacking as much faith as this royal official. Is our faith based on miracles or simply because we believe?  Why do we believe? Why do some seem to believe more than others? Do some lack faith unless they see something supernatural? Is it just an intellectual faith that some have? We read the scriptures and some people believe and some do not. It is true that without the Spirit ,belief is impossible. But some of us have seen and have experienced the hand of God in miraculous ways. Was that because we lacked enough faith? Some of us needed that kind of sign from God to prove he is real and does listen to our requests, which resulted in our faith in him. Some of us have simply grown up in a home that always believed, but never actually saw the hand at God at work in a miraculous way. Do we all have different degrees of faith? Does it matter, as long as we all have faith? The scripture says that we cannot even have faith unless God gives it to us.

Rom 12:3

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

NIV

Is the measure equal, or does God give one measure to one and another measure to another? We know God does not show favoritism, so we would have to believe he treats all of us exactly the same, given each of us the same measure of faith. So then how can some lack enough faith? Or as Jesus puts us, being men of little faith. Could that mean although God gives us this measure of faith that if we do not exercise it, or use it, it becomes weak, or little? The royal official simply took Jesus at his word. Was it because of him taking Jesus at his word, that his son lived, or would his son lived just because Jesus said so, whether the man believed or not? The narrative does not tell which was the cause, Jesus said his son would live, or because the man believed. Either way, faith is essential in seeing God work in our lives. Let us be people of God given faith. Let us believe with all our being. No doubts, not a single shred of disbelief. Just faith.

He really is

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

HE REALLY IS

John 4:39-42

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."

NIV

It is a good thing to testify about the work of Christ in our lives, however, it is a far better testimony for someone to experience the work of Christ in their lives. We see that many of the townspeople believed that Jesus was the Messiah because of what the woman told them about Jesus and her encounter with him. That is the key to being a witness. We cannot argue the validity of the scriptures with someone, trying to convince them the bible is true and Jesus is real and they need to believe to be saved. What we can tell them is want Jesus did in our lives. We can tell them of the miracles he has done for us. We can tell them of his guidance, his provision, his healing power and how he has made our life so much better then what it was before we believed. This is what the woman did, she told them that Jesus had told her everything she ever did. He revealed himself to her. But when they asked Jesus to stay awhile and he talked directly to the town’s people for two days and they personally experienced him, they believed not just because of the woman’s testimony, but because of their own personal testimony of what Jesus did in their lives. This is the key to a successful transformed life. Sure we can tell what Jesus did in our life, but it is far better for Jesus to do something in their life. We can tell them Jesus will do something in their life, all they have to do is ask him to stay with them for a few days. Just give him a couple of days and you will experience his work, his transforming work in your life. He will heal you, he will do something in your life so that you cannot deny Jesus is alive and well, sitting at the right hand of God and the Father will give you anything you ask in the name of Jesus. Sure, we could explain a lot of doctrines and about asking in the will of God and all that stuff. Yet it is unlikely Jesus told the Samaritan town’s people all the doctrinal stuff. Most likely he just did stuff for them. Just as he did for me when I knew nothing about doctrine and simply asked if he were God then prove it to me, and he did. Sure someone told me about Romans road, but it was not real until God did something personal for me. This is the story we need to tell, the story of what Jesus did in our life. Then we can invite them to see what Jesus will do in their lives. Then when they experience Jesus first hand they will know he really is the Savior of the world.

Seeing

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

SEEING

John 4:27-38

27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." 32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."  33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" 34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." 

NIV

Again, we see how unbiased the Lord is compared to us mortal men. His disciples were taken back because they found Jesus talking to a woman of all people. What respectable male Jew would carry on a conversation with a woman? Women were so beneath their status as men, and then to make matters worse she was a Samaritan and these are the disciples of Jesus. They already know he is someone sent from God. We cannot be certain they are fully aware that he is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God who came to redeem all of mankind. Their vision might still be a little short-sighted at this point, having not experienced a total revelation yet. However, they brought the food they had gone into town to buy and expected Jesus to be hungry and want to dig in, so to speak. But instead as they urged him to eat something, he responded that he had food they knew nothing about. Again, we can see the human sight with which his disciples were seeing. It is always difficult to see with spiritual eyes rather than to simply believe what can be seen physically. That is what their response was motivated by, their physical eyes, seeing only the physical world. But Jesus explained to them, took them into his confidence and revealed the truth to them. What nourishes the soul, the true food of life is doing the will of God, finishing the work he has prepared in advance for us to do. Jesus does speak to them in the form of an allegory using farming to explain evangelism, but more importantly to look past the physical and open their spiritual eyes and see the need before them. To look past their human bias, seeing a Samaritan woman, and see a soul in need of a Savior. In addition to understanding we all have a given task, some of us are called to share the gospel, either verbally or by our life, our deeds, sowing the seed as it were, while others might be the ones called to harvest that seed, to actually pray with them and see them accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. So let us look, not with our eyes, but our heart, so we can see past any bias we might have developed with our eyes. Let us see how Jesus sees.

In Spirit and in Truth

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH

John 4:15-26

15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." 16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."  17 "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."  19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." 21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."  25 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." 26 Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he." 

NIV

We are continuing in this conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob. It is interesting after Jesus just told her that the water he gives is living water that springs up to eternal life and she asks for this water, that he does not simply provide it, but requires her to do something, to bring her husband. From the narrative, we do get the idea she is still thinking about physical water which makes it possible not to have to come to the well each day to draw water. She doesn’t really understand this is not what Jesus is talking about. This certainly gives us the idea Jesus is omniscient because he is asking for something she does not have and wants to see her response. When she responses correctly he reveals more of his omniscience to her by telling her she had five husbands and the man she is currently living with is not her husband, which means she is living in sin. Here we see Jesus talking with a despised and sinful Samaritan woman and he is revealing himself to her. By his knowledge of her life she understands or believes he is a prophet, a spoke person for God. Although they are Samaritans, they still worshipped God, they are still part Jewish, just not pure Jewish, because of the intermingling with people of other lands. Yet they worshipped God on this high place, this mountain. It was customary to set up high places to worship gods, including God for many who could not go to Jerusalem. She is under the impression the Jews only considered Jerusalem the only place Jews could worship God. Sometimes it appears some believers may think the church is the only place to worship God. Maybe it is some way we think the church is that high place. But Jesus makes it clear the place is not the important issue. Jesus explains to her that a time is coming and it did, so we are in this time right now, that we worship God in spirit and in truth. What does worshipping God in spirit and truth look like? The Greek words for spirit and truth give us some insight. The Greek word pneuma means spirit or breathe, but is used for the vital principle which gives animation to the body. This is our rational soul, our thinking, our mind, who we are within our being. Although an animal is animated in the sense of having breathe, i.e. pneuma, breathe, it cannot worship, it has no rational soul. However, as part of God’s creation all animals witness to the power of God. But just as trees and rocks cannot praise him, we are the only ones, created in his image who are to worship him with our rational soul, it is our reasonable act of worship, as Paul writes in the letter to the Romans. The Greek word aleetheis simply means true, but objectively it carries the meaning of what is true in any matter under consideration, as opposed to fiction. So then when we consider God, we consider him to not be fictional, but to actually be God, real in every sense. It would be nonsense to worship a fictional character or god, yet it seems so many people have been deceived into living in that manner. But we know God is real and we worship who we know with every fiber of our being. This is not a once a week occurrence, but a constant act or action of our will. All that we do is in worship to God or should be. There are times it seems our body overrides our spirit, and the flesh fails to perfectly obey. But that does not mean we have forfeited our belief that God is real and we are to worship him in spirit and truth. Jesus revealed himself fully to this woman. After his discourse about spirit and truth, she recognized he was talking about a time when the Messiah would come. He allowed her to know he was the Messiah, he was the Christ. We will see her response to that revelation next, but for now, we know in our rational being, our thinking, our reasoning, that God is real and we worship him completely in spirit and truth.