Pivot Point

Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk." Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. (John 5:8-9)

I have been impressed time and again about one important point that comes up in many stories of Jesus' healing of people. That is the issue of the need for a person to participate in their healing by exercising their own will in synchronization with the will of God for them. God is very keen to never interfere in the sacred circle of each person's freedom to choose. That freedom is the most sacred and important part of our being that He created and is what makes us even capable of entering into a love relationship with anyone else.

Satan's methods and the reflections of those principles that permeate counterfeit religions of all stripes violate this principle in many ways. People feel that it is acceptable and even godly at times to resort to force, intimidation, coercion and even deception to compel people to change or conform to their requirements or religion. But these all violate the freedom needed to experience true love and the kind of bonding that must take place for us to have the relationship with God that we were designed to enjoy. Anything that abuses our complete freedom to choose and follow our own conscience is not of God, it has the earmarks of the enemy of God.

This same truth applied to every interaction that Jesus had as He related to various situations while living here on earth. Jesus is God and so He has the very same respect for our freedom to choose or reject what He has to offer. God never changes because the principles of reality that reflect who He is never vary. God is love and the only way that love can be expressed and related to others is in complete freedom – there are no exceptions for that.

When Jesus came to this desperately sick man who was coming to the end of his life there near the pool of Bethesda, He knew that the man was in dire need of healing. Jesus' own heart was intensely moved with compassion for the man and He certainly had all the power and resources available to provide everything this man needed – except one thing. Because of the principle of absolute freedom to choose, Jesus had to leave the final choice for healing in the hands of the sick man himself. He would never impose healing on anyone. Sometimes he made it more explicit to people what their options were but in this case He simply offered words that indicated to this man that he was free to choose wholeness if he really wanted it seriously enough.

This morning's reading in My Utmost reinforced this very point.

We all have any number of visions and ideals when we are young, but sooner or later we find that we have no power to make them real. We cannot do the things we long to do, and we are apt to settle down to the visions and ideals as dead, and God has to come and say—“Arise from the dead.” When the inspiration of God does come, it comes with such miraculous power that we are able to arise from the dead and do the impossible thing. The remarkable thing about spiritual initiative is that the life comes after we do the ‘bucking up.’ God does not give us overcoming life; He gives us life as we overcome. When the inspiration of God comes, and He says—“Arise from the dead,” we have to get up; God does not lift us up. Our Lord said to the man with the withered hand— “Stretch forth thy hand,” and as soon as the man did so, his hand was healed, but he had to take the initiative. If we will do the overcoming, we shall find we are inspired of God because He gives life immediately. (My Utmost for His Highest, February 16)

This principle of taking hold of the option of life from Jesus' hands is never to be confused with attempting to overcome in our own strength thinking that we have to perform to some level before God will accept us. That is an extremely grave mistake to make and leads into all sorts of very discouraging legalistic thinking which is an equally deadly trap to fall into. Notice that Chambers did not say that God gives us life after we overcome, he said that we receive life as we overcome. It is an issue of our will choosing to act on the words of Jesus to our soul before we see or feel the results. That is the very definition of faith.

It is not up to us to supply any of the power whatsoever to accomplish what Jesus invites us to do. We never will get anywhere in accessing God's saving power for us if we make the mistake of thinking we have to help God out by supplying some of the power. That is part of the trap in believing the adage, 'God helps those who help themselves.' The only thing we have to bring to the transaction is our choice to put our own will in sync with the will of God. When our will comes into harmony with God's will we will suddenly find that the infinite power of God is surprisingly inside of us and then nothing is any longer impossible.

I looked up this story in another book, The Desire of Ages that is considered the best commentary on the life of Christ ever written. I found the same principle explained very clearly in relation to this same story.

Jesus does not ask this sufferer to exercise faith in Him. He simply says, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." But the man's faith takes hold upon that word. Every nerve and muscle thrills with new life, and healthful action comes to his crippled limbs. Without question he sets his will to obey the command of Christ, and all his muscles respond to his will. Springing to his feet, he finds himself an active man.

Jesus had given him no assurance of divine help. The man might have stopped to doubt, and lost his one chance of healing. But he believed Christ's word, and in acting upon it he received strength.

Through the same faith we may receive spiritual healing. By sin we have been severed from the life of God. Our souls are palsied. Of ourselves we are no more capable of living a holy life than was the impotent man capable of walking. There are many who realize their helplessness, and who long for that spiritual life which will bring them into harmony with God; they are vainly striving to obtain it. In despair they cry, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24, margin). Let these desponding, struggling ones look up. The Saviour is bending over the purchase of His blood, saying with inexpressible tenderness and pity, "Wilt thou be made whole?" He bids you arise in health and peace. Do not wait to feel that you are made whole. Believe His word, and it will be fulfilled. Put your will on the side of Christ. Will to serve Him, and in acting upon His word you will receive strength. Whatever may be the evil practice, the master passion which through long indulgence binds both soul and body, Christ is able and longs to deliver. He will impart life to the soul that is "dead in trespasses." (Ephesians 2:1). He will set free the captive that is held by weakness and misfortune and the chains of sin. (DA 203)

Sabbath Healing

Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk." Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day. (John 5:8-9)

I just saw something very exciting in this verse that I have never seen before. I have, like most others, only viewed this mention of the Sabbath as cause to focus on the conflict between Jesus' view of the purpose of the Sabbath and the externally-focused, religious oriented, heavy restrictions amassed around the observance of the Sabbath by the Jews in their attempt to protect it from being desecrated. But suddenly I now see something very different here from just a setup for a showdown over petty rules and traditions that prevented them from seeing the real reasons God gave us the Sabbath.

Jesus stated clearly His mission and purpose for coming to this earth when He quoted from Isaiah during His sermon in the synagogue early on in His ministry.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19 NRSV)

When the Sabbath is truly understood for its true purpose and meaning, it will be seen more clearly that what Jesus did with this sick man was at the heart of what the Sabbath is all about. Jesus was only fulfilling His mission statement that He had laid out on a Sabbath not long before in the religious assembly. Not only was it right for Him to preach in church on the Sabbath but it was equally important that He lived out the love and mercy and compassion of God on the Sabbath as a fuller expression of revealing how God feels about us as embodied in this mission statement.

Instead of viewing the Sabbath as a time of restrictions and rules and regulations to appease, God gave the Sabbath as a reserved time in which we are to lay aside anything that distracts our attention from His affections so that we can be ravished in His love for us. This man likely had been responding inwardly to the promptings of the Spirit convicting him that God cared for him more than those around him were willing to believe. That same Spirit led Jesus to place Himself right in front of this man who had been prepped and was ready to receive the grace and the gift of healing right at this point in his life. He unknowingly was longing to follow Jesus even though he did not even know who Jesus was yet.

So when Jesus showed up to invite this man into a new life of relationship with God and experiencing love and wholeness, the sickness that this man was experiencing was a hindrance to him being able to act on his desires to follow God. He was held by the enslavement of sickness, but not only just of his body. Like all of us, he too was trapped in the prison of lies about God that keeps all of us from believing in His love for us. So Jesus came to him to sweep away the obstacles that would prevent him from entering into fuller joy and rest that the Sabbath day was designed to bring to all who would obey God's command regarding it. Healing this man on the Sabbath therefore, is the most logical and practical way Jesus could actually keep the Sabbath. He celebrated it by bringing new life.

In the ensuing discussion that was produced as a result of this healing, some of the most clear and profound truths about God were expounded by Jesus to those who resisted believing the truth about Him and about His Father. The healing and liberation of this sick man on the Sabbath created the opportunity that allowed Jesus to preach some of the most important things that we today still need to grasp and absorb more fully. Not only did this sick man need liberation and wholeness but those who thought they were fine needed healing even more.

The Pallet and the Cross

Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk." (John 5:8)

As I came to this passage again this morning prayerfully, listening for what else God might want to teach me today, I was reminded of another thing that Jesus taught that is at the center of what it means to be a real Christian.

And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." (Luke 9:23)

I have seen that the healing of this sick man has far more meaning than just to prove that Jesus can heal sick people. Out of the whole crowd of sick people all around that pool only this one man received healing. That opens up another whole line of questions that I have touched on before, but what is more important is that it was entirely up to the man himself as to whether he would actually receive the healing being offered to him. Jesus never imposes Himself on anyone, but He does offer the goodness and grace of God to everyone. But He also is aware of the best timing to make them aware of that.

The more I look at these two verses the more I see parallels between them. I see three main components in the words of Jesus in both of these passages.

1. This man had been sick for a very long time and the passage says that Jesus was aware of that – whatever that implies. As I compare these two verses it would seem to me that this man just may have been thinking more intently about wanting healing than possibly anyone else in that crowd that day. That is why Jesus singled him out, to demonstrate both His loving compassion, His healing power and the need for responsive faith in the heart of all who might truly want to become whole and free. In short, this man deeply wished to have a better life, a life that corresponded much closer to that which measures with the life of God.

Likewise, I find myself wanting to respond to the invitation of Jesus to come after Him. As I dwell on the life of Jesus and see how He treated people, how He demonstrated the truth about how God feels about all of us, how He expressed love and compassion and caring and integrity, I find within myself longings to live a life like what I see in His example. I feel that wish, like this sick man, to follow after Jesus and to enjoy the kind of life that I see Him enjoying.

2. What I find interesting is the correspondence between Jesus' words to get up and His words to deny himself. At first glance it seems like the parallel falls apart here. But as I allow the Spirit to unpack this for me I notice that they are in fact very similar.

What does it really mean to deny myself? That has been a deep misunderstanding in my mind for most of my life. That is one reason why I have missed perceiving many things about what it really means to be a Christian for so long. For the popular views of these words tend to emphasize the supposition that in order to impress God we have to find things in our life that we really enjoy and then assume that God is asking us to give them up before He will accept us.

That is a very blunt way of putting what is usually conveyed far more subtly. But I have to sometimes reduce things to their raw form to better expose the falsity in some of their essence in order to more easily see the lies in the root. Then it is easier to contrast it with the real truth about what God is really saying to me and allow that truth to displace lies that still lay deep in my heart and keep me from trusting and following Him.

As I ponder what may have been in the heart of this sick man that Jesus was asking him to deny, I can begin to see that it very well could have been a struggle to give up or deny his own unbelief before he could lay hold on the faith needed to act on the invitation of Jesus to enter into a whole new life of wholeness. Just like me, this man could have easily clung to his excuses as to why he could not act on the words of Jesus. He had already started down that path by listing all the reasons why he could not get into the pool to receive healing. But Jesus checked him in this line of reasoning by simply offering him the blunt choice to either believe or to turn away and cling to his excuses. He had to deny his own opinions about what was viable, what was possible and to take a plunge into believing in God as opposed to a plunge into a physical pool in hopes of maybe receiving what he so wanted.

It is slowly dawning on me increasingly that true belief likely always involves a corresponding denying of myself in similar ways. To take hold of belief requires that I let go of all the things and excuses and logic and memories that hold me back and block me from believing and trusting the heart of God. The more I think about this the more clear it is becoming. To enter into real belief each day – which is what is necessary if I am to live a life of following Jesus – I must also deny the things and ideas and lies of the enemy that hold me back from believing and acting on what Jesus is revealing to me each day.

This is not nearly so easy as it may appear at first. But it can become much easier if I focus my attention on the face of Jesus instead of dwelling on all the reasons why I am not worthy or capable or whatever. It is my own choices about what I am going to believe about reality when I am faced with opportunity for change that will determine my future, not God's arbitrary choices imposed on me. God is always desirous of bring me to life and hope and wholeness; but it is my own doubts and fears and my clinging to my past experience that can sabotage His will for me. I must deny myself, my own views of what is real or possible and of how God feels about me – I must be willing to let go of those things while at the same time I become willing to take up the cross that represents the humility and choices of Jesus and allow Him to live His life within me.

3. Finally, it is not enough to just believe the words that Jesus says to me superficially. I must believe to the extent that I am acting on what I hear Jesus saying to me. In the Hebrew language the word for belief had within it the very concept of acting and living in congruence with whatever it was that one claimed to believe. But in our modern way of thinking we often separate the idea of believing something from what we actually do. But this is not the kind of belief that is needed to enter into the life that God is offering. If we want to enter into healing and joy and the thriving kind of life that Jesus longs for each of us to experience, we must embrace the kind of faith in God that will catapult us into acting on what we profess to believe no matter what others may think about us.

Jesus asked this man to walk. He also invites us to follow Him – pretty much close to the same thing. Do we find ourself responding so slowly to His invitation that by the time we have picked up our pallet in obedience to His words and look back around that He has already melded into the crowd and we can no longer find Him? What might have been different if this man had responded quickly enough to have been able to stick close to Jesus while carrying his pallet around on the Sabbath in violation of social regulations? It seems to me that the attacks leveled against him about breaking the rules would have had a very different effect if Jesus had been right there with him.

There is so much more that I can see in the parallels between these passages that can be so exciting and instructive for me. But today I want to learn to respond quickly to the promptings of the Spirit in my own heart revealing how I need to let go of old lies and to act more quickly on the words of Jesus in my life. I sense that my cross may not be anything like what I have assumed for many years. It may look more like the pallet that I have been laying on instead of an instrument of torture right now. I want to allow the Spirit of God to so transform my pictures of Him that I can see the glorious opportunities being offered to me instead of the impossibilities that I have believed that have kept me imprisoned all these long years. I choose to enter into life, the new kind of life that only Jesus can provide for me.