Disconnecting

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." (John 5:14)

Last time I visited some of the dark views about God and His attitudes towards us that often are linked with this verse. But I think it is even more important to explore the much less known but far more important truths about God that can open up honest hearts to come to know and trust Him when they are properly understood and embraced.

Jesus very clearly conveyed to this healed man that most likely his sickness had something to do with sin. He also clearly indicated the very real possibility that if the man sinned again that something even worse than he had experienced for 38 years might happen to him as a result. But here is an extremely important point that Jesus did NOT emphasize in His words to this man – He did NOT tell him that it would be God who would impose some sort of punishment on him if he were to sin again. That is an implication that may be assumed by most people when they read this but it cannot be substantiated from the words of Jesus or even in the context.

In addition to this point I have also learned from my own study and experience over the past few years that another important part of properly interpreting this verse is to perceive the true definitions of key words here. Sin is one of those words that has been very seriously distorted in people's minds over the centuries and has come to be mostly associated with the external symptoms of sin rather than with what is actually sin itself. This is a very confusing point until it begins to come clear in a personal, close examination of truth as it is in Jesus and the Word of God. I certainly do not have time or space to explore that very far right here, but this is vital to understand nonetheless if we are to read this verse with understanding.

I will go so far as to say at this point that I do not believe that Jesus was implying that if this man ever made a mistake again or chose anything that was outside the will of God and sinned in his life that God was going to retract the healing that had been given this man and punish him even more severely than what he had suffered already. That kind of scenario is part of the dark views of God that are so commonly found in the human mind and heart and that originally was conceived in the mind of God's worst enemy Satan to keep us from trusting God's heart.

But on the other side there are extreme dangers always waiting to happen to us when we deliberately choose to remove ourselves from God's clear will for our lives and to turn away from Him in rebellion to serve our own selfish desires. God's grace is like an undeserved blanket that surrounds and protects every soul in this world whether they want it or not initially. That blanket to a great extent shields them from the deadly cold of the natural results of sin and is given to allow everyone of us time to turn from our selfish and wicked ways and finally embrace the salvation that has been worked out for us. But the choice to enter into a saving relationship with God is always up to us and grace will not always linger to shield us from the consequences of sin forever.

This is where it is so important to really grasp the true nature of sin and grace and God's attitudes towards us. We must get it clear in our minds that it is not God who is out to punish us for indulging in sin but it is God who is trying to save us from the inevitable and natural results that always follow from disconnecting from the only Source of life available to us. Let me try to put it another way.

Yesterday I was running our vacuum cleaner to get the house ready before my pastor dropped by for a short visit. I knew that my wife would be rather upset if she learned that he had stopped by without her having a chance to thoroughly clean the whole house, but I also knew that if I didn't at least vacuum the rugs that I would really catch it from her later. So I hooked up the vacuum and quickly went around the living room to clean up each rug while I still had a little time.

At one point when I was furtherest away from where the cord was plugged in I flipped the cord up in the air to get it over some furniture so I could circle around to the other side of the room. For a moment the vacuum turned off but then came on again. I realized at that point that what had happened was that in flipping the cord up in the air I had almost pulled the plug out of the wall receptacle. Fortunately though, it had remained attached enough to keep it connected because I had not completely pulled it out.

Now here is the main point that relates to the issue I am looking at here. Would it make any sense at all to assume that if that plug had become disattached enough from the wall that somehow the electric company was waiting to punish my vacuum cleaner for failing to stay plugged into their network? Did you get that yet or is it so silly that you missed the main point?

My vacuum cleaner was not being punished for disconnecting from the power socket on my wall. When it momentarily began to die it was not because someone was arbitrarily punishing my vacuum but was only a natural result of not maintaining its vital connection with the only source of power that enables it to do what it was designed to do. You could say that I caused my vacuum to 'sin' in that I almost pulled the cord out of the wall causing it to slow down temporarily. But because the cord did not come completely out it was somehow able to remain tight enough to recover before it stopped completely and I was able to finish cleaning the floors without going over and reconnecting the plug.

I see the very same thing in these words of Jesus to this recovered sick man. He was giving him a very serious warning about reality, not trying to intimidate him with threats of dire punishments that a stern God was ready to inflict upon him if he were to return to a life of sin. Jesus certainly was telling this man that there would be unavoidable consequences if he were to choose to disconnect from the only Source of life that had graciously provided miraculous recovery for his body. If he chose to turn away from the undeserved grace and love that had been unexpectedly extended to him there were evil forces and natural, terrible consequences that were sure to happen to him if he made such a choice again. Jesus wanted him to be aware of that stern reality that we all live with. But He was not implying that those consequences were going to be somehow imposed on his life by an upset God who would get angry at him for spurning His love and healing grace.

It has not been that long that I have been learning this amazing truth about God and I am still trying to get my heart to absorb into its own beliefs this truth more completely. It is a struggle to come to really believe that it is not God who is the source of all our pain and trouble and death, especially in a world that is filled with lies about this very issue and teaches these lies explicitly in every religion. But it is vital that each person come to a knowledge of the real truth about reality and how sin is the real problem, not God.

Just one last point on this. Paul makes this point very clear but we too often forget it in our false assumptions about God that permeates so much of our thinking.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

It is sin that pays the wages of death, NOT GOD! When that amazing truth finally began to dawn on my consciousness it began to transform everything about my relationship with God and my perceptions of how He feels about me. Slowly over the years He has been revealing to me more of this truth about reality and it has been liberating my heart in surprising ways to respond with genuine and worshipful love toward Him who for so long I was secretly afraid of and even hated deep inside. As I have come to realize that sin is my antagonist and not God, I have found it much easier to begin to trust Him and come into that vital, intimate, saving relationship with Him that has the power to liberate me from the lies about Him and the effects of sin.

Sin in its simplest definition is being disconnected from God just as my vacuum cleaner dies when it becomes disconnected from the power flowing through the cables. God's gift all the time is life itself and sin is simply the opposite of that. When I choose to indulge in sin I am loosening my power cable from the wall receptacle and God wants me to know that there are going to be serious consequences if I continue to play around with that connection. That is now what I am starting to see in these words of warning to this man who had graciously been given a new solid connection with his only Source of health and life and hope.

In essence, what I see Jesus saying to him is, “Don't disconnect yourself again from your Source or the consequences are going to be even worse than last time.”

Questioning Dark Views

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." (John 5:14)

This verse strikes very close to a whole knot of lies that can be found deep in the heart of nearly every person on this planet about how God relates to sinners. It is such a deeply entrenched set of beliefs that in every religion on earth many elements of these lies can be seen quite clearly. Thus, whenever a person begins to openly question too many of these assumptions they find themselves at serious odds with most people around them, especially those who feel it their duty to keep everyone else in line when it comes to what we should believe about God.

One of the fundamental beliefs that skews our concept of how God relates to us can be seen in the mistake that the Jews of Christ's day had fallen into rather deeply. They believed and taught that whenever someone came down with some sickness, especially a very debilitating condition, that this was clear evidence that they were suffering under God's wrath for some terrible sin that they, or maybe even their parents, had committed. Thus they were viewed with great suspicion and as a result did not necessarily deserve any compassion from those who were more 'righteous' and healthy.

Part of this belief system is rooted firmly in the logic that God treats sinners with a 'carrot and stick' approach. It is believed that God depends quite heavily on threats and fear and intimidation to control the lives and choices of His children and that love is something only to be enjoyed by those who are more in line with His demands. A loving relationship with God may be something to be attracted to in some way by those who are starving for affection and a need to feel valuable, but in this common belief it is viewed as something that in some way needs to be earned by obedience to God's commands.

A counterpart to this rigid view of God is a reactionary belief system that insists that God is so 'loving and good' that He couldn't possibly allow terrible things to happen to people who are disobedient to His commands and that His goodness actually means that somehow He will bend the rules or ignore them altogether and simply sweep nominal believers into heaven and arbitrarily change their lives after they get there to be able to get along with each other better than they do here on earth. This stems both from an abhorrence of the dark views of God promoted by the first group and a serious misunderstanding of the real meaning of the words used to describe God's character.

The Jews, along with many people today, believed that God was a stern judge or an arbitrary dictator of sorts who was looking for strict obedience simply because He demanded it and not for any deeper reasons involving our own good or welfare. It is commonly accepted that whenever people get too far out of line in their behavior with the rules laid down by religion that God is waiting not far away to inflict harsh punishments and pain and misfortunes on those who do not comply enough with His demands.

As a result of this kind of thinking that permeates every one of our hearts, we have been deceived and confused about many of the passages of Scripture that indicate something rather different than this view of God. Added to this confusion is the fact that Bible translators weave into their choice of words the same sentiments described above which adds even more layers of darkness and confusion to the false ideas about God that blanket the whole world. This is not to say that the real truth about God cannot be seen in various translations of the Bible, but it is a wake-up call to be aware that it is not necessarily safe to take any one translation at face value or put too much stock on a key word or phrase that may seem to reinforce our negative assumptions about God.

I have noticed over the years that many people seem to enjoy bashing all modern versions of the Bible, sometimes claiming that they are somehow inspired by demonic influences and that only the King James version can be trusted. They have assembled many arguments to 'prove' their case and have surrounded themselves with thick walls of prejudice and animosity toward anyone who chooses to disagree with their dogmatic conclusions. However, I have noticed that the spirit that emanates from such people has often been so negative and bigoted that I sense a strong warning within my own heart that something is seriously wrong.

It reminds me a great deal of the same sort of attitudes promoted during the dark ages where religious authorities refused to allow the Bible to be translated into any language other than Latin with the assertion that it would become corrupted if that were to take place. From their perspective the King James translation itself was a serious mistake and was a corruption of the purity and authenticity of the true Word of God. We can now see that this was a thin veneer to justify their desire to keep the public from thinking for themselves and listening more directly to the Word of God and then learning that God was not like what the religious authorities portrayed Him to be. The authorities feared they would begin to lose their grip over the masses and they were keen to not allow that to happen.

They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Pick up your pallet and walk'?" (John 5:12)

In this story of the sick man finding himself at serious odds with the religious authorities of his day when he obeyed the direct words of Jesus, I see a parallel to many situations today. The whole book of John has this issue of authentic authority woven through many of its stories. Back in chapter two it came into sharp clarity when Jesus expelled the chaos of counterfeit religion from the temple precincts and was immediately challenged as to why He thought He had any authority to disrupt the status quo.

Now, likely some of those very same authorities who felt so threatened not long before this came across a man who was violating some of their rules and regulations designed to 'protect' the keeping of the Sabbath day, and they likely had little doubt as to the source of this man's information. They only were challenging him about his authority not because they actually had no idea who had told him to break their laws but because they wanted to compile a stronger case to indict this out of control teacher who was threatening their control over the masses.

But these religious teachers shared the same dark views of God that caused a similar condition of deep darkness hundreds of years later that we now call the 'dark ages'. Those ages were dark precisely because of the counterfeit ideas about God imposed onto the masses as well as the deprivation of the Word of God in their lives. The established religions refused to allow the common people to make their own choices about what to believe about God and kept from them as much as possible any information that might lead them to have a personal, accountable relationship with Him. The religion of the dark ages presented the same sort of dark views of God that the Jews had degenerated into largely, but the later church made it even much darker yet.

It is often argued that if we do not present God as at least partly harsh and ready to arbitrarily punish evildoers then we will lose one of the main deterrents to rampant evil in the world. It is widely believed that love itself is simply too weak and wimpy to accomplish the restoration of sinners into a proper relationship with God. Therefore, because of our own settled assumptions about what must take place in order to get people's attention and compel them to repent, it is believed that we must use a mixture of terror and allurements to manipulate people into conformity to what we believe is the right preparation to be taken to heaven.

Given the pervasiveness of this sort of thinking, it is very easy to assume that the words of Jesus to this healed man in the temple simply reinforce this dark view of God. If one comes to this passage with these assumptions unquestioned they will see little reason to challenge them based on what they read here. But just because some piece of a puzzle might seem to fit into a slot without too much pressure does not mean that the colors are going to line up properly to represent the correct overall picture that it is designed to display. It is not enough to simply say that because these words seem to reinforce our dark ideas about God's punishments against someone relating to their diseased condition that our assumptions about God's dealings with us are necessarily justified.

This is a subject that is far too vast to address adequately in this writing. I have tried to address it more fully on another web site, but even there it is not fully developed sufficiently. However, those who know me very well know that I have become rather passionate about this at times because of the pervasiveness of the lies about God that actually serve to keep us at a distance from Him instead of serving to draw us closer to knowing and obeying Him from our hearts. My own encounter with truths about this issue over the past few years have made me more sensitive to facts and doctrines that have been abused far too long in order to prop up false pictures of God that push people away from Him rather than draw them closer to Him.

Next time I hope to spend some time exploring the other side of this issue – the real truth that Jesus was actually seeking to convey to this man and to all who are willing to look past their prejudices and false assumptions about how God feels towards us as sinners. There certainly are great dangers that we need to fear, but it comes as a surprise to most that those dangers are radically different than what we have been taught to believe by most religions.

Behold! You are Healed

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." (John 5:14)

When I read this verse this morning my curiosity prompted me to look up the original word that is translated here, behold. Strong's concordance defines this as an interjection to denote surprise.

When I looked this verse up in some other translations I found the following rendition that seems to convey that impression a little more.

After a time Jesus came across him in the Temple and said to him, See, you are well and strong; do no more sin for fear a worse thing comes to you. (John 5:14 BBE)

It seems to me that this verse is also very closely linked with the previous words of Jesus to this man in verse six, Do you wish to be well. Now I see Jesus seemingly very surprised when He sees that the man has taken Him up on His offer and has actually acted on the invitation extended to him to walk away from his past and into a life of healing and wholeness in the power of Jesus. It is like Jesus was saying to him, “Look! I can hardly believe it! You actually took me up on my offer to you. That's wonderful!”

There are a number of stories in Jesus' life where it reports that He was surprised. And if I recall correctly, most if not all of them involved how much faith people had in their opinions about how God felt about them and what He desired to do for them. There are times when He wondered at their lack of faith and other times when he was amazed at the faith of someone. But usually the faith that amazed Him was found outside the narrow confines of the chosen people of God and the lack of faith that amazed Him was in the hearts of those who most professed to serve and worship God or who had a lot of familiarity with Him as He was growing up.

So, maybe in that context it may make sense that Jesus might be surprised that a Jewish man living in the city that was the center of the nation's worship system would actually be willing to take up His offer and act upon an invitation from God to step out of his comfort zone and choose to obey a different authority. Jesus knew that this choice would put this man in conflict with the established religious authorities in place, but He did not prepare this man necessarily to deal with that. He simply offered him the option of healing if the man was willing to respond in faith instead of excuses.

When Jesus later met this healed man in the temple it is significant that the text indicates that He seemed surprised. I also believe that it is significant that the man was found in the temple himself. That tells me that somehow this man was moving in the right direction already in response to the wonderful gift of healing that he had embraced. He chose to move toward the place where people most expected to find God and where public worship of Him was supposed to take place. Evidently his heart was filled with enough gratitude that he felt compelled to go to the temple shortly after his healing in order to publicly acknowledge the true source of his wonderful new gifts of mobility and health.

Am I so stuck in my own limited expectations and my own traditions that I have grown up with that God might be surprised when I finally decide to take Him up on His offers of restoration and healing?

Where Is Hope?

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." Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk." (John 5:7-8)

I see myself in many ways in this story of the sick man and his views of reality. And one of the ways that this story flushes out mistaken views in my heart is how this man thought his healing had to take place – if ever. He had concluded long ago that the only hope for him was to be empowered enough to make it into a pool that superstition taught could bring healing to the first one in after the stirrings. But since it now appeared hopeless after many tries because of his relative weakness compared to most of the others equally eager to get healing, this man had given up on the only prospect he had left. He now had resigned himself to just living out his miserable existence until he would find relief in death.

I find that I too, like many others around me, have made some assumptions about what needs to happen in order for me to find any meaningful healing in my life. I have even said to others at times that what I think I must have is someone who can understand me enough and have the fine balance between toughness and gentleness to break through my subconscious defensiveness and then be able to handle all the ugliness that is sure to come pouring out. But then I am afraid that it might be so shocking that nearly anyone who might find themselves involved in that scene might be overwhelmed and then I would feel even more guilty and go back into my hiding place as a recluse and repress it all over again.

Since I have only heard about situations that I believe might actually enable me to find emotional freedom and those places and resources are always far away and too expensive for me, then my hopes keep ebbing away and I feel forced to resign myself to accepting my condition as possibly permanent. I do not like that prospect, but then why should I complain – most other people are in the same predicament that I am in and most of them can't find any help for their problems either.

But the rumors keep emerging to arouse yet more hope from time to time. I hear about some highly effective ministry that reports amazing breakthroughs in other people's lives and I find myself urgently seeking to buy their books and videos. These indeed have proved helpful each time and really have made a difference in how I perceive life and have given me very valuable tools to address my triggers and release some of my baggage. But I still long for some connection with someone with elder maturity who might have the experience and patience and skills needed to really help me progress and mature more quickly without adding too much to my pain. But that has never materialized for me and so my hopes keep fading away again and again.

Yet as I read this story I feel confronted about my assumptions just as this man was challenged to reconsider his assumptions about what had to happen if he were ever to find wholeness again. When Jesus asked him if he wanted to be well his mind immediately reverted to the method he was sure was the only hope he had in that direction, and then all he could think about were the insurmountable obstacles that prevented him from getting there. But Jesus seemed totally uninterested in this man's ideas about what had to happen before he could get experience help and simply offered him the most startling and blunt offer of healing one could imagine. Instead of reviewing all his options and explaining to him why none of them would actually be good for him, Jesus simply offered the gift of healing directly – but predicated it on the choice of the man to accept and act on this offer totally on faith.

But remember, this man had never met Jesus before and did not know who He was or the power He had to offer. This is clear later in the passage when the man could not identify who it was that had healed him. So he was faced with a totally unexpected offer from a complete stranger that conflicted with the traditions and assumptions of everyone around him and yet he was expected to make a quick decision that would impact him dramatically for the rest of his life. He was forced to choose whether to remain in his comfort zone and fit in with what everyone around him believed or he had to take action based on some most unusual words of a stranger and risk sticking out like a sore thumb, but also with the potential to experience what he longed for most deeply in his soul. His whole destiny hinged on what he would choose to do in that moment as Jesus invited him to step away from everything he previously assumed and move into a whole new dimension of existence that required living faith to enjoy.

How often do my ideas and assumptions about what has to happen in order for me to find freedom and joy conflict with God's succinct offer of grace, healing and wholeness to me directly?

How can I recognize when Jesus may be standing very close to me offering what I have craved for most deeply for much of my life but cannot perceive who it is that is making me this offer?

How many times do I fail to be willing to ignore what others are going to think about me, to break with the traditions that have governed my life and to move boldly into a whole new dimension of life, thriving, growing and worshiping God in ways that will surly appear scandalous to those who cannot see or believe what I have experienced?

How much do I allow what others think about me along with my own preconceptions and fears to inhibit me from stepping into a life of wholeness and joy and vulnerability?

How close is Jesus standing to me right now offering a whole new way of thinking as well as close intimacy with Himself just waiting for me to take my eyes off of what feels normal to everyone around me and to move into fellowship with a community of true believers who are waiting to embrace me and share with me in a new life of joy and encouragement and accountability?

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9)