Where have you laid him? John 11:34

Jesus asked Mary to show Him the tomb where her brother, Lazarus had been buried. He could have spoken the words and brought Lazarus back to life, from a distance, or even before He and the disciples arrived in Bethany. Instead, He gives us a quick lesson on how to deal with grief.

Show Him your grief.
Mary and her sister called for Jesus. That simple, perhaps obvious, step often goes undone. We assume Jesus already knows (and He does) so we miss the deep intimacy that comes from laying our hearts open and bare before Him.

See His heart.
By asking Mary to take Him to the tomb, Jesus showed that He is a Savior who doesn't minimize our pain, but is willing to enter into it with us. At Lazarus' tomb, Jesus is deeply touched by the loss His friends are experiencing, but His grief goes much deeper. He mourns for a people who don't yet understand who He is or why He came. He also sees with human eyes, the curse, the pain that sin brings.

What about you? What do you have locked away? Pain. Failure. Loss. A dead spot in our hearts. Jesus asks – Where is it?

Take Me there.

Show it to Me.

Let Me bring that deadness into the light and heal it.

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Do you believe in the Son of God? John 9:35

Jesus healed a man who had been born blind. Immediately, the man was subjected to an intense interrogation at the hands of the religious leadership. They suggested that he was an imposter, that he and the healer were rank sinners for breaking the Sabbath, and finally they kicked him out of the synagogue, thereby sealing his spiritual doom. So they thought.

Jesus found him and asked him this simple question, do you believe? Do you believe in Me, the Son of God? Do you believe that just like I gave you physical sight, I can cure your spiritual blindness? Do you believe I have the answers?

When we are misunderstood, do we believe in the Son of God?

When we are doubted, questioned and falsely accused, do we believe in the Son of God?

When we are abandoned and alone, do we believe in the Son of God?

Or do we believe we can figure something out, we can make it on our own … Are we blind also? 

Do you want to be made well? John 5:7

Jesus asked this question of a man with a paralyzing illness, lying beside the pool at Bethesda. The man had endured alone for 38 years and was desperate enough to try the superstition of the day- be the first one in the pool when the water is stirred up.

[Today we'll try double duty- a study tip AND a look at the question!]

As you read and study the story, make a note of the details.
A great multitude of sick people were there at Bethesda- dozens, hundreds perhaps, grasping at a faint hope.
We don't know what illness the man suffered from, or when it struck him, but I speculate it hit in childhood or his teen years because he had no wife or children. There were also no parents or siblings, or even friends. He was abandoned. Devastating illness does that. (Be extra compassionate and say an extra prayer for those who struggle with chronic illness.)
Jesus approached him. In the gospels, we usually see folks imploring Jesus to come and heal a loved one, but not this time. Jesus initiated this encounter with a question. We'll discuss that question in a minute.

Bible study centers around three overarching questions:
1. What does the passage say?
2. What does that mean?
3. How should I live or what should I do as a result?

There may not be a 'set' answer for each of these questions. Each time you study, the Holy Spirit may illuminate a different nuance or idea. Here's how I'll answer the questions today.
1. Jesus healed a paralyzed man.
2. He didn't heal everyone at the pool. For His own reasons, (which He never explained) He chose and healed this one man.
3. God is sovereign. I need to trust His decisions.

You may answer the questions differently. Next time I study this passage, I may answer them differently as well.

Now for Jesus' question- Do you want to be made well?
Jesus says "made". Made well. Jesus is offering to do the hard part. The man must simply surrender to it.
It's a yes or no question, but the man answers with an excuse.

Jesus performed dozens of healing miracles, each with a purpose. They all demonstrated His deity, His power over nature and its processes, but they were more than that. All sickness is a result of sin, not necessarily personal sin correlated with personal illness, but the world operates under a curse of sin. Cells go bad. Viruses replicate. DNA codes fail. Every miracle of healing is an object lesson for Jesus' whole purpose- to deliver men and women from the curse of sin.

At the moment of salvation, we are eternally delivered from the judgment sin brings, but each day we need rescue from the influence of sin. Jesus offers. Do we want it? Or do we prefer to give excuses?

BTW: Steve Arterburn has a great book on this question, Healing is a Choice

My Wednesday morning Bible study group began meeting again and we picked up with Psalms 38-40. In Psalm 38, David is suffering and v.11 describes how his friends and family stand off, unwilling to walk through the valley with him. His enemies seize on the opportunity to step up their attacks on him, and in v. 17 he says, “I am ready to fall.”
While reading and discussing the psalm, I asked how do we as the church, how do I as an individual, respond to people in crisis? I read a couple of books this week (which I’ll discuss more tomorrow), and even though they were fictional, they point out the truth that we are surrounded by hurting people. Most folks hide it, and most of them have no idea what to do or where to turn while we sit on the answer. It’s hard and it’s messy getting involved in the lives of others. Sometimes, it’s frustrating and thankless, but it’s also an opportunity like no other. By stepping in to help the hurting, we get to have a part in redeeming that pain and suffering.
I’ve been on both sides of a crisis, and I know how difficult it can be to open up and admit that things are out of control. I’ve had that trust violated, and in some ways that pain is worse. I’ve also had grace and mercy showered on me. In several instances, I can trace the origin of healing back to the point of seeking help. I take it as a high honor to be invited into someone’s pain. To be trusted that deeply is almost like entering holy ground.
God, help me not stand back, but be an agent of Your grace and compassion.

I am back from the most unique vacation I have ever been on. I went to the beach. (My favorite place- Any beach will do as long as there is sun, sand and ocean.) But I went alone. No computer, and absolutely nothing I ‘needed’ to work on. Just me, some books I’d been wanting to read, my Bible and my notebook (and my cell phone- I can’t be totally gadget free).

Jon suggested the vacation, not just because I needed a break from my routine, but because I’m at a critical spot in my faith. God and I are wrestling through some major issues (I suppose, in truth, I’m the only one wrestling. He’s waiting for me to get it.) I feel like the father in Mark 9:24 who cries out to Jesus in desperation over his demon-possessed son, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” I know there are gaps in my faith, but I want a deep, intimate, intense relationship with God. So I went away with God.

I was ready for a Damascus Road experience with God. In fact, I walked out to the beach when I arrived and said, “God, what do You want to tell me?” He said two things. (Now when I say ‘God said’, I don’t mean I heard Him with my ears. What I got was a distinct, fresh thought in my mind.) God said, “You are worthy because I chose you.” I’ve got a lot of emotional baggage and struggle with self-worth issues. God knows this and He wants me to understand my worthiness rests with Him, and not me. Because of that, nothing I do (or don’t do) can change my worth. He imputes that worth to me just as sure as He gives righteousness and salvation.

The second thing came as I watched a mother hold her little boy’s hands, helping him jump over the incoming waves. God said, “I will not stop the waves, but I will never let go of your hand.” He knows that any time I read His word, especially in Psalms that the descriptions of waves or floods always mean some of this emotional turmoil I battle on occasion. Apparently, the battle will never end this side of heaven, but He will never abandon me, never leave me to fight for myself, never let me be swept under.

Those were two powerful statements for me. Then God didn’t speak again for six days… But I’ll save that story for another post.