The answers to these questions may throw additional light on the story of the healing - and they are answers that apply to all of us. See our new article, uploaded today: "Do You Want to Be Well?"
The Gospel of John records the healing by Jesus, at the Pool of Bethesda, of a man paralyzed for many years. The account is a moving one and provides some interesting questions. There were many sick people at the pool that day – why did Jesus single out this particular individual for the healing? And why did Jesus ask the man a question which we would normally never ask a sick or paralyzed person: "Do you want to be well?"
The answers to these questions may throw additional light on the story of the healing - and they are answers that apply to all of us. See our new article, uploaded today: "Do You Want to Be Well?" “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters... Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me…” (Psalm 23:1-4). It’s hard for modern Christians not to think of Psalm 23 when the word “shepherd” comes to mind. But that beautiful psalm reflects only some of the aspects of shepherding. Leading the sheep to pasture – providing for them – and through the valley of darkness – protecting them – are certainly vital aspects of the job, but as a shepherd himself David knew that there was more to the job than just feeding and protecting the sheep. We find additional insights into the role of the shepherd in another of David’s psalms: “Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever” (Psalm 28:9). In the first half of this single verse we see the same aspects of protecting the sheep and providing for them, and in the second half David also mentions guiding the sheep (the Hebrew urom is a verb – to shepherd or guide, not to be a shepherd) and carrying them. In this short but remarkable verse, David captures perhaps all the major aspects of the shepherd’s role in four verbs: To protect the sheep from death, to supply their needs, to guide them and finally to carry them when they are weak or injured and need the shepherd’s strength in addition to their own. This picture meshes well with Christ’s role as shepherd, which we see in the prophecy quoted by Matthew: “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah … out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel” (Matthew 2:6). Jesus himself elaborated on the same four aspects of that role mentioned by David in Psalm 28. As the prophesied shepherd, Christ did all these things for his people: Protected them from eternal death: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Provided their needs: “I am the gate for the sheep… whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture” (John 10:7-9). Guided them: “When Jesus … saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things” (Mark 6:34). Carried them: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he… go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home” (Luke 15:4-6). The people of ancient Israel in David’s day, and those of Judea in Christ’s day, knew well that these things were all involved in being a shepherd. That’s why Christ used that analogy often, and why his hearers may have understood more fully than we sometimes do what it means that the Lord is our shepherd. They knew, as we should come to know also, that the flock need never doubt that the Shepherd will always do these things for the sheep. It’s what shepherds do. *See the article “A Shepherd for a While” on our sister site. The sixth chapter of John records the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 in which a great crowd that was following Jesus was fed by a mere five loaves and two fishes as a sign: “Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten” (John 6:5-13 emphasis added). In reading the story of this miracle we tend to only notice the fact that after the feeding of the 5,000 the disciples took up far more food than they started with. But notice also that Christ’s instructions to gather up the remaining pieces of bread included the careful instruction “let nothing be wasted” or, as we might say today “don’t lose any!” Clearly, there was no shortage of food, so the command not to lose any of the crumbs must have had another reason behind it. The narrative then proceeds with Jesus moving from the area to avoid the crowds and the storm on the Sea of Galilee, and in reading we tend to not connect the next part of the story. But the narrative is clearly connected. The first thing we see Jesus doing once he arrived at his destination was to begin to teach the people a lesson based on what they had seen. “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst... All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out… And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:35-39 emphasis added). The disciples had doubtless not forgotten the feeding of the 5,000 – or how much work was involved in picking up twelve baskets of leftover bread pieces and crumbs – so there is no doubt that the connection between the miracle and the lesson was understood by them even if they did not comprehend its full significance at that time. But the miracle was not only a sign of Jesus’ messianic identity (6:14), it was also a living lesson in God's intent in working with His human family. First, Christ stressed that he is the Bread of life and that those in him become, as it were, pieces or crumbs of that same bread. But while Jesus could have just verbally stressed the lesson “… your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:14), the point was apparently important enough that he used the opportunity to drive it home by means of a miracle. We may know intellectually that our Father is not willing that anyone be lost, but in our times of failure or discouragement we should remember the extent to which Christ made that point for us to clearly see. We can be sure that if we had picked up twelve bushel baskets of bread crumbs it is a lesson we doubtless would not have forgetten. “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ ‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her’ (Luke 10:38-42).
The story shows two sisters with very different personalities. Martha was clearly the older sister: she is the one who invited Jesus into their home; she says Mary should be helping her; she seems very much like an older sister – bearing most of the responsibilities and being a more serious person as a result. Mary gets most of the accolades, doubtless because of Jesus’ words in Luke 10. The younger sister was clearly totally devoted to Jesus and “hung on his every word” (vs.39). Jesus said of her that she had “chosen what is better” in that circumstance (vs. 42) and clearly approved her desire to focus on his words even if at the expense of physical preparations which could, perhaps, have waited. It was apparently Mary, too, [an upcoming blog will show this] who took expensive perfume and anointed Jesus (John 11:2, John 12:1-3). Clearly, Mary was a woman of faith and deep devotion. But where does this leave Martha, the serious and perhaps too often busy older sister? It is easy to dwell on Mary’s devotion and to miss Martha’s own personal faith which is nowhere clearer than in the story of Jesus raising their brother, Lazarus, from the dead. Notice the story in the Gospel of John, who tells us that Jesus, hearing Lazarus had been buried for four days, proceeded to the home of Martha and Mary: “When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. ‘Lord,’ Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ she replied, ‘I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world’” (John 11:20-27). This is one of the most profound acknowledgements of faith that Jesus encountered in His ministry and shows a side of Martha we should not forget. Although we may type her as the older sister, busy in her responsibilities, it was Martha who went out to meet Jesus – who sought him out and asked His help at a time when all others – even apparently Mary herself – were consumed in their grief. Martha does not appear to have been Mary’s subordinate in the faith – both women were dedicated to Jesus, just in different ways; and both were women of exceptional understanding and faith. Luke 24 tells the story, set shortly after the death of Jesus, of the two disciples walking on the road to the village of Emmaus several miles from Jerusalem. As they walked they were joined by a third individual (Luke 24:15-16). The stranger asked them what they were talking about and they replied: “About Jesus of Nazareth …. He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel...” (Luke 24:19-21). The stranger joined the conversation and the three individuals talked until they came to Emmaus. Once there the two disciples urged the stranger to stay the evening with them and join their meal. So, Luke tells us the stranger accepted and: “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight” (Luke 24:31-32). Reading the story from our perspective, with hindsight, we realize immediately that the stranger was, of course, Jesus, but something that we often neglect to think much about in this story is the fact that the two disciples were unaware that the One of whom they spoke was in fact the person with whom they spoke. The two disciples had actually been talking about the person who was with them. If that had happened to us, that we discovered someone we talked about had been the person involved – would we have wondered afterwards what we had said, wondered about any negative or critical things that might have been part of our conversation? If we believe the simple Christian truth that Christ lives His life in each called and committed individual, does the principle not apply that whenever we talk to a fellow believer – or about a fellow believer – we are talking with Christ whether we realize it or not? It is the principle behind the related situation Jesus described in saying “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20). It is something to remember. In that small way, we are all walking the road to Emmaus. The news is currently full of reports that the small papyrus fragment which is purported to show that Jesus had a wife has now been shown by Carbon 14 dating to be “ancient.” Does this prove that Jesus had a wife?
Announced at a 2012 conference in Rome by Harvard Divinity School's Karen King, and dubbed the "Gospel of Jesus's Wife," the fragment has now been studied by a number of experts. The carbon dating conducted at Harvard and MIT on the fragment (3.2 inches wide by 1.6 inches tall - 8 by 4 centimeters) returned dates between AD 659 and 869. The fragment had earlier been estimated to be “fourth century,” but it is now clear that it is much more recent – probably dating to some 700-800 years after the time of Christ. By the time this fragment was written, many spurious ideas and speculations had circulated in Christianity; and the “gospel” from which the fragment apparently came may have exhibited many differences from the canonical gospels. Not all scholars are convinced that the text is even genuine. Professor Leo Depuydt of Brown University has stated that he feels the text is full of grammatical errors and other problems that suggest the writing may have been faked on a piece of ancient papyrus. But even if the writing on the fragment is authentic, its late date means that it really proves nothing regarding the life of the historical Jesus. Further, the words "Jesus said to them, 'My wife . . . she is able to be my disciple . . .'" which are found on the papyrus may have been intended to be understood figuratively rather than literally. Jesus used similar analogies (John 3:29), and the New Testament speaks of the church being the “Bride of Christ” on several occasions. In 2 Corinthians 11:2 the apostle Paul states “… For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present [you as] a chaste virgin to Christ.” And in the Book of Revelation we find verses such as “I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife” (Revelation 21:9). So, despite the sensationalism associated with the recent studies, and the desire of some to see a “Da Vinci Code” type of hidden truth in a single scrap of papyrus, the fragment of text really gives us no evidence to affect our understanding of the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus, and certainly does not prove that Jesus had a wife. Unlike Jesus’ first miracle when he changed many large jars of water into wine or the succeeding miracles and signs he performed before His followers, His last miracle may seem small by comparison, yet is just as indicative of His nature as any of the acts of compassion carried out during his ministry. In some ways, this small miracle may show His nature even more than the others. All the Gospels describe the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane before his crucifixion and all of them describe the fact that in the tense moments of the arrest one of Jesus’ followers drew a sword and struck out, severing the ear of a man named Malchus, a servant of the high priest. John’s Gospel reveals that it was the impetuous Peter who did this, and who was stopped by Jesus (John 18:10). It is unlikely that Peter was aiming at the servant’s ear, and the injury was probably sustained when Peter swung with the sword at the man’s head and Malchus ducked – narrowly avoiding death, but sustaining the loss or partial loss of his ear. It would not be surprising if this non-life-threatening injury had been ignored in the turmoil that must have accompanied Jesus’ arrest, but Luke adds a detail in this regard which none of the other gospel writers has. Luke tells us that Jesus “…touched the man’s ear and healed him” (Luke 22:51). We must see this miracle in context. Jesus knew the terrible death that awaited him and had only just finished the agonizing prayer in which his sweat was “like drops of blood” (Luke 22:44). When the soldiers and officers of the high priest came upon Him in the dark and tumult of the arrest, Jesus’ mind must have been full of what was happening and what was about to happen to him. Humanly, anyone in this situation would hardly be thinking about one of the arresting group hurt in the tumult. Yet the mind of Christ was such that even within that dark and emotionally swirling night, despite the shouting, running and confusion that clearly ensued, Jesus noticed the one who had been injured, focused on that and sought the man out, using His last miracle to help an enemy before he chose to forgo any further use of the divine power at His disposal in order to endure the things He knew He must suffer. The many miracles and signs wrought by Jesus during his human ministry showed his compassion and care for others, but these were done in times of relative quiet and security. In Jesus’ last miracle, even as He was led away to His death, He still showed the love that placed His own needs, His own self, not first, but last. |
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Author :Unless otherwise stated, blog posts are written by R. Herbert, Ph.D., who writes for a number of Christian venues – including our sister site: TacticalChristianity.org Categories :
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