Grace Overlooks

John 5:^6-7 “When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

This man’s response to Jesus’ question flowed from what he could see. Yesterday, we learnt that all he could see was the process and the people. He could not see the mercy and the grace of God that was right in front of him. He could not see that God Himself had come to visit him. Whenever we are fixated on the process and the people, we lose sight of grace. You need to take your focus off the process and the people, so that you can see grace everywhere. This man was in Bethesda, he was literally in the place of grace, but he could not see grace. He was in the place of flowing mercy, in fact, the source of flowing mercy was standing beside him and asking, “Would you like to get well? I am here!”

Contrast that with the woman with the issue of blood. She was determined to get well. Mark 5:²⁸ “For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” In her case, Jesus was walking away from her, and she was pursuing Jesus, pushing through the crowds. For this man, Jesus went past other sick people to get to him. The man was not really a good person, and I will explain why. When Jesus found the man after the healing had happened, Jesus said to him, “Go and sin no more, so that a worse thing does not happen to you.” In other words, his sickness of thirty-eight years was as a result of his sin. The man also had a bad character. How do I know? When the Jewish leaders demanded to who told him to walk on a Sabbath day.

Sometimes, I feel like punching those Jewish leaders. This is a man who had not walked for thirty-eight years and all you can say is that he was not supposed to be healed on the Sabbath. May you never get religious in the Name of Jesus. Instead of being moved to tears in gratitude to the God who healed him. When the Jewish leaders demanded to know who healed the man, he said he didn’t know the person’s name. Jesus saw him later and said, “No one asked you what you did before healing you. Go and sin no more so that a worse disease does not come upon you.” (paraphrased). Grace! God doesn’t ask you about your past before He defines your future. God always looks past our flaws, and our limitations, and does what is in His heart.

Do you know what the man did? He went back to the Jewish leaders and snitched on Jesus. He had an odious character. He had been lame and immobile for thirty-eight years; shouldn’t he protect the person who healed him with his life? Instead, he snitched on Jesus. People mostly forget the good things you do for them, so they throw you under the bus easily.

Prayer: Father, please empower me to keep my focus on You even as I engage with people and the process of things, in the Name of Jesus. Amen!