Church Arise!

1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. 5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? 7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. 8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. 10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. 11 He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. 12 Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? 13 And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. 15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.  John 5:1 – 15 [KJV]

You may look at my title and wonder “how on earth did Steve come up with this title, from this passage?”

Let’s look at verses 2 &3: There is a pool called Bethesda which has developed a reputation for being a place of healing; Verse 4: in the original this verse is reflected as a “footnote”, an explanation of a custom or tradition, that had formed this reputation of the pool. Verse 5: this certain man had been there a long time (38 years) trying to get his miracle the same way for a long time, without success because he was not first into the pool.

We’ll stop here for a moment and set the stage; In life, we all have traditions of one type or another, and some of those are also present in our churches. Now traditions can be based on what is tried and true; based on fantasy and wishful thinking; or formed to establish control in an environment.

Not all traditions are bad, some are very good; the ones based on the “tried and truth”. But traditions based on superstition, fantasy, and wishful thinking are deceptive and ultimately yield defeat and discouragement. A tradition formed to establish control, usually limits the expectations and the outcome of what may be actually possible, to achieve the institutors desired result.

The man at the pool, was depending on a tradition that was based on superstition, fantasy, and wishful thinking, because in truth, the pool healed no one! All healing comes ultimately from the Creator Himself! Nevertheless, for a “long time” he repeated the same method top try and achieve his healing, never making it to the pool. His faith was in the wrong thing!

In the same way, many churches have placed their faith in their methods rather than in the person of the Holy Spirit, who will “teach us all things”. He is the one who speaks to our heart, in harmony with God’s Word to pursue the course that God desires us to operate in. Traditions have their place, but moment by moment direction comes from God in the person of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We must yield to His leading and not depend on “the way we have always done things”.

If the lame man at the pool had not followed the “non-traditional” command from Jesus, he would not have been healed. From the command from Jesus, he took action (in the manner of faith) in Jesus statement, got up, took up his bed, and walked. It took action, and faith to believe it was ok to try something different, because God said so.

We need to understand the parameters of scripture, while allowing ourselves to think outside the confined box we built for ourselves….

Something to ponder on….

Have a blessed day!