Reflective Bible Study

When reading and/or studying the Bible, I am always looking for themes, trends, or patterns that I can use to better understand God and His character. When I find such a pattern, I am then able to read familiar Bible stories but with a fresh pair of glasses on, and I look for ways that support or differ from the pattern.

In this entry’s passage, I spot both the support of one pattern, and a deviation from another.

For most of Jesus’ miracles, the level of faith that is present is a factor in whether the miracle is a success – either from the one wanting to be healed or from those who brought the disabled person. At least two of the gospels even go so far as to imply that Jesus’ miracles were limited by the faith present. (i.e. Matthew 13:58 / Mark 6:5.)

However, in this passage, there is no mention of the woman’s faith, of the crowd’s faith, or even of the synagogue leader’s faith. Faith is not the focal point here. I’m guessing there was a desire from the woman to be healed, but perhaps after 18 years of being disabled, she had learned how to adapt her life.

There isn’t even a mention or implication here that the woman is present because this is a setup – which could imply the faith of the synagogue leaders. The way the synagogue leaders respond to Jesus’ healing the woman make me believe they really didn’t want Him there healing or working miracles.

So this deviation from the pattern that faith equals healing is significant in my mind. This tells me that God can work in people’s lives without the presence of faith. While I believe He wants to teach us the importance of personal faith in Him, He also knows there are some instances where it is better if He acts regardless of the faith present. It appears as though this is one such instant.

So why might this deviation be present?

Perhaps it is because of the other pattern I see supported in this story: The miracle (and following dialogue) resulted God getting the glory. The passage clearly states that “she immediately stood up straight and praised God”. (verse 13)

In many of Jesus’ miracles, it seems as though He really focused on helping people in ways that would prompt them to give the credit for the miracle to God. I also see a pattern present through the gospels that Jesus never desired the focus or the spotlight to be placed on Him. Though everything He did, He wanted the people to see and know what God the Father was like; He wanted the praise to go to God not Himself.

Knowing the woman would praise God for the healing and that God would get the credit following the irritated response from the synagogue leaders, Jesus performed the miracle without the mention of faith. This deviation and pattern tell me that Jesus will work miracles in your life and in mine in ways where God receives the glory. Giving God the glory is Jesus’ primary objective with the miracles He performs.

One of the strangest conclusions to all of the miracles and healings that Jesus ever performed comes at the close of the healing by the pool of Bethesda that John includes in his gospel. In this healing, Jesus comes to a pool where sick people gathered, singles one person out who had been there for a long time, heals him, then disappears into the crowd before the healed man could thank Him.

However, one of Jesus’ instructions for the man was to pick up his sleeping mat, and that upset the religious leaders in the area. The main reason was that the day this healing happened was the Sabbath, and it was to be a day of rest – and carrying one’s mat was not resting.

But with all this said, the last two verses of this event conclude this story in a strange way. John tells us, “After this, Jesus found him in the temple complex and said to him, ‘See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.’ The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.” (v. 14-15)

After Jesus had healed him, this man goes and basically rats Jesus out for being his Healer. This doesn’t make sense, but even more confusing are Jesus’ final words to this man. “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” (v. 14b)

Perhaps the man believed that disobeying the religious leaders was sinning, and he felt he was obeying Jesus by communicating to the leaders that Jesus healed him. Or perhaps Jesus’ message was meant as a challenge for moving forward.

We don’t know anything about this man before or after this event. Implied in Jesus’ words is that the man was sick and/or disabled because of a past sinful life. Jesus’ final message to him is to stay away from that sinful life so that something even worse doesn’t happen to him.

In this warning and challenge Jesus gave this man is a theme we can all use in our own lives. While avoiding sin doesn’t stop bad things from happening to us, avoiding sin does stop a good percentage of bad things from happening. The principle Jesus is communicating is that who we associate with will either bring us health or will bring us harm. The quality of our friends determines the quality of our lives.

This man was given a fresh start after 38 years of illness. He had the choice whether to return to his old life, or start a new one. Each of us doesn’t have to face 38 years of consequences in order to choose to turn our lives around. This miracle teaches us that a new life with Jesus can begin today.

During one of Jesus’ famous prayers, He shares an interesting idea, and it is one that could confuse those reading Jesus’ words without knowing the context of the last months of Jesus’ time on earth. In His prayer, Jesus says to the Father, “I am on my way to you. But I say these things while I am still in the world, so that my followers will have the same complete joy that I do.” (v. 13)

Some people when reading this may get the impression that Jesus’ death was when He left to return to God. But this doesn’t add up when we look at other details of the crucifixion – including Jesus’ conversation with Mary in the garden following His resurrection.

Instead, the focus at this point of the prayer is not on Jesus leaving as much as it is on Him wanting to say what needs to be said while still in this part of His ministry. The clock was ticking on being able to share a message with His disciples before the crucifixion happened, and while Jesus briefly taught the disciples following the resurrection before returning to heaven, trying to prepare the disciples for what was about to happen did have a time limit. Jesus wanted to share God’s message with them before He was arrested. Jesus wanted them to realize before the cross what the cross signified.

Jesus continues His prayer-conversation with the Father by saying, “I have told them your message. But the people of this world hate them, because they don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t.” (v. 14)

“Not belonging to this world” is a characteristic of Jesus’ followers. What this doesn’t mean is standing on a street corner preaching an “us vs. them” message. Instead, this statement means that we should not focus on what the world focuses on, and we should not be swept up with the ever changing new and greatest thing.

But instead of focusing on what we shouldn’t be focusing on – which is something that never works well, we should intentionally keep our focus fixed on Jesus and on keeping our connection with Him strong. Other people might hate us because they don’t understand or agree, but don’t let their opinions shake our focus off of Jesus. When we intentionally keep our focus on Jesus, ignoring the craziness of culture becomes easier because we will have an anchor holding us steady in the storms of life.

Most times I read about Jesus blessing the children, a question enters my mind. Perhaps, when we reach heaven, I’ll ask Jesus the question personally, but until that point in time, I will be left to looking for clues from the gospels that include this event.

The question is not why Jesus would have prompted this event or why He allowed children to come close. Jesus loves everyone, and He chose to value the children/infants as much as women and adults.

However, in the few verses that make up this event, Jesus makes an interesting comparison. At the end of verse 16, Jesus says, “Children like these are part of God’s kingdom.”

This prompts my question: What is it about “these” children that give them the status of being a part of God’s kingdom?

Is it some characteristic that is present in each child, such as trust, hope, faith, love, curiosity, or something else? Is it that these children had self-control and were intently listening to and engaging Jesus in conversation? Or is it simply because these children were with Jesus?

If Luke’s gospel description is correct in its additional detail that the children were “infant” age, then they likely didn’t have much if any conversation. Perhaps there was crying involved, but likely not any self-control. An infant loves and trusts their parents, and they do grow into being curious.

However, as I read this event, I think that Jesus is not talking about the children themselves, as much as He is talking about “where” the children are – next to Him and being held by Him. Perhaps Jesus was telling stories to the children who were old enough to understand stories, or perhaps He was simply holding ones who were too young to realize what was going on. Either way, the children who were there were with Jesus.

The children who were there may have been there without emotional or spiritual baggage. We don’t read anything in any of the gospels about the children being skeptical or questioning Jesus on His mission of being a Messiah. If the children are united in their proximity to Jesus, they also seem to be united in their acceptance of Jesus as well.

As I dig into the details, what I learn most from this event is that each of us should focus on being close to Jesus personally and that we enjoy our time with Him. Accepting Jesus is one big key to being a part of the kingdom of God!