Nougat 21

Sometimes when reading the Bible, I am intrigued by the details; especially when it doesn’t seem flattering to God’s elect. It often leaves me wondering what lessons are hidden in plain sight for us who are reading. The reflection on Today’s Holy Nougat seeks to identify some of the lessons for us in the healing by the pool at Bethesda.

“The Jews asked him, “Who is the man who told you to pick it up and walk?” But the man who had been healed didn’t know who Jesus was. (Jesus had withdrawn from the crowd.)” John‬ ‭5:12-13‬ ‭GW‬‬

Can you imagine – the man was healed by the power of God’s Spirit moving through him; although the man didn’t know or recognize Jesus! Yet, there might have been some there who would have known OF Jesus. Inasmuch as God allows rain to fall on the ‘just and the unjust’, so it is that God determines to heal whomever God wills in both the literal and eternal sense.

Because that’s God.

God may manifest to the saint or the sinner at any point, whether we have the good sense to recognize God or not. I am still marveled by the fact that this healing was manifested right outside the temple. Not inside the physical structure, but within the enclave. The priests were preoccupied with other ‘important’ matters like defending God’s sabbath and presiding over worship. So they missed the point of what was happening.

As God’s sent ones, we must guard against being preoccupied with the mundane and confusing them with what really matters. If we comb the Gospels, we will find that quite a bit of Jesus’ salvific works occur outside. Not just out in the temple enclave; but amidst the hustle and bustle of people’s everyday lives. This was often instigated by Jesus Himself (passing not so coincidentally through the various towns.

Could we who are spiritually well be called by God to GO to the people rather than insist that they come to us?

Hmmn

Which brings us to the other point. The man sick for 38 years was healed and the miracle illuminated the unwellness of the faith community. Rather than experience joy at the man’s healing; they responded with churlishness! And that is the illness we need to guard against. Having a form of godliness; while failing to manifest or acknowledge God’s Spirit and God’s Power. Or, as put in Jamaican parlance … nearer to church but further from God.

So, where are we located in this healing miracle? A blessing awaits us if we care to allow Jesus in.

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May all we seek be found in Christ