Sermon Central
-
Walking Through Chaos Series
Contributed by David Dunn on Oct 6, 2025 (message contributor)
Summary: The Father who commands paralysis to move also commands storms to rest—calling His children to rise, walk, and trust His steady presence.
(John 5 & John 6:16–21 — The Lame Man and the Storm)
---
Introduction — When Life Won’t Move
Have you ever been stuck?
Not the “traffic jam on I-15” kind of stuck.
I mean the deeper kind — when nothing in your life will budge.
You pray, you plan, you push, and still it feels like the wheels are sunk in mud.
John gives us two stories about people who couldn’t move.
One was paralyzed on a mat for thirty-eight years.
The other was a boatload of disciples caught in a storm, rowing but going nowhere.
Both needed the same thing: a word from the Father that could move what was frozen and calm what was frantic.
Both learned that the presence of Jesus is the difference between paralysis and progress, between chaos and calm.
---
1 The Man at the Pool — When Faith Stalls (John 5:1-15)
It’s Sabbath in Jerusalem. Pilgrims fill the temple courts, and just outside one gate is a pool called Bethesda — “House of Mercy.”
Five stone porches surround the water, and under them lie dozens of bodies: the blind, the lame, the withered.
Everywhere you look is waiting.
Waiting for the water to ripple.
Waiting for a miracle that seldom comes.
Among them is one man whose body has been stuck for thirty-eight years.
He’s not a bad man; he’s just tired of hoping.
He’s learned to live with disappointment like it’s furniture.
Then Jesus steps through the crowd.
No halo, no fanfare — just a quiet question:
> “Do you want to be made well?”
It sounds almost cruel.
Of course he wants to be well! But the man doesn’t answer yes.
He gives his résumé of reasons:
> “Sir, I have no one to help me … someone else always steps down before me.”
Can you hear the resignation?
Thirty-eight years of “I can’t.”
Jesus doesn’t argue theology or timing.
He simply speaks the Father’s creative word:
> “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”
And immediately — bones that had forgotten their purpose remember.
Muscles fire.
Feet feel weight.
The man stands.
No ripple in the pool, no angel in the water — just the Word made flesh speaking life into paralysis.
---
Reflection — What the Father Does When We Can’t
Sometimes God’s greatest mercy is to interrupt our excuses.
He asks us questions we’d rather not answer: Do you really want to be free? Do you actually want to move on?
The Father is not content to let us exist beside healing; He invites us to stand inside it.
When Jesus says, “Rise,” He isn’t just commanding legs — He’s awakening faith.
And that’s what the Sabbath was meant for all along: not more rules, but restoration.
A rest so complete that even the crippled parts of us begin to walk again.
---
2 The Disciples on the Sea — When Fear Takes Over (John 6:16-21)
Now jump to the other story.
Same chapter, different scene.
The feeding of the five thousand is over.
Evening falls.
The crowd is cheering, but Jesus slips away into the hills to pray.
The disciples start across the lake toward Capernaum.
The Sea of Galilee can turn dangerous fast.
By the time they’re halfway, a wind rises — a hard, howling wind straight down from the cliffs.
Darkness.
Cold spray.
Twelve men rowing, muscles burning, and the shoreline still far away.
They’re doing exactly what Jesus told them … and still they’re in a storm.
Isn’t that familiar?
Obedience doesn’t always come with calm seas.
Then, through the blur of rain, someone sees movement on the water.
At first it looks like a ghost — a shape walking across the waves.
They cry out in terror.
And then a voice — clear above the storm:
> “It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
Those words are more than comfort.
“It is I” in Greek echoes the divine name: Ego Eimi — “I AM.”
The same voice that said “Rise and walk” now says “I AM here.”
They let Him into the boat — and John notes something small but stunning:
> “Immediately the boat reached the shore.”
The storm doesn’t just stop; the distance collapses.
When Jesus steps in, time and space obey Him again.
---
Reflection — The Father Who Walks on What Scares Us
The waves that threatened to drown the disciples became a sidewalk for God.
The very thing over our heads is still under His feet.
At Bethesda the Father proved His authority over paralysis.
On the sea He proved His authority over chaos.
In both places He restored movement: one man walks, one boat arrives.
---
3 The Mirror Between Them
John pairs these scenes deliberately.
One happens beside still water, the other upon raging water.
One shows human helplessness; the other, divine mastery.
