Those Whose Turn Seems to Come Last
PPT 1 Series Title
In this series we are looking at Jesus and how the scriptures show Him to be all knowing, all powerful, and all loving.
PPT 2 Message title
This week we are going to see those traits, especially that He is all loving in a story that I have titled, "Those Whose Turn Seems To Come Last."
Some of you don't know what it is like to be picked last, but most do. This is a message for those who know what it is like to be picked last.
If you've ever wondered about the love of God,
If you've ever doubted whether God's grace is greater than your past and every sin,
If you have ever wondered how God could love you and yet you are suffering with some disease,
If you've ever felt ashamed or inferior this message is for you. The rest of you can learn about how Jesus treats those who have been picked last.
PPT 3 - 6 text
John 5:1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
John 5:2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep [gate] a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes.
John 5:3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters;
John 5:4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.]
John 5:5 And a certain man was there, who had been thirty-eight years in his sickness.
John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time [in that condition,] He *said to him, "Do you wish to get well?"
John 5:7 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me."
John 5:8 Jesus *said to him, "Arise, take up your pallet, and walk."
John 5:9 And immediately the man became well, and took up his pallet and [began] to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day.
John 5:10 Therefore the Jews were saying to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet."
John 5:11 But he answered them, "He who made me well was the one who said to me, 'Take up your pallet and walk.'"
John 5:12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up [your pallet,] and walk'?"
John 5:13 But he who was healed did not know who it was; for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in [that] place.
John 5:14 Afterward Jesus *found him in the temple, and said to him, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse may befall you."
Main point: a word of hope for those whose turn seems to come last.
1. Jesus knows your story.
(all knowing) Tell your neighbor, Jesus knows your story.
a. He knows about Bethesda's and the people living there.
We never would have heard of Bethesda if Jesus hadn't visited it. Here was a place where a large number of sick people gathered hoping for a miracle. Probably a beggars alley. Jesus visits places that we tend to push out or our minds. There are hospital wards, and hospices, nursing homes with the abandoned, by friends and family, that dot many places in our own city. They are right outside our window, if we would but look.
b. He knows about the 38 years, and that you feel your turn never seems to come. You never got picked for the team. There was always someone better and faster than you, so you got marginalized.
I wonder if Jesus knew because of omniscience or a visit to the temple at 12? Either way Jesus intentionally picked the guy with the worst chance possible. I think this man had been there the longest, and He was intentionally chosen for the miracle so that Jesus could give hope in others who feel as that man felt. Not only does Jesus know your story, He wants to touch you and change your story.
c. Jesus touches people others stay away from. (All loving)
Lepers, sinners, dead people.
Matthew tax collector, Samaritan half breed, woman caught in adultery, man with demons who lived in a cemetery (he was a goth?) (defiled by living in a cemetery) Hi my name is Jesus, has anyone told you how amazing you are today? While the pharisees point fingers, and talk about how messed up those kids are. Jesus is very different than religious people.
Religious people blind themselves to how far God has already brought you and only want to point out what you still have wrong in your life. (You got healed, that's amazing PRAISE GOD, or You are carrying your cot, how dare you! If God really touched you, you wouldn't be carrying your cot on a Sabbath.)
The miracle took place at a place called Bethesda, which means the house of mercy.
In the house of mercy Jesus touches people, in the house of mercy religious people attack those who have been touched by mercy, because they don't dress like they dress, vote like they vote, or talk like they talk.
2. Jesus will change your story.
(All powerful)
We will see that Jesus did what the man no longer believed could happen. As we unpack this story a little further we will see a man with a heart and an outlook for life that was as crippled as his physical body.
Do you want to get well? God uses questions to probe the deep, and show us what is there. "Adam where are you?" (He knew where Adam was, but used the question to make Adam admit where he was. I've sinned, I'm embarassed and ashamed to be near you, I am hiding from you.)
In the deep of this man we find:
A heart that has been broken by feelings of profound loneliness and abondonment, "I have no man to help me." I'm all alone, no one cares, no one cares at all.
He answered a question Jesus didn't ask him. He answered, "do you want to know why I am still sick?"
I have no one to help me. All have abandoned me, family, friends, everyone. I'm hurting and no one cares. So not only am I hurting, I must also be worthless, otherwise people would be here for me. From the deep of his being bubbles up the inferno of hurt that he lived with day in and day out.
I wonder how many people in nursing homes feel like that? How many who live by themselves and have some sickness suffer under the seeming double curse of illness and abondonment by society feel this way?
In my study prep I read a number of sermons where pastor's ventured to answer why Jesus asked what seemed to be an obvious question with an obvious answer. Yes I want to be healed. They then went on to answer why Jesus asked that question, and most of them suggest it was because Jesus wanted him to know he had a part in his own healing, and would never get anywhere as long as it was the responisbility of others for him to get him better.
They may be right. I am this way because of what so and so did to me. Someone recently posted this thought, ships sink not because they are surrounded by water, but because the water got inside them. Don't let what happens to your ship get inside you and weigh you down." That is some pretty good advice.
But I don't think it is what Jesus was thinking, because Jesus didn't respond to what the man said at all. He didn't lash out at the man and declare, "that is exaclty your problem you won't accept responsibility for your role in the healing process." In fact his response was, "take up your bed and walk." He completely ignored the man's response. Why?
Let me remind you that our story is about a healing in the house of mercy, and the stupid response of religious people.
I think Jesus asked the question so that we could see this man meets none of the qualifications we religious people believe are necessary for a miracle from God.
a. He had negative faith. He believed all the reasons why God could not touch him.
He had learned helplessness. A mindset that grew slowly over a long period of time, and reinforced by life events.
Every time the water bubbles up, no one helps him to the pool.
He just lays at the side of the pool disappointed over and over. He got prayed for a hundred times and was still sick, so he got to the place where he no longer prayed, he believed God wanted him sick.
He is the very person the religious people would say couldn't get healed. No faith, no healing, case closed.
I think Jesus asked the quesiton because He wanted us to stop with all the statements about who He could
bless and who He couldn't.
This man didn't even know it was Jesus who healed Him! He had said no sinners prayer, wasn't inside the church but begged outside the church. I think Jesus asked the question to prove that in the house of mercy, it is not about who they are, the faith they have, and what kind of person they are that matters, it is the kind of person He is, and the mercy He shows even to those who don't know Him. Mercy is not something that is deserved or earned, it is something that is given out of the kindness of the other persons heart.
3. Jesus will rewrite your story.
Now I want you to notice the long term effect of the miracle in this man's life.
PPT 7 text
John 5:14 Afterward Jesus *found him in the temple, and said to him, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse may befall you."
First long term effect was that he wound up in church. Which is amazing considering how none of the church folk would help him get to the water.
Jesus found him in the temple. He went there in spite of the fact that it was also where the stupid religious people hung out, who castigated him for carrying his cot. He went there because the God who healed his body was also doing a work in his soul, and even though there were dummies in the church he realized that was still the place God wanted him to be. The church is not mans idea but Gods. There are no perfect churches. There are religious dummies and bigots in every church waiting for the opportunity to put you down, because in some perverse way it makes them feel a little better about themselves. In spite of all that the church is still God's base of operations.
The second long term effect is that God began to deal with him about the things that were wrong in His life.
Don't sin anymore. Mercy will help you when you don't deserve it, but mercy will also tell you what to do and how to live so you don't get in the mess again. Sin will fall out of your life if you have genuinely met the savior, we don't have to castigate people to get them to change, the Holy Spirit will lead them into all truth without putting them down.
4. Jesus wants to use us to help rewrite some stories also.
Are you a Pharisee and all you do is talk about what is wrong with them, or do you believe that God has called us to be His servants in the house of mercy, ministering to the undeserving?
People are Wating for the moving of the water. Water is symbolic of the Holy Spirit in the bible.
Out of your innermost beings... but this spoke He of the Holy Spirit... The world is full of people looking for answers and help, helping them opens the door to their heart in ways insulting them will never do.
There are a lot of people who are desperately alone and waiting for someone to be like Jesus and show them some mercy. May God help us to show His love and mercy to those who like us don't deserve it.
Close: Jesus thou son of David have mercy on me. Are you one whom life has beat down and you desperately need God to show up, but you also know you don't deserve for Him to do so. Some of your problems and maybe all of them are of you own doing. Jesus is here for you today.
Has God reminded you that you need to be more merciful to those outside the kingdom. Has your heart been touched with pity for those whose turn seems to come last, and you want to ask God to give you opportunities to minister to them.
