KING JESUS: A JOURNEY THROUGH MATTHEW'S GOSPEL (PT 9)

Is Jesus merely a healer, or is he in the healing business? The Bible is replete with instances of Jesus healing the sick, the handicapped, and even raising the dead. In fact, all four gospels record a staggering 37 miracles of Jesus. This unequivocally establishes that Jesus is indeed in the healing business. But the question that lingers is, does Jesus continue to heal today? The answer, in short, is yes. But the intricacies of how he heals, the types of healing he performs, the recipients of his healing, and the reasons behind his choices are subjects of ongoing debate. If I were a prosperity Gospel pastor and faith healer, I might assert that God heals all those who possess enough faith. However, the reality is not so straightforward.  The truth is, God does heal, but the specifics of who, how, and why He heals remain a mystery we cannot definitively answer.

Today, we delve into the healing narratives of Matthew chapter 9, witnessing Jesus's many miraculous healing and we will conclude with the healing of a blind man at the Pool of Bethsada in John 5.

Matthew 9:1 - 34
In the preceding chapter, Jesus demonstrated his authority over nature and creation by calming a storm.  He further showcased his power by exorcising a demon, asserting his authority over the spiritual realm.  Now, in chapter 9, Jesus performs a healing that is particularly poignant. A group of friends, filled with faith, bring a paralyzed man to Jesus.  Jesus, moved by their faith, heals the man. This instance is a powerful testament to the role of faith in healing, as it was the faith of the friends that led to the paralytic's healing. Michael Wilkins writes in his commentary on Matthew, “While individual sin is usually not the direct cause of a person’s sickness, at the heart of humanity’s problem is sin. Once sin is forgiven and redemption has occurred, all sickness and death will ultimately be abolished.”[1] This was cause for rejoicing for the paralytic man, but not everyone was overjoyed by Jesus’ authority and statement.  The religious leaders thought Jesus was blaspheming because only God can forgive sins. On a human level, forgiveness is always possible, but only God has the authority to forgive sins. In this instance, the scribes see Jesus as claiming to speak from God in this authoritative manner. Jesus knows their hearts, and he questions why they have these thoughts of blasphemy, and then he has the ultimate mic drop moment.  He says, “Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? 6 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” Jesus’ authority is proven as the man immediately jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home. The response was a reverential awe that fell over the crowd as they witnessed this healing and praised God for this beautiful work.

In the verses to follow, we witness Matthew, the author, being called as a disciple. In response to Jesus’ critics, it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Jesus raised a young girl from the dead, healed two blind men, and cured a man of demon possession.

The Pool
One of my favorite healing accounts in the N.T. is found in John 5:5 – 12. 

Vs 5:  The story focuses on one man who had been handicapped for 38 years.  We do not know what his infirmity was, many speculate he was paralyzed.  It is possible that for 38 years this man could have been coming to this pool with the hope that one day he would be the first one in the pool and be healed.  Yet, for 38 years he has left the location disappointed because he had not been the one.
 
Vs 6:  Enter Jesus.  Jesus knew this man had been there for a long time and for an unknown reason, out of the multitudes of handicapped people Jesus picks this man.  A deeper reading could suggest this, like the meeting of the Samaritan woman at the well, was a divine encounter, with the ultimate purpose of glorifying God. Jesus approaches the man and asks, “Would you like to get well?”  One version reads, “Do you want to be healed?” This seems like a silly question to ask a person who has been handicapped for his entire life; but we see Jesus is a gentleman.  He doesn’t just go up and force himself on the man and heal him; he asks him directly if he wants to be made well. A question he still asks us today.
 
Vs 7:  The man had no idea who was speaking to him.  He had no idea that Jesus was God in the flesh, and he was offering to heal him.  In his response you can hear his hopelessness, “I want to be healed but every time I try to be the first in the water someone else gets there before me.”  He sounds like a defeated man who had given up hope.  Here is a man who for 38 years was putting his trust in a legend, myth or tale and for 38 years left disappointed.  The legends, myths and traditions had failed him.  But when Jesus asked him if he wanted to be healed, he was hoping Jesus would assist him to get to the water.  He believed there was no hope for getting to the water… Yet he still determined to try all the time.  He was hopeless but determined.  All the while he was unaware that the great healer was standing before him, engaging him in conversation and offering to make him well.  
 
In this short encounter I am reminded of people who are pessimistic life, much like this man.  These are people who are hopeless, giving up and seeing no turning around of their situations.  Some are this way for good a reason and some are not.  I have a friend who is the ultimate pessimist… He is never happy, never satisfied, and is always looking at the negative side of life.  People like this remind me of Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh… His attitude is this "After all, what are birthdays? Here today and gone tomorrow."  They have no cause for celebration, see no purpose in rejoicing and forget about seeing the bright side of life.  There are many Christians who are like this as well they are always negative; nothing ever works out for them.  Their motto could be, “I can never get a break.” Or “Why bother (Fill in the blank), I’ll just fail anyway.”  These are hopeless individuals who focus so much on the hopeless situation(s) that they forget they serve a God who is willing and able to bring hope and healing to any situation they may face.  There is so much focus on the negative that they lose sight of the solution… God.
 
Vs 8 & 9:  In one fell swoop this hopeless man is given hope!  Jesus speaks (even his words are powerful) and the man is healed instantly. In this passage we witness a miracle of God and in this instance a man who was handicapped for 38 years is now made well!  Now the pessimists would respond, “Why did God wait 38 years to heal this man?  It’s not fair he had to be invalid for this long.”  Or “Why did God choose to heal that person and did not choose me?” But the hope filled believer in Jesus Christ rejoices because God healed someone, and we should praise him for his faithfulness and healing.  My friends there is hope in Jesus! 
   
Vs 9b:  Now, there is another supposed problem as this was the Sabbath.  This is significant. The Jews kept a strict Sabbath.  Nowhere in the OT does it prohibit one from carrying a mattress on the Sabbath (maybe the closest they could come was not to carry a burden on the Sabbath).  However, the Jews had developed traditions throughout history regarding the Sabbath.  There were 39 classes of work that were prohibited on this day one included carrying something from one place to another.  This was an added law (tradition) to God’s command.  There was an exception for carrying something on the Sabbath if it was an act of compassion.  
 
Vs 10 - 12:  The Jewish authorities see this man carrying his mattress on the Sabbath and confront him.  The man responds by enthusiastically saying a someone healed him of his infirmities of 38 years and told him to get up, take his mat and walk. 
And we read “they responded by rejoicing and praising God for the wonderful miracle that He performed!”  Well, maybe not. They wanted to know who told him it was ok to break their traditions.  They didn’t care that the man was healed, they didn’t care that God did a miraculous deed.  Their only concern was someone dared to break the Sabbath by healing someone and then telling the healed person to go and continue to break the Sabbath by carrying his mat. 
 
With this encounter I am reminded of a second group of people who are the law makers and enforcers.  These are people so consumed with enforcing and keeping the rules and following traditions that they completely miss God at work.  These individuals are quick to dismiss what God does because either it was done in an unorthodox way or because it breaks certain traditions.  We need to be careful to not place such a high value on human traditions that we refuse to see God at work.  This happens so often in Christianity today.  We have so many human traditions (which are not all bad) but we sometimes place more value on our traditions than we do on God.  Just because something is done in an unconventional way or goes against human tradition does not mean that God is not in it (just as it also doesn’t guarantee that He is… we must be diligent in discernment).  But may we not be so focused on human traditions that we miss a movement of God.
 
Vs 13:  The man didn’t know who had healed him because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.
 
Vs 14 & 15:  Later on, Jesus seeks out the man in the temple and says, “See you are well!  Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”  You see when Jesus heals, he not only physically heals but he also deals with the sin issue in one's life as well.  Whenever Jesus encounters a sinner, he always deals with the sin issue.  The man is now physically made well… He is healed from his infirmity.  Now Jesus tells him to stop sinning.  This could imply that his infirmity is related to his sin but is not definite and certainly does not mean that all infirmity is related to sin in one's life.  He tells the man to stop sinning which could mean pursue holiness or pursue God so that when the Day of Judgment comes nothing worse will happen.
 
After this last encounter the man goes to the Jews (probably thinking it was the right thing to do) and tells them that it is Jesus who healed him.
           
Application/Conclusion
The healing of the lame man at the pool is very similar to Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well.  In both instances Jesus gives hope to individuals and also deals with sin.  In this instance I have two observations to take home with us that we can use in our everyday relationship with Jesus Christ.

1. When we focus on the hopelessness of a situation we will fail to see God at work.  

• There is no doubt many here today are faced with hopeless circumstances in life (Whether it is finances, relationships, work, school, family, life, health etc.) we cannot allow our focus to be diverted from Jesus.  
• God is a God of hope and healing.  He can and will (and it may take 38 years) bring hope and healing to any crisis you may be facing.

​     2. When we focus on keeping tradition or on what God won’t do then we limit Him.

• As I said already… Traditions are not bad; they also are not the Gospel truth either.  When we fail to see God’s hand at work because we think God wouldn’t do such a thing or it goes against our traditions then we have placed God in a box and God cannot be contained by a box.
• God is a God of surprises.  He will sometimes use unconventional means to accomplish His will.  We must be mindful to not discredit something just because we don’t think He would do it a certain way.  Just as well we need to be diligent in discerning whether God is behind the movement or not.

 
[1] Wilkins, Michael J.. The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew (p. 355). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.

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