Every miracle was unique, tailored by Jesus’ perfect knowledge of the sufferer. To the Samaritan woman, He was the Messiah, the one who knew the intimate details of her private life. He gave her a drink of the “living water”, a love she craved but couldn’t find.
To the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda, Jesus was the stranger who understood his hopeless heart.
“Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
John 5:2, 5-6 NIV
Jesus’ surprise question was not intended to convey His ignorance but to encourage the man to own his real condition. He was full of self-pity, the death of hope…For thirty-eight years, he had been in this condition and no one, NO ONE, had ever been there to help him.
““Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
John 5:7 NIV
“Poor me!” Now that he had owned up to the real issue, Jesus cut him short, gave him an instruction which was His promise.
“Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.””
John 5:8 NIV
The result was instantaneous. The man was too shocked to argue. The miracle happened and he walked…
“At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath…”
John 5:9 NIV
John adds a sinister note to the story…on the Sabbath! Jesus’ deed was volcanic! His persecutors were always nearby, watching for an opportunity to catch Him in an infringement of the law.
Once they knew the identity of the man who did miracles who was, of course, who else but their arch enemy, Jesus, they were on His case.
“So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.”
John 5:16 NIV
It never entered the thick skulls and unbelieving hearts of these religious leaders that the very fact that Jesus did miracles on the Sabbath was evidence that He was no ordinary man. People don’t just walk around telling paralytics to get up and walk…and it happens!
There followed this clash one of the longest of Jesus disclosures of His true identity and His intimate connection with the Father…
“In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”
John 5:17-18 NIV
…calling down the murderous rage of the Pharisees on His head.
Let’s go back to the miracle itself. In John’s introduction to Jesus, he identified Him as “the Word of God”. Who Jesus is and what He says are the same thing. His word is a revelation of Himself, an extension of Himself, and the power by which He operates. So, what He says is the substance of what will happen.
John’s vision of Jesus in Revelation 19 is the vision of the all-conquering warrior-king whose name embodies essence if who He is.
“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.”
Revelation 19:11, 13 NIV
Jesus’ weapon of conquest is His word. In the gospel story, it was His word that carried weight and power. What He said happened, whether it was calming a storm, driving out demons, or curing sickness…all was evidence of His authority over all things through His spoken word.
To the devil himself, Jesus declared…
…“It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4:4 NIV
This truth has great significance for us in the crises and the daily grind of life. When we call on the name of the Lord, for what must we ask? A miracle or a word? It’s the word that is the vehicle of the miracle. When Jesus speaks the word, it is done.
When the centurion pleaded for the life of his dying servant, all his confidence lay in four words, “Just say the word…”
All Jesus’ authority and power is concentrated in His word. Our prayer must be, not for a miracle but for a word because…
“…My word…will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
Isaiah 55:11b NIV
To be continued …