Focus

Snap and shoot cameras are great. They are easy to use and usually take good pictures. But sometimes, they focus at the wrong place and the part of the picture you want to be clear becomes blurred and the part that you don’t care about (the weed in the distance) becomes very clear. It usually is not a useful picture and we toss it in the trash.

Some people are easier to communicate with than others. I have already tried to pass pertinent information to someone who is so focused on what they are thinking about the situation that they can’t hear or process what I am saying. I’ve done that a few times myself. I’m so sure of what I know that I can’t hear that what I know is not the whole picture – it has some pertinent information missing. If the communicator persists and sees where the block is and ‘fixes’ the problem by filling in that information, I am able to see what they were trying to say all along.

There was a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. He hung out by the pool called Bethesda where healings regularly took place when the waters were stirred. The man had been hanging out there for many years but was never the first into the waters when they were stirred. Jesus walked up to him and asked him, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6). Of course the man wanted to be well. But his answer showed Jesus what he was thinking. He didn’t see Jesus as the one who could heal. He saw the pool as the answer to his problem. He just needed help getting to the pool faster the next time the waters stirred. He was probably hoping Jesus would offer to hang out with him and get him in there fast so he could be healed.

Jesus didn’t do the expected, but the unexpected. He told the man, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” The man didn’t hesitate but got up and walked away.

I wonder what authority must have been in Jesus’ voice that the man would have responded so quickly even though he was focused in another direction. Later on, it becomes apparent the man didn’t even know who Jesus was after he was healed. (John 5:13) The man obviously believed that healing was possible. That was why he hung out by the pool all those years. He obviously took Jesus at his word and got up and walked. Yet he had no idea who had healed him.

I wonder how many times Jesus acts in my life and the lives of others and we say to others, “I don’t know how it happened. It just did.” We are so focused on the problem and our solution that when Jesus gives us a solution, we miss where it came from.

I wonder why Jesus picked that particular man – an invalid for 38 years. And why didn’t he make a big deal about it with crowds gathered around so they could see his healing power in that moment. Wouldn’t more people believe in him if they saw him do it?

Later on, Jesus met up with the man again and told him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” By then the man had some time to get the cramp out of his brain and think about it and recognized that it was Jesus who had healed him. “The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.” John 5:15

Once he recognized the source of his healing, he was free to testify to others that it was Jesus who healed. When Jesus brings healing into my life, do I recognize it? When I do, how quick am I to testify to what Jesus has done for me.

Word

When our sons were teenagers, they would say, ‘word’ when they agreed with a concept or something that had just been said. One would say, “That was a great play!” And the other would respond with, “Word!” Or, one would say, “He really shouldn’t have done that.” And the other would respond with, “Word!” In a way, they meant, “What you speak is truth,” or “I totally agree with you.”

When Jesus returned to Galilee, a royal official came to him and ‘begged’ him to come and heal his son who was sick. Jesus responded with, “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe.” John 4:48. That was a strange answer – unless you look back at verse 44 “(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.)”

I believe it was difficult for Jesus to come to Galilee. Maybe it was bitter-sweet. It was home with lots of good childhood memories. But it was the most difficult place to function as the Messiah because the people all knew him as a child and while they wanted his miracles and healings, they didn’t see him for who he was – God’s Only Begotten Son!

But the royal officer barely noticed Jesus’ response. He had an urgent need. His son was very sick and would die without a miracle. So instead of responding to Jesus’ challenge, he simply restated his need, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Or was he responding to Jesus. Possibly he was thinking, “Jesus, you are my only hope! I desperately need you to come now!”

At any rate, Jesus said, “You may go. Your son will live.” “The man took Jesus at his word and departed.” John 4:50.

There was no, “Are you sure? Don’t you have to come and actually touch him?” But rather, he took Jesus at his word and departed. What confidence he had in Jesus’ word. He believed what Jesus said was true. He quit begging and went to see his son.

This royal official seemed to understand that Jesus had authority and power to remove the sickness from his son. We don’t know who this official was except that he was from Capernaum. We don’t know what previous experience he had with Jesus. Had he sat in the crowds when Jesus was teaching? Had he heard from others that Jesus could heal?

Chances are that he was watching Jesus from a distance to see if he would become a political threat. And then his son became ill. He had a desperate need and he only knew one person that could meet that need. He didn’t hesitate but went straight to the source. Jesus once again was willing and because of the man’s belief, he simply spoke the words, “Your son will live.”

An expression that has become very prevalent in the youth culture today is, “Back it up!” It sounds more like a statement of disbelief rather than belief. It is a statement that calls people to look at what they said and examine it for truth. Do you really mean what you said?

As I examine myself, I wonder if people are saying, “Back it up!” or if they are saying, “Word!” after I have spoken.

Along the Way - Part II

Along the way, Jesus healed many of their physical diseases. “When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.” Matthew 8:1-3

Leprosy was an incurable disease that separated people from the rest of society. Lepers gathered in colonies on the outskirts of town. They weren’t allowed to be where others were. And if they got close, they needed to call out, “Unclean!” to alert people to their presence. Jesus was not afraid of this disease. In the first case, he reached out his hand and touched the man. No man in his right mind would touch a leper! But Jesus did.

This man understood Jesus’ power to heal. He took the risk of approaching Jesus.

He understood the authority of Jesus. He knelt before him.

He understood the sovereignty of Jesus. “Lord, if you are willing…”

He understood the love of Jesus. He sought out Jesus even though Jesus was surrounded by a crowd – although I’m sure the crowed parted rapidly as he called out, “Unclean!” He somehow knew Jesus would see him and he would have an opportunity to ask for healing.

All of that, the man did. And then he made a statement. He didn’t ask for healing, but he made a faith statement that he believed Jesus was able to heal.

What Jesus did was simple. He confirmed everything the man had done in one simple statement, “I am willing.”

I wonder what was going through the man’s mind. He didn’t seem arrogant, yet he did a somewhat arrogant thing – he entered the crowed and approached Jesus even though the laws that governed their society would have prevented him from doing so. He humbled himself and bowed before Jesus. Yet he did not beg for healing. In the midst of all of this is the unspoken word, ‘hope’. I’m sure he longed to be healed so he could be back with his family and friends in the comfort of his home.

I wonder also what may have happened to the man after he was healed. Did he become a follower of Jesus? Was he one who in the end became a martyr for what he believed? Did he teach others to be followers of Jesus by sharing his experience?

“Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us!’ When he saw them, he said, ‘Go show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan.” Luke 17:11-15

Jesus healed ten and only one of them seemed to understand who Jesus was and came back and “threw himself at Jesus’ feet.” So why did Jesus heal all ten if they weren’t going to understand who he was and what power had healed them?

Apparently, not everyone who experiences Christ recognizes him and responds with gratefulness and humbleness. It seems that some of us are arrogant enough to believe that we deserve to be healed or that we were just one of the lucky ones who were at the right place at the right time.

I wonder if I would have been the one of the ten who returned to thank Jesus and bow before him, or if I would have been the one who bowed before Jesus and confirmed my faith regardless of the outcome. Now it’s getting personal. How do I approach Jesus when I have a desire, a hope, a ‘prayer request’?

Along the Way - Part I

I’m a task oriented person. When I am going from point A to point B, I go in a straight line and get frustrated if anything gets in my way. Sometimes when I’m barreling in a straight line towards my goal, God ‘gets in my way’ to get me to slow down and see something along the way. I’m learning to breathe and look around me. When I’m walking outside, rather than thinking about what I’m going to do when I get to my destination, I am learning to pay attention to nature or other people I meet on the way. Sometimes when I stop to take time with people, I end up with a great conversation, a chance to encourage someone or a chance to be encouraged by someone. God always encourages me with the natural beauty of birds, flowers, butterflies, or distant mountains.

Jesus met people on the way. Once when he was heading from Judea to Galilee, on the way through Samaria he stopped by Jacob’s well in Sychar and sat down for a rest. His disciples had gone on ahead into town to buy food. While Jesus was sitting there, a woman came to the well to draw water. It was well past the time when most women gathered at the well to draw their water for the day. It is a good guess that she was not welcome with the other women. Jesus asked her for some water. This really floored her. He was a Jew. She was a Samaritan, a woman, and the lowest of women as pecking orders go. He shouldn’t even be talking with her let alone asking her for a drink.

She asks him why. His response is, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10. She missed the word ‘living’ as she focused on how he was going to get water with no vessel to put it in. ‘Living’ water is fresh, new, life-giving, and from the source. It is easy to see how she missed that because she thought the well she was drawing from had pretty good water.

Jesus, however, was not referring to H₂O. He was once again moving from the physical to the spiritual. “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14. The woman likes the idea of never having to come back to the well and deal with the sideways looks from the other women or the hard labor of carrying the water day after day. Jesus picks up on this and tells her to get her husband and come back.

Now the woman understands that Jesus ‘has her number’ and she believes him to be a prophet. So she tries to ask him the big question that has bothered Samaritans since way back – Is Jerusalem the only place where people can worship? This question also has to do with the prejudices and hatred of the Jews against the Samaritans.

Jesus again moves from the physical here and now and into the spiritual realm. His answer teaches us all much about worship and about our hang-ups regarding the proper way to worship. Do we put our hands up in the air, do we kneel, do we stand quietly, do we sing loud, do we pray, etc. Jesus says, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:21-24.

If all we are seeing is physical posture and if all we are hearing is what style of music is being used, we are missing true worship. Worship is a matter of the heart. It is a matter of the mind. Who do we understand God to be? Can we move from the physical (I can’t see him, I can’t hear him) to the spiritual (He is the awesome Creator of the universe, He is Holy, He is Righteous and I don’t deserve to be alive in His presence), I can humble myself and truly worship His Greatness.

The woman, who is still a bit confused, says to Jesus, “I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” John 4:25.

Jesus responded to her with, “I who speak to you am he.” John 4:26. This is one of the times that Jesus directly declares himself to be the Messiah. The woman can’t wait to tell others about her experience. She runs back to the town and tells everyone who will listen, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” John 4:29

As others came and heard for themselves, they asked Jesus to stay and teach them. And he did – for two days. And because of this many became believers, sure that he was indeed the Savior of the world.

I wonder if I could have changed my plans and taken two days to stop and teach willing listeners. And even more, I wonder how many blessings I have missed along the way because I was too task oriented.

If I Can't See It, It's Not There - Or Is It?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

That is probably one of the most memorized verses in the Bible. The rest of John 3 is rich with Jesus’ teaching, yet we don’t spend much time absorbing it and many of us don’t even know what it contains. Not that we shouldn’t focus on John 3:16, but we shouldn’t stop there.

The first part of John 3 is a conversation between Jesus and one of the religious leaders of the day. Nicodemus was struggling with his own beliefs. He believed that Jesus was a teacher who had come from God. But as a religious leader, he had studied the Scriptures to great length and his knowledge about how things should be (according to the beliefs he had accumulated) was getting in the way of accepting what Jesus was teaching.

Jesus immediately jars him off course by saying, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” John 3:3 This statement floors Nicodemus. What does it mean to be born again? This is a question we all need to deal with if we want to see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus is stuck in the here and now – where most of us spend a good bit of our time! He can’t make sense out of what Jesus is saying. Jesus clarifies, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” John 3:5

We are a people who likes to believe in what we can touch with our hands and see with our eyes. Yet Jesus is telling Nicodemus (and us) that there is a Spirit that we cannot see with our eyes or touch with our hands. Like Nicodemus, many of us struggle to comprehend this. We cannot control this Spirit and we like to control things around us. We cannot see this Spirit and we have a hard time believing in anything we cannot see. This struggle is true for those who believe Jesus is the Son of God and it is true for those who don’t believe Jesus is the Son of God.

This struggling is apparent throughout our lives as we try to understand why bad things happen to good people, as we try to understand why basically good people still need to be saved, as we struggle with prayer and the power or lack thereof of prayer, and as we struggle with whether or not God cares about the details of our lives.

Jesus goes on with Nicodemus, “You are Israel’s teacher, and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.” It seems that for most of us, the first step is to accept the testimony of someone who has experienced the Spirit. This is the bridge between the physical birth and the spiritual birth.

In this generation, it seems that we have a lot of people who know the Scriptures, who know the right words, who maybe even live the right way, but have not gotten past the physical world into the Spiritual one. How then can they testify and encourage the faith development of others if they have not experienced it themselves? Paul teaches us that “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1 This is a hard ‘pill to swallow’ for those of us who have our feet on the ground and believe what we can see.

As we see others living with this faith and hope, we may be able to take the first step across the bridge and believe that these people are interacting with the Holy Spirit and there may be more than our eyes can see and our fingers can touch. At some point, we may be convinced that they have something and be willing to take the plunge into the unknown and see if we can experience this same Holy Spirit. Once we believe it is possible, that step is easier to take.

What holds us back is the Light that illuminates the real self, the real motive, the ugly skeletons we love to hide in our closets. Like a 2-year-old, we believe if we can’t see it, it’s not there! Then this Light comes on and we see just how desperate we really are. But here the greatest of all things happens. Once we see our need, Jesus is right there. All we need to do is ask his forgiveness and he is right there ready to clean us up and let us begin again – born of the Spirit. “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” John 3:21