Tag: miracle

What Will You Do with Jesus? (John 5:1-18)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Healing the Paralytic, by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1670

Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 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. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 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?”

“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.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 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. (New International Version)

Christ at the Pool of Bethesda, by Artus Wolffort, c. 1625

During one of the yearly Jewish festivals, on a Sabbath day, a miracle happened. Miracles of healing are typically accompanied by celebration and joy. But not so much with this one.

It’s one of those things about living in a messed up world of broken systems, that an invalid can start walking and there are people who have frowns and furrowed brows about it.

Granted, the man who was healed by Jesus may seem a bit hard to like in some ways. We don’t really know what he was into, but when Christ bestows healing on you, then says to stop sinning, it’s probably a significant sin to warrant the Lord’s exhortation.

Regardless of any sort of sin, the man appears to be paraplegic. Especially in the ancient world, this meant all sorts of problems had to be navigated – such as needing others to literally carry you around (no wheelchair or handicapped accessible anything), long periods of social isolation, lack of bodily control over your bowels and bladder, and the continual needs for cleanliness.

This made the man hard to like by many people just because he likely had strong body odors and had to crawl to get around if no one would help. He would not have been pleasant to look at. But he would have to make sure you did because, in the absence of any charity, the guy’s only option was to beg.

I’m glad there are greater forces in the world than indifference and dislike. There is grace – which is an act of bestowing honor and/or forgiveness to another person. It is not dependent upon whether one deserves it. Grace chooses not to hold something over or against another. It is a deep concern for others that comes from within and not from without.

“I do not understand at all the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.”

Anne Lamott

Another gracious act that Jesus did was to honor the man’s dignity by respecting him with a question. By asking a question, we don’t assume we know what’s best for another. Sincere questions acknowledge another’s basic humanity. “Do you want to get well?” Jesus asked.

In the life of being an invalid and having little control over much of anything, including one’s own body, being asked a question is to receive the gift of autonomy.

There are many times in my work as a hospital chaplain that I speak with patients who don’t have a lot of control in their lives. I go out of my way to ask questions such as, “May I come in?” “Is it alright with you if I pull up a chair and sit down?” “Would you be okay telling me about what is going on?” “May I pray with you?”

This is important, because there are too many other people in this world who would just barge into a room, act like they own the place, and talk at them, and not with them – hence reinforcing to the person that they’re nothing compared to others, that they don’t have any real say.

The man’s response to Jesus was to essentially say that he is alone. He has no one to help him. Even though the man is in a city, surrounded by hundreds and thousands of others, he is lonely.

Not anymore. Jesus saw him, even inquired about him and learned about the man. Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, cared about a non-descript invalid and was sincerely curious about him. In a world of everyone for himself, Jesus championed the lonely and the lost.

A simple command to obey was all. Christ told the man to pick up his mat and walk. That’s it. Just as words created the world, so a few words created a whole new life for the man. So, he got up, and he walked.

It’s interesting that the religious leaders never seemed to notice the man when he was lame, but now that he’s up and walking around, they pay attention to his apparent work on a Sabbath.

The invalid was validated by Jesus, but Jesus, the one validated by the Father, was invalidated by the religious leaders, who are the spiritual invalids.

It was against the (their) rules to carry something around. Apparently, it was okay for people to be lonely, not contribute to society in meaningful and dignifying ways, and to suffer; but it’s not okay to walk and carry a mat.

Even worse, is anyone who would heal on the Sabbath and tell the healed person to walk and carry a mat. It was so bad, apparently, that it warranted persecuting such a person. But that’s what happens when people are forced to serve rules, instead of the rules serving people.

On top of it all, Jesus was working; and he justified it by stating that his Father keeps working. This was dangerously close to blasphemy by likening himself to God. For the religious leaders, not only was Jesus unethical in breaking the law, but he was also theologically immoral; he claimed a special relation with God.

The more that laypeople get to know Jesus, the more compelling he becomes; they want to follow him. But the more that clergy discover Jesus, the more angry they become and want to do away with him.

Ultimately, it is Jesus we must contend with, and not the law and our interpretations of scripture. We need to decide what we are going to do with Jesus… what will you do?…

Spiritual Sight and Power (Acts 3:1-10)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Peter and John heal the crippled man, by Gustave Doré (1832-1883)

Peter and John were going to the temple courtyard for the three o’clock prayer. At the same time, a man who had been lame from birth was being carried by some men. Every day these men would put the lame man at a gate in the temple courtyard. The gate was called Beautiful Gate. There he would beg for handouts from people going into the courtyard. When the man saw that Peter and John were about to go into the courtyard, he asked them for a handout.

Peter and John stared at him. “Look at us!” Peter said. So the man watched them closely. He expected to receive something from them. However, Peter said to him, “I don’t have any money, but I’ll give you what I do have. Through the power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth, walk!” Peter took hold of the man’s right hand and began to help him up. Immediately, the man’s feet and ankles became strong. Springing to his feet, he stood up and started to walk. He went with Peter and John into the temple courtyard. The man was walking, jumping, and praising God.

All the people saw him walking and praising God. They knew that he was the man who used to sit and beg at the temple’s Beautiful Gate. The people were amazed and stunned to see what had happened to him. (God’s Word Translation)

Peter and John at the gate of the temple, by Rembrandt

Money isn’t everything; and neither is having a lot of talent or giftedness. Yet, we often live our lives as if we cannot do much because of our lack of personal abilities and financial resources. But we can. All we need to do is give something that we all have to give.

Peter and John were disciples of Jesus. Though Jesus has ascended to heaven and the gift of the Spirit has come, they still maintained a daily rhythm of prayer three times a day at the temple.

As the two of them were about to attend afternoon prayer, they encountered a man at the gate. We are told that this particular guy was crippled. He came every day to the temple in order to beg. What is interesting to me is that this surely was not the first time Peter and John encountered the guy who begged at the gate.

Did they just ignore him? Was he one of many? Whatever the reason, they never put their eyes to him before. But on this occasion they did. In fact, they fixed their gaze on him and really took the time to stop and look at him.

I remember when my late brother-in-law had a complete turn around of his life to Jesus. At the time, he walked to work every day in the city. And every day there was a beggar on the corner. Most every day he had ignored him. One day he even spit on him.

The day after his great awakening to the Lord, he was walking to work and saw the beggar. But this time he really saw him. And when he looked into the man’s eyes, he had pity upon him. My brother-in-law – who took his lunch with him each day – surrendered it to the beggar. Eventually, he began a practice of bringing enough food for two, sitting down with the man, and talking with him as they ate together.

Perhaps for the first time, these disciples of Jesus, Peter and John, see the man who was there every day at the temple. They have not a thing with them. No money. No lunch. But they had something better: the power of grace and love.

In our contemporary Western society, we prefer things to be efficient and simple. Giving money, preferably online and dispassionately, is ideal for us. This way, we can give without any strings attached while feeling good about ourselves.

Yet, my brother-in-law and Peter and John decided to give the gift of connection. And that meeting of the eyes was the conduit for spiritual power to flow from one person to another. Doing what they saw Jesus do, the disciples gave the man who could not walk his legs back.

As a result, the guy was no longer lame nor a beggar. He became a fellow witness of God’s mercy and power. He went right up into the temple with Peter and John – walking and jumping and praising God.

It is not really money that gets things done. And it’s not our ingenuity or intelligence that really makes things happens. Throughout the book of Acts, demonstrations of God’s mighty power in the name of Jesus Christ is paramount. And those with alternative sources of power are shown to be powerless when it comes to life transformation.

In all of human history, including today, people like power; and power attracts wealth, as well as wealth attracting power. But the power of Christ’s resurrection is completely disconnected from worldly wealth. And it is never used for personal gain or popularity. And what’s more, this sort of power is available to every Christian – and not just a special class of super-Christians or clergy persons.

If we trace apostolic work in the New Testament, we shall find that the people with such spiritual power received it not because of extraordinary faith or exceptional virtue; instead, the Spirit grants us the ability to make a difference in this world by granting us the gift of sight – to truly see another as the precious image bearer of God that they are.

There are people right in front of us every day that we might not see. If we are wondering how to tap into the spiritual power of resurrection, we have no further to look than observing and gazing upon the folks within our eyesight, so that we can see them in new and redemptive ways.

Holy Lord, you gave us something more powerful and more valuable than riches; you have given us healing and hope. Please bring that healing and hope into our world and show us evidence of your presence in our lives. Amen.

A Laughable Faith (Genesis 18:1-14)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Abraham and Sarah, by Marc Chagall, 1956

One hot summer afternoon while Abraham was sitting by the entrance to his tent near the sacred trees of Mamre, the Lord appeared to him. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. He quickly ran to meet them, bowed with his face to the ground, and said, “Please come to my home where I can serve you. I’ll have some water brought, so you can wash your feet, then you can rest under a tree. Let me get you some food to give you strength before you leave. I would be honored to serve you.”

“Thank you very much,” they answered. “We accept your offer.”

Abraham went quickly to his tent and said to Sarah, “Hurry! Get a large sack of flour and make some bread.” After saying this, he rushed off to his herd of cattle and picked out one of the best calves, which his servant quickly prepared. He then served his guests some yogurt and milk together with the meat.

While they were eating, he stood near them under the tree, and they asked, “Where’s your wife Sarah?”

“She is right there in the tent,” Abraham answered.

One of the guests was the Lord, and he said, “I’ll come back about this time next year, and when I do, Sarah will already have a son.”

Sarah was behind Abraham, listening at the entrance to the tent. Abraham and Sarah were very old, and Sarah was well past the age for having children. So she laughed and said to herself, “Now that I am worn out and my husband is old, will I really know such happiness?”

The Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Does she doubt that she can have a child in her old age? I am the Lord! There is nothing too difficult for me. I’ll come back next year at the time I promised, and Sarah will already have a son.” (Contemporary English Version)

You never know what a day will bring.

Abraham and Sarah woke up one morning and went about their daily routines. But when they went to bed that night, their lives were turned upside-down. After all, God has a way of shaking up our lives, in a good way.

There’s nothing quite like an unsolicited promise. It seems the old couple, Abraham and Sarah, had come to grips with their childlessness. But the Lord was about to upset the status quo, in a good way.

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”

St. Thomas Aquinas

A divine promise was made. The only thing Abraham and Sarah needed to do was believe – and, well, do what a couple needs to do to conceive a child. I don’t know many couples who are sexually active at 100 years old. It certainly would take an act of faith to believe that you could become impregnated and give birth to a baby at that age.

True belief results in decisive action. Abraham and Sarah believed and God’s promise was activated in their lives, not only changing the couples’ life, but also transforming history. The experience taught them to keep their heads up and continue looking ahead for the fulfillment of all God’s good promises.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out without knowing where he was going.

By faith he lived in the land he had been promised as a stranger. He lived in tents along with Isaac and Jacob, who were coheirs of the same promise. He was looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

By faith even Sarah received the ability to have a child, though she herself was barren and past the age for having children, because she believed that the one who promised was faithful. So descendants were born from one man (and he was as good as dead). They were as many as the number of the stars in the sky and as countless as the grains of sand on the seashore. (Hebrews 11:8-12, CEB)

Sometimes faith seems laughable. Belief in God, or at least in God’s promise, might appear by some to be about as possible or relevant as getting a hamburger named after you at Burger King. But faith, nonetheless, is very real and very needed.

Without faith, there’s no hope, and no basis for love. Belief is the foundation from which we construct a life. Faith imagines and actualizes a new reality, even when that reality seems improbable, impossible, and far-fetched.

In the New Testament Gospels, there were people who believed Jesus could heal their paralyzed friend. They envisioned a different reality than the one their friend was experiencing.

Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven”…. Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” And the man jumped up and went home! (Matthew 9:2, 6b-7, NRSV)

The size of the faith is not the issue – it is in whom that faith is placed. The littlest of faith in Jesus can have massive results, whereas the biggest of faith in someone who cannot get you to the other side gets no results.  Small information put into action through placing complete trust in Jesus makes all the difference.

“I [Jesus] assure you that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Go from here to there,’ and it will go. There will be nothing that you can’t do.” (Matthew 17:20, CEV)

God is ready to open a new future to us. And, indeed, it will be a good, just, and right future beyond what we ourselves can even ask or imagine. We just need a bit of faith to see the impossible become possible.

You never know what a day will bring. Maybe today you’ll experience a faith so laughable that it will change your life forever.

O heavenly Father, in whom we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you to guide and govern us by the Holy Spirit, so that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight, and so, trust in your grace and goodness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Trust the Promises (Joshua 3:1-17)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Crossing the Jordan River, by Yoram Raanan

Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it.”

Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”

Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they took it up and went ahead of them.

And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’”

Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”

So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground. (New International Version)

400 years of Egyptian slavery. Then deliverance from bondage. Another 40 years of wandering around the desert. It might have seemed to the ancient Israelites that getting to the Promised Land would never happen.

How can we know God is with us? Will divine promises really hold up? Can I keep trusting in the Lord, even though it is taking so darned long to get where I need to be?

Through yet another miracle of the parting of the waters and walking on dry land to get to the other side, Joshua and people of Israel (and us) are given a visual, tactile, experiential way of trusting God. By this indelible encounter, the people will know that the living God is among them, and without fail, the Lord will drive out all obstacles and opposition to entering and taking the land.

All the dramatic events that occurred were for the sake of the people, so that they would know that God is with them and will give them victory. To heighten the experience, the Jordan River was at flood stage at the time of the crossing. If you have ever been on the bank of a raging river, you know how significant a miracle this really was to behold. 

Today, we may not have the experience of seeing a rushing river stop and crossing over on dry ground; yet we have these stories that bear witness to the truth that God is among us, that God will do what was promised, and that God will give us victory.

Know that the victory came after a long liminal period of moving from one reality to another. A “liminal space” (an intermediate position characterized by transition, a place where things are either coming or going) is where the Israelites had to hang out for a very long time. Now, the promises were about to be realized.

Miracles and wonders and victories are neither easy nor cheap. They come as a result of significantly hard movements from the past into the future. In other words, our present experiences can be quite adverse and difficult. If we lose where we’ve come from, and where we’re going, we may too easily lose heart or become afraid and simply give up all hope.

That’s why God gives divine promises, so that we will be sustained with God’s words until the promised time is realized. It’s our job to encourage one another and remind each other of those promises; they are meant to buoy up our flagging spirits when things get rough.

So, keep looking and praying for that miracle. Just understand that you may need to persevere in faith, patience, and holiness for a while before it happens.

Blessed and holy God, continue the good work begun in me, so that I may increase daily in wholeness, integrity, and strength. I rejoice in your goodness and think and do that which pleases you, through Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Amen.