Read: John 5
Pray: “Yes, Jesus, I want to be whole!”
Watch: The Chosen Season 2 Episode 4
https://watch.thechosen.tv/video/184683594356
Jesus asked a man who had been unable to walk for 38 years, “Would you like to get well?” How would you have replied? “Duh!” Or, “Yes, please!” The man’s reply exposed his feelings of futility.
Jesus simply told the man, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk.” He did! Oh, the joy that must have flooded his body, heart and soul! And what a story he had to tell! There was only one problem…he broke the law, by carrying his mat. Jesus also broke the law by healing on the sabbath. A simple story with complex consequences for the man, for Jesus, and for you and me.
This week, after the advent season, we return to the Book of John. We are a people with a goal: to be a healthy follower of Jesus, in a healthy community of Christ (healthy disciple, healthy church). The question to us is simple, “Do you want be whole?” Our answers are complex.
We are broken people living in a broken system. We may have spent the better part of our life, or almost our entire life trying to “get it right.” To “do the right thing.” Or “just be good enough!” Just like the man by the pool, we try in vain to accomplish something we have no means to complete. He couldn’t get to the water; we was unable to find healing alone.
At just the right time, Jesus came. He came to heal. He still comes to heal. He is asking you today, “Do you want to be whole?” He said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).
Are you tired of trying to be good enough? Are you traumatized by the broken system? Have you been making every effort to do it “on your own?” Jesus says, “Come to me, get up, let’s walk together… do you want to be whole? What do you say…!
Discussion Questions:
- Do you want be whole?
- Are you weary and carry a heavy burden?
- What do you need to give to Jesus?
- Are you walking with a small group of fellow-travelers?
- Are you praying together?
- Are you partaking in the Word together?
- If not, how will you change that?
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Dr Mark John Bennett