The first few words of John 5 remind me of a fact I learned on my first visit to Israel in February 2005. It states Jesus went up to Jerusalem. No matter where you are in Israel - North, South, East or West, one always goes 'up' to Jerusalem.
The story this chapter begins with is that of the man at the Pool of Bethesda. Before seeing the site in person I hadn't grasped the enormity of the pools. There is definitely room for multitudes of blind, lame and paralyzed to be brought to the area in hope of being that fortunate one who gets into the pool first when the miracle of the waters being stirred occurs. The Pool of Bethesda is an amazing place - and is really several pools. It is an impressive site to visit, and visiting the site makes the story come alive.
This particular man in our story had been an invalid for 38 years, and, as he explained to Jesus, he had no one to help him get into the pool in time....someone always beat him to it. It is a story with many layers - but the one I want to explore is Jesus' question, "Do you want to be healed?" The man never actually gives a direct answer to what that question addresses. At first glance it would be easy for us to say, "Duh! Do you think? Everyone wants to be healed!" Do they?
"Do you want to be healed - or do you want to continue lying here? Is your identity so wrapped up in your frailty that you cannot function outside of who you see yourself to be? Are you willing to be chastised for being healed on the Sabbath? Do you WANT to be healed with all that entails...perhaps even having to get a job?"
All this man saw was the immediate. The question Jesus asked appears to me to be far deeper than what he had considered.
Another thing that strikes me in this story is that the man pretty much throws Jesus under the bus. He is chastised for carrying his mat on the Sabbath - - which was absolutely forbidden, of course, under the plethora of laws added to God's basic laws, by men who defined exactly what work was. And, upon being chastised, he deflects blame to the One who told him to - then after his next encounter with Jesus, he makes a point of telling the Jews that it was Jesus who healed him. For Jesus' loving good deed, he was persecuted instead of adored.
Note to self: don't expect to be appreciated or honored for doing the right thing. Jesus wasn't.
I had the great joy of attending my second Governor's Prayer Breakfast this morning. I was blessed to be able to sit at a table with three of our State's Representatives: Rep Terry Nealey, Rep Norma Smith and Rep Hans Zeigler; two Legislative Aids: Meagen and Sarah; Rep Smith's daughter, Natalie; Natalie Closner, the young woman who provided special music; and another young woman connected to Young Life. Many facets of the morning touched my heart. Among the highlights were: a very touching, heartfelt prayer of invocation by Senator Paull Shin; student remarks by Josh Allison of UW (who provided hope as he represents the caliber of young people who could step in to lead us into the future); and the testimony of the Keynote Speaker, Tamrat Layne, who was a former Prime Minister of Ethiopia. What a story!
As a young person he was both an atheist and a communist. He led a revolt against his country's leadership, after being the leader of a guerrilla group that built an army of 150,000 people over 15 years time. He then became Prime Minister, with his best friend placed in the role of President. But then the ideology fell apart. In trying to institute the values of Socialism and Communism that he had so thoroughly believed he learned they didn't work - and when he told his friends he was wrong, rather than trying to find a better way to solve their country's problems, his best friends turned against him and had him thrown in jail. His wife and two small children had to flee the country and live in a refugee camp. He was totally disillusioned and devastated. Destroyed. Hopeless.
After five years in prison, he was given one small tract that told about Jesus - and for the first time in his life, Tamrat prayed.... It was a 'God, if you are really there' prayer. He repeated the prayer a few times over the next few days....hungering to know if it could be true.
In response, one night in the middle of the night he awoke to a light of myriads of colors, and out of the center of that light came another light - - and out of that light, a man who was all light. The man spoke to him and said, "I am Jesus." For three consecutive nights they conversed. Jesus told him he would get him out of the prison, and that Tamrat would speak to others about Jesus.
After his conversion, Tamrat asked the lady who gave him the tract for something else to read - and she gave him a small pocket Bible, and suggested he begin with the Gospel of John, but the Bible first fell open to Psalm 119, so that is where he started.
It was 7 more years before Tamrat was released. He spent a total of 12 years in solitary confinement. Because of the extreme change in his life, born out by his demeanor, several of the guards accepted Jesus as well. During the 7 years following his conversion, Jesus was definitely with him! During that time, God spoke clearly to him about forgiveness. It was hard to commit to, but finally, he surrendered his anger and bitterness over how he had been abandoned and abused by his former friends, and he committed to go ask for their forgiveness - as well as to tell them he forgave them - as soon as he was released from jail. By then, he was a completely changed man, and when he asked the Lord if it was really necessary for him to go through all he had been through, Jesus told him, "Yes."
His is a wonderful story of God's amazing intervention and a totally changed life.
Following a long, heartfelt standing ovation for Tamrat, Natalie Closner sang a beautiful, stylized rendition of "It is Well With my Soul," inviting us to join her on the choruses; and with a closing prayer, we departed, knowing it was good to be present, to pray together, and to be reminded that Jesus supersedes every barrier! May it be so!
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