A Word about Defeating Death on the Road to the Cross

Today, I want to share a word about defeating death on the road to the cross as I comment on John 11. Let’s begin with verses 1-7:

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

Introduction:

Death is something that, if the Lord tarries, we all will face.  People almost universally fear death, and, in fact, there is very little difference in the way that believers and nonbelievers feel emotionally about death.  It is almost always a dreaded thing and most of us would also fight tooth and nail to keep our life.  A good example of this is a woman by the name of Jennifer Grunbeck, who’s story was told in the book, Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds, written by Gary M. Pomerantz.

She was a passenger in Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529 which crashed in rural Carroll County, GA, in 1995.  She was burned over 90% of her body.  By all estimates, she had no chance at all to survive, but she did.  She spent 106 days in a burn unit in Chattanooga, undergoing some of the most painful treatments known to medicine. After she returned home to Massachusetts, she had to endure six hours of physical and occupational therapy a day.  She fought to live and continued to do so until she passed away from other causes many years later. Even what she has endured was not as fearsome as the prospect of death.

The good news for us is that we have someone to turn to who can defeat death.  If we know Him, we should have confidence in His care for us, even in the most difficult of times. Let us look at His work as we consider the events of John Chapter 11

Jesus had Purpose: 

This passage opens with the statement that a certain man was sick. This is a common occurrence in the world. It is common in our developed world today and it is even more common in the developing world. When new team members joined our work in Africa, part of our orientation was to tell them what to do when they got sick, not if they got sick. In the Gospels, it was also common for people to call upon Jesus to heal them.

As my mother-in-law and father-in-law became aged, they developed several health problems, the way that most people do. Because my wife and her older brother both resided several hours away from our hometown, it fell to the middle daughter and her husband to help them with doctor appointments. In fact, it was mostly the son-in-law who cared for them. At first it wasn’t so bad, but later, he would get called at all hours of the day and night. He was patient and loving of them, but it did become quite a burden toward the end of their lives. The same must have been true for Jesus, and no doubt that was one reason He would go off to quiet places to rest and to have private time with the Father.

This was not just any man, however. Lazarus was the brother of Martha and Mary, and this was a family that Jesus loved. Most people can only have a handful of intimate friends, and Mary,  Martha, and Lazarus may have been the closest friends Jesus had outside of His disciples. So, you would expect Jesus to rush over and save Lazarus, but Jesus is someone from whom you should expect the unexpected. In fact, Jesus deliberately delayed going to see His friends. Why would He do that?

A missionary to Taiwan once relayed a story of how she was standing in line at the post office there, when someone cut in line in front of her. She rebuked that person, only to find that he was a member of their church. She asked why he would do such a thing, and he stated, “You Westerners have things backwards: you are kind to strangers and rude to your family and friends. You just assume that they will understand and make allowances for you. We Taiwanese people may be rude to strangers, but we are respectful of family and friends.”

So, was Jesus being rude or respectful? Actually, He wanted to use this event for a special miracle. He was not neglecting His friends, but He wanted to honor them. When He was ready, and no sooner, Jesus decided to go to Bethany.

How did His followers react to that decision? Let’s read John 11:8-16:

The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” So Thomas, called the Twin said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

 Jesus had Determination:

The disciples were astounded at the idea of going to Judea. They knew that there was great resistance to Jesus there among the Jewish leaders. They were afraid that the resistance was too strong for Jesus, and they believed that Jesus would be killed. Frankly, they did not think that Lazarus’s situation, whatever it was, was worth the risk. They were afraid of death, and they didn’t think Jesus was able to do anything about that.

Jesus, however, was confident in His purpose and His power, and He persisted:

·       He was on a mission

·       He knew what He was doing.

·       He knew what He could do.

·       He would not give in to doomsayers.

I remember the case of a retired Army officer and defense writer who is now deceased. He was a maverick, and his military career had come to a sudden halt because if it. He had become popular with some segments of the press because he was always predicting doom and gloom about our military.  On the eve of Desert Storm, he predicted defeat and heavy casualties on the part of U.S. forces. He, of course, was wrong. He, of course, had been ignored by those who had really understood the situation!

We, too, need to have confidence in Jesus. We get scared, just like the Disciples. We want to run the other direction, just like the Disciples. We do this, even with the entire Canon of Scripture available to us, and, even when we do follow Jesus, we often do it like Thomas. God must look down upon us and say to Himself: “Oh ye of little faith!”

So, in His timing, and despite the protests of the Disciples, Jesus went to Bethany. How was He received when He got there? We will find out as we look further in John 11:17-23:

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Jesus had Compassion:

Naturally, Martha and Mary were upset, and they reacted in different ways. This is a common experience when people suffer grief. Despite popular opinion, there is no single way to react to the loss of a loved one. People have many and varied reactions. For example:

A friend who is a veteran police chaplain described how he assisted an officer with a death notification one night. The man that they awoke from sleep was the father of the decedent, who had died from a violent confrontation. When they relayed the bad news to the father, all he said was, “Thank you for telling me. Is there anything I need to do tonight?” The officer told him no, and the man thanked them again, and simply closed the door. He had expressed no surprise, no grief, no anger. He showed no emotion at all, even as he thanked my friend and the police officer.

As we saw in verses 7-23, Martha stormed out to confront Jesus. She blamed Hm for the death of Lazarus while expressing a strong faith in Jesus. We usually think of Mary as the more spiritually faithful sister, but in this case, we see the depth of Martha’s faith as she spoke with Jesus.

So, what about Mary? 

Mary, the “spiritual one” stayed at home sulking. We know she was sulking by what she told Jesus when Martha called for her to come to Jesus.

John 11:32-35 says,

 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.

Both Mary and Martha, in different ways, blamed Jesus for the death of Lazarus. This blame was misplaced:

·       Sin brought illness and death into the world, not God.

·       Lazarus, like all people, was a sinner and he deserved death and Hell.

·       Jesus did not owe them anything.

·       We all need to come to God as beggars, with our hat in our hand. In fact, a famous definition of evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. 

Jesus reacted with patience to Martha and with love to Mary. These are the classic reactions of God. We deserve judgment and punishment, but He shows us compassion. Like a parent with an angry child. God will do what is right, but not out of anger, but out of love.  This patience comes out of confidence, and confidence comes out of competence.

The most difficult bosses to work for are the ones who are new to the role and who are unsure of themselves. They are worried about their own competence, and so they often question the competence of others also.  Jesus was calm and confident, but not everyone was so sure.

John 11:36-37 tells us,

So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

Remember, not everyone will understand your purpose and your mission as you follow God. Since the proof of the pudding is in the eating, Jesus showed His confidence was justified by demonstrating His competence as we see in John 11:38-46,

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

Jesus had Power:

Jesus showed His compassion, with His words but also with His Power. He spoke, and Lazarus came forth from the grave. But, what would have happened had Lazarus not come forth?

·       Jesus would have hurt Martha and Mary beyond measure.

·       He would have risked His life and those of His disciples for nothing.

·       In Judea, the center of Jewish power and politics, He would have been a laughingstock.

·       His life and His ministry would have been in shreds. 

Jesus would have been like a one-hit singer, or a washed-up actor. Instead, Jesus showed the world His power as well as His compassion, and His ministry went from strength to strength.

We can see tangible signs of the mighty power of God in the life of Jesus in this event. Lazarus was dead for four days and he was bound in grave clothes. Martha and everyone there knew that he was dead, and they didn’t want to smell the evidence. Yet, Jesus simply spoke, and Lazarus was revived! As one wag has quipped, “It is good that Jesus called Lazarus by name or else every other dead person from the beginning of time would have come forth!”   

We must see the dimensions of what Jesus did here. He marched into the midst of those who hated Him and He risked death, as well as the deaths of those who followed Him. Even more, He risked the hatred of His loved ones for this opportunity to show His power. Yet, this was no risk, because the power was His. This power is available to us today, because He doesn’t change. Even more exciting for us personally, He loves us and offers us access to this power even now!                

Conclusion:

Here is the question of the hour: If Jesus has power over death, what is there in creation that He can’t control? What is there in your life that He cannot overcome?

In our need, if we turn to Him, we will experience His compassion and His power! In our abundance, if we turn to Him, we will experience His guidance and His perfect will. In either case, whether we understand what He is doing or not, our best course of action is to turn to Him!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about Divine Abundance on the Road to the Cross

Today I want to share a word about divine abundance on the road to the Cross.  This passage reads:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

 Introduction:

One nice thing about the relatively itinerant life of the ministry is the chance to learn new things.  In New Orleans we learned a French word Lagniappe, which means a little something extra. An example of that is the baker’s dozen of thirteen, instead of twelve, doughnuts

In Christ we have a similar experience of something extra.  Not only does He offer us eternal life, and forgiveness of sins, but he also offers an abundant life here on earth.  Let's look at it from John 10.

The Thief of Abundant Life: 

The world is full of thieves. Too many people covet what others have, and they take it in any way that they can. This makes us lock doors, have alarms, and have guards. Theft is common and few people escape being a victim of theft or even worse, robbery.

When I was a pastor in east Alabama, I routinely saw three of the four members of one particular family in church every Sunday. The three which came varied from week to week, but I never saw all four in church at the same time. When I inquired about this unusual pattern of attendance, I was told that they always left someone at home in their isolated farmhouse to keep an eye on it and their tractors and other farm implements.

The most insidious thieves are the ones you don't see. I once had my suitcase stolen during a train journey in the United Kingdom. On most tarins, bags are not checked like in airliners but are carried on and stored on open racks in an alcove. Apparently, the thief simply boarded the train during a stop at a station, walked through the train, grabbed a random bag, mine, off the luggage rack, and then left the train. I was none the wiser until I reached my destination and my suitcase was gone!

In a different way, the embezzler, the tax cheat, and the bribed government official are also unseen thieves as are processes in your body that you can't see but which are dangerous. For example, a woman I know must be careful with the dosage of her thyroid medication, because if the level becomes too elevated it will cause her calcium levels to drop, robbing her of bone mass. Things like this can make you miserable, but you don't know why.

Spiritual thieves are even more dangerous. These scheme to get our loyalty, time, money, and enthusiasm. Once they get them, they waste them and give nothing back.  Some of these thieves include Satan, false religions, secular humanists, and other charlatans. Satan is chief among these; he is jealous of God, and he will do anything he can to hurt him. That usually means hurting God's people, the ones whom God loves.

 The most tragic of all of the thieves is us. We are our own worst enemy. Like cartoonist Walt Kelly once quipped, “We have met the enemy, and he is us!” We steal defeat from the jaws of victory by believing we are smarter than God and that we know better than God does. We chart our own path, which instead of leading us to abundance, it leads us to defeat. In following our own way be become hapless, helpless, and hopeless, and we steal the joy of the Lord from our selves.

 The Door to Abundant Life:

In this parable, Jesus used an analogy to make His point. He compared people to sheep, and the comparison is as apt as it is sobering.

Sheep need a shepherd to survive and to thrive. Sheep are not very smart, and they have poor eyesight. They have few defensive weapons to protect themselves. Sheep don’t have any means to resist an attacker except to lumber away. The phrase “As meek as a lamb” has a solid basis in reality.

In this passage, Jesus calls Himself The Good Shepherd. Like a human shepherd, He leads the sheep, He feeds the sheep, and He protects the sheep. He is entirely responsible for the sheep and the sheep thrive or die at His hand.

One of the most important tasks of a shepherd was to create a sheepfold where the flock could be protected at night and where they could have rest. The 1st Century was a period long before the advent of barbed wire or fencing like we know it today. What shepherds would do would be to create a corral of thorns which would protect the sheep on three sides. But, what about the opening at the front of the sheepfold? What would close that opening and protect the sheep? Quite literally, it was the shepherd.

The shepherd would sleep across the door to the sheepfold, and by his personal sacrifice, by laying down his own body across the door, the sheep would be protected, and they could have a good night's rest.

Without a good shepherd the sheep would be lost.

·       They would not have the protection of the fold.

·       They would be led by the thieves into a dead-end trap.

·       They would be devoured by the wolves not kept at bay.

·       They would starve.

Just like a glowing coal removed from the fire soon cools, a sheep separated from the shepherd would not last long. That’s a reason why the both the “Parable of the Good Shepherd” and the “Parable of the Lost Sheep” were appropriate for 1st Century Palestine.

Jesus remains The Good Shepherd, and his people are the sheep of his pasture. He does for us, today, what he taught his disciples about The Good Shepherd in John chapter 10. He cares for us!

The Extent of the Abundant Life:

The abundant life in Christ comes through several factors. First, abundant life comes through protection:

·       Protection from those who take, but never give back, like the leaders of religious cults and other dangerous, autocratic groups.

·       It comes from protection from those who teach destructive practices, like those who say, if it feels good, do it.

·       It comes from protection from those who treat us with disrespect. Child abuse, spouse abuse, and sexual abuse are rampant in the world.

·       God extends His protection to the least, the last, and the lost.

Abundant life also comes through provision:

·       The Good Shepherd provides a relationship with God which gives meaning to life.

·       The Good Shepherd provides us with the ability to establish good relationships to people which gives us fellowship.

·       The Good Shepherd provides a mission for our lives which gives us fulfillment.

·       The Good Shepherd provides us the Holy Spirit which gives us comfort, encouragement, and the reassuring presence of God in our lives,

The Bible also tells us that abundant life comes through promotion of a Godly lifestyle: God's way is the best way; He will teach us that better way if we let him.

One of my favorite memories of the pastor who baptized me was from a church fellowship that occurred when I was still a child. I was sitting with the pastor and his sons, and we were enjoying the menu which included spaghetti. A slight problem developed when one of the pastor's sons began eating the spaghetti but making a very big mess on the table.

My pastor patiently taught his son how to take his fork and roll the spaghetti up on the fork before he would put it in his mouth, and that way the pasta would not flop around and make a mess by flinging the spaghetti sauce on all who were nearby.  In the same way, God teaches us the best way to live so that we don't make a mess of our lives.

If we learn from The Good Shepherd, we’ll develop an abundant lifestyle, which will be seen by all as we embody the Fruit of the Spirit as described in Galatians 5:22-23.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

An abundant life in Christ is wonderful, but it isn’t free. Who paid that price?

The Good Shepherd, of course.

The Cost of Abundant Life:

God offers us something extra in His abundant life that non-believers don’t have access to. And what’s more, the cost to us is only to accept it from Jesus. That doesn’t mean that there is no cost involved, however.

When a baker gives a customer an extra doughnut, it comes from somewhere. It is not like when a cartoon character pulls a hammer from out of nowhere to smash it into another character’s head. That has become known as hammer space, and it is a wonderful thing. Out of nothing comes a hammer, or a sandwich, or even a steam locomotive. The problem is that hammer space does not exist. In the world that we occupy, you can’t make something out of nothing, and there is no such thing as a free lunch.

An example of the expectation of receiving a great blessing at almost no cost is the original projection of the cost of nuclear energy. One early proponent of nuclear power stations predicted that they would be so cheap to operate that electric power would no longer be metered. Obviously, that wonderful vision of free electricity was never realized!

God offers people an abundant life in Christ, but someone must pay for it. Our sin prevents us from paying that price, so God had to pay it for us. That is why one of my favorite Scriptures is Romans 5:6-11,

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

The offer of abundant life was costly to God. It cost Him the most precious gift of all. It cost Jesus everything.  Do we dare reject such a costly gift? Are we so arrogant as to think that we know better and reject what God offers us at so great a cost?

Conclusion:

God wants us to have more than just eternal life.  He wants us to enjoy our lives on this world that He created for us. How much does He want us to enjoy His blessings? Malachi 3:10-12 tells us,

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

Jesus, in Luke 6:38, described God’s abundance this way,

Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.

This promise of abundant life is readily available. All we must do is seek it through Christ, The Good Shepherd!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

 

A Word about Defeating Disease on the Road to the Cross

Today I want to share a word about defeating disease on the road to Cross as I comment on John 9. Let’s begin with verses 1-7:

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

 Introduction:

We all get sick, and in many ways, it is amazing that we aren’t ill more often.  For example:

Little Johnny sat playing in the garden. When his mother came out to collect him, she saw that he was slowly eating a worm. She turned pale.  "No, Johnny! Stop! That's horrible! You can't eat worms!" 

 

Trying to convince him further she noted, "Now the mother worm is looking all over for her nice baby worm."  "No, she isn't," said Johnny. "How do you know she's not?" said the mother. "Because I ate her first!" answered Little Johnny. 

Of course, after we do get sick, we rely on doctors and nurses and other medical professionals to help us get well.  On the other hand, these good folks are only people, too.  Here are some actual sentences found in patients' hospital charts:

 

• Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.
• On the second day the knee was better, and on the third day it disappeared.
• The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.
• Healthy appearing decrepit 69-year-old male, mentally alert but forgetful.
• The patient refused autopsy.
• She is numb from her toes down. 
• The skin was moist and dry.
• Occasional, constant, infrequent headaches.
• Patient was alert and unresponsive.
• Skin: somewhat pale but present.
• Patient was seen in consultation by Dr. Blank, who felt we should sit on the abdomen, and I agree.
• Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.

 

We do fall ill, and we do know that while doctors treat us, there is only one true source of healing.  That source is the Great Physician, the one who defeated disease on the road to the Cross, who we see today in John 9.

 

The Will to Heal:

 

Many have questioned why illness happens. They ask questions like, “If God is good why does pain exist?” Or “When you get sick is God getting even with you?” And “Why does God allow diseases like cancer to exist?”  Even “Why doesn’t God heal?” This is a serious issue, and it has existed from the beginning.

 

Some would answer these questions in ways that are not true to Scripture, such as, “God doesn’t care, or God is evil.” Others, like those who hold to a theology of Deism, believe that God simply does not engage with the world.

 

We must remember that Jesus did not come to be a doctor. He came to save us from our sins by redeeming a lost and dying world and to defeat death and hell. All through His ministry the Gospel was His focus. In fact, the Scriptures reveal that Jesus would eventually leave those places where the people only wanted Him to do physical miracles, because He had more important work to perform and a much greater blessing to offer people. He wanted to offerr a blessing that wasn’t ephemeral, but eternal.

 

Jesus, however, is God and He loves us, and He wants to bless us. He wants to give us abundant life and give us all good things. Therefore, He was willing to heal, and He did so regularly. He never withheld healing when it was sought.

 

Let’s continue by reading verses 8-12:

 

The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

The Ability to Heal:

 

Having the willingness to heal is not the same as having the ability to heal. Many people think that God can’t act. They say He is too weak to prevent death and disease. This means that God is good, but hapless, which would be comparing God to Barney Fife! Jesus is no Barney Fife!  

 

From other passages in the Bible, we know that He resisted temptation and brushed off Satan’s best shot. He stilled the wind and waves, and He delivered the demoniac from his demons. He did many other things that we haven’t considered yet, as John 21:25 tells us, 

 

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

 

Of course, Jesus could heal! He healed this man. He healed the woman with the issue of blood.  He healed the Centurion’s servant. He healed the ear of the High Priest’s servant in Gethsemane.

When you have done it, why do you have to prove you can do it?  

This is like the teacher who was asked why she hadn’t taken a particular standardized test for educators.  Her reply was, “I’m a certified teacher who has been teaching for over a decade. Why do I need to take a test to prove that I can do what I do every day that school is in session?”

 

The fact the Jesus could heal should not surprise us, but neither is the fact that His acts were misunderstood. We can see that in verses 13-17:

 

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.  So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

 

They continued to berate the man in verses 28-34:

 

And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

 

The Misunderstanding of Healing:

 

Some of us have gained the wrong idea about disease, thinking that disease or disaster is always the direct result of sin. I once knew a man who thought God was punishing him for his sin after his child became ill. This is not true to the Biblical record. We are all held accountable for our own sin, not someone else’s sin.

 

And, yes, harmful health habits can lead to disease, but this does not explain all cases, like the young girl I knew who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.

 

While we usually cannot trace individual diseases or other such tragedies to personal actions or sins, disease did come into the world via human sin. The world was created perfectly to continue in perfection, without disease or death. After Adam and Eve sinned, the world was changed, and after sin came into the world, so did death and disease. If a building’s foundation is damaged, it will eventually fall, and likewise is the effect of human sin on our lives and health.

 

The subject of divine healing has also generated significant misunderstanding as well. Some think it doesn’t happen ever, while some think that it should always happen. There was a great deal of misunderstanding going on in this event as well so, as we close, let’s see how Jesus viewed healing from verses 35-41,

 

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?  He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

 

The Depth of Healing:

 

Jesus had more important concerns than physical disease. He was more concerned with eternal health than physical health. He was more concerned with spiritual health than physical health.  He also was more concerned with the global root cause of disease than the symptoms experienced by individuals.

 

So often in life we don’t see the forest for the trees. When we are in pain, we naturally focus on the here and now. Jesus was not limited in the way that we are, and He could see the eternal future. In Mark 8:36, He explained,

 

“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

 

Though He proved to be willing and capable of physical healing, Jesus came to give us eternal health. The key to this eternal health offered by Jesus is to know and trust the Great Physician. If we believe in the Son of God, He will open our spiritual eyes. He will help us to escape the judgment, and we will be spiritually well forever!

 

CONCLUSION:

 

Jesus defeated disease on the road to the Cross. He can, and He does, heal your body, but more importantly, He can, and He will, heal your soul.  Turn to Him and you will be made well, well for eternity.

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt