Author: admin

Hope. People desperately need it. Without hope, life is not worth living. Apart from hope, the pain and disappointments of life are unbearable. Everyone needs hope, but some need it in extra measure.

As Jesus walked past the Pool of Bethesda, He noticed a crowd of people who were all suffering physical infirmities. There were those who were sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed. Presumably they had each tried to be made well in whatever manner was available to them. Physicians had been consulted. Friends had offered their advice. Prayers had been uttered. Yet when all else failed, they had gathered together at the pool.

Hurting people often collect in places of hope. These hurting masses were desperate for something to inspire them to keep living. They were poor, for they were unable to work and earn a living. Most would have been beggars. They survived in the most humiliating of circumstances. Some were cast out of their homes, with no one to care for them. Each time someone passed by, the sick and crippled people would have clamored for charity. Each would appeal for any compassion that might be offered. It was a humbling, hopeless, miserable existence.

Every generation has its Pool of Bethesda. People of every age search for hope. Have you noticed those people around you, desperate to talk with someone who can offer them hope?

Jesus was always aware of his surroundings. He never raced by. He never missed what was going on around Him.

Jesus was entering Jerusalem. Outside the city walls, near the Sheep Gate, was a pool named Bethesda. Its name signified it was a place of mercy and grace. There were five porches surrounding the pool that offered shade and shelter to those who were infirm. It was a natural gathering place for the hurting.

It would have been utterly impossible for Jesus to stroll past a place of such need and not to cast His gaze over the assembled multitude. That is why the biblical writers often spoke of God turning His face toward them. For, when God looks upon you, He cannot help but act.

The sheep gate was the entryway for the sacrificial sheep to be herded on to the temple mount. It was a crowded thoroughfare. Many people walked through that gate as well. It was a busy place. It would have been easy to lose sight of people in the crowd.

Often it is in the crossroads of human life that God works. God always comes to the busy places of society. He can be found in downtown offices and gas stations just off the freeway. Jesus delights in the high traffic areas of life.

Everything God does has a context. Every miracle has a back story. Jesus traveled to Jerusalem in Judea after having first performed signs and wonders in Samaria and Galilee. In the previous chapter in John’s Gospel, Jesus had transformed the life of a notoriously sinful woman and brought revival to an entire village. He had then healed a deathly ill boy in Capernaum while He was in the hillside village of Cana. Everywhere Jesus had gone, lives had been changed.

Now Jesus made His way up the mountains surrounding Jerusalem to attend a feast of the Jews. This may have been the Passover, one of the most popular feasts on the Jewish calendar. The festival celebrated the freedom that came from God.

Feasts and holidays were often the occasion in which Jesus performed a miracle. People would gather with family and friends and often have turned their thoughts to the truths of God. Such occasions were perfect opportunities for Jesus to transform a life.

How do you treat the family gatherings and holidays in your life? Do you invite Jesus to take center stage? Do you allow the Holy Spirit to set the agenda of the gathering? The next time you are celebrating a special occasion, watch to see if Jesus does not show up and do a profound work.

There are always signs of God’s nature that can be seen, if we have eyes to see. The first official “sign” that Jesus was the Messiah was when He miraculously turned water into wine while He was attending a wedding feast in Cana. Cana is a small, backwater town on the slopes of the Galilean hills. A most unlikely site for such a momentous event. The second sign was also easy for most people to miss.

A man had come to Cana from Capernaum to ask Jesus to come back with him and to heal his son. Jesus merely spoke a word and the boy was healed. But no one in Cana would have known that. The father himself did not learn of the miracle until he had returned to Capernaum. Jesus spoke a word while in the hills of Galilee and a boy was healed on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Only someone who noticed both events would ever have recognized the hand of God in the events.

Often God’s work is not clearly obvious. Events can appear to be a mere coincidences or a pleasant surprise. But those who have their spiritual eyes open will see that God is constantly at work all around them.

This was the second sign Jesus performed, yet many would have missed it. Much of God’s work is not done to attract the attention of the crowds, but to affirm the faith of the observant.

How many signs has God done recently around your life? Have you noticed them?

One of the most important disciplines we can practice is to connect the spiritual “dots” in our life.

This man had been told by Jesus that his son would live. But the man was in Cana and had to return to Capernaum. It took time for him to return home to find out if his son still lived. Sure enough, his servants excitedly met him at the door and gave him the good news. The man could have shouted “YES!” and then bolted into his son’s room to give him a hug. But instead, he inquired. He asked what time his son had recovered. Sure enough, it was at exactly the time Jesus had told the father his son would live. The man connected the dots. He related the time Jesus spoke with the time of the miracle. He clearly saw the connection.

As a result, the man believed in Christ as his Savior, as did his entire family.

The problem with many people is that we fail to relate what God says with what happens next in our life. We talk with God in prayer in the morning but then we do not relate it to what happens in our life later that day.   We might be utterly amazed at all that God is doing in our life right now if only we would take time to correlate God’s word to us and His actions around us.

What has God being saying to you? What are you seeing happen around you?

The Bible often has the simple phrase: “As he was going.” Or, “as you go.” Christianity is supremely about action. When God speaks, we must respond. We must take action.

At times we can behave as if we have all the time in the world to contemplate and even argue with God about what He said. But the truth is that God’s mighty power in our life is often contingent upon our going. If we do not go, there is no power.

It takes great faith to begin moving before you know God is going to provide. What if we set out on our journey and then discover that we do not have God’s answer? What if we are well down the road and discover we lack God’s provision? Wouldn’t it be better for us to remain where we are indefinitely until we have everything we need?

The problem is that it takes little faith to remain where we are, doing what we have already been doing. It takes great faith to set out on your journey when you still have no idea how God will provide for you.

Are you going yet?

“So” is a brief, yet profound word. On it, hinges everything in our lives. “So” is the link between what God said and what we do. Jesus told the man to return home, for his critically ill son would live. The father had to decide what he would do. Would he believe? Would he go away without bringing Jesus with him as he had intended? Would he continue to insist that Jesus return to his home with him to heal his son? What he did next could well seal the fate of his precious child.

The Bible says, “So” the man believed, and went his way. That simple act of faith saved his son.

Of course we have also been told much by Jesus. He has offered us many promises. He has issued various commands. And, as with every person, there comes a point where we must decide what we are going to do with what God said. Will we also believe? Will we also rise up and begin living as if what God said is actually true? Will we begin to move forward in our life or remain where we are? Will we truly behave as if we serve the Lord of the universe?

So?

Jesus’ response to the desperate father’s request seems puzzling. The man had hurriedly made his way to find Jesus in Cana and implored Him to come and save His son from death. Jesus responded with an apparent rebuke, claiming that the man would not believe unless he saw signs and wonders.

The man’s request seems legitimate enough. Any decent father would want his son to be saved from death. Yet it seems that the man’s faith in Jesus was also tied to a miracle. Perhaps the man would not place his saving trust in Jesus unless he first received a miracle that healed his child.

We often talk as if it takes strong faith to believe God for a miracle. But Jesus made it clear that it takes even more faith to trust God when a miracle is not forthcoming. Perhaps Jesus recognized that this man would no longer trust Him if Jesus did not heal his son. We cannot know for sure.

Jesus did heal the boy. The man recognized that Jesus had done it and he believed along with his entire household. The son was saved not only physically, but also spiritually, because of the actions of his father.

It may have been that the man required the miracle in order to finally conclude that Jesus truly was the Savior. In his case, Jesus graciously granted what was needed in order to set the man and his family free. Has Jesus granted you enough so that you will trust in Him for your family as well?

Few things bring parents any more grief or drive them to greater desperation than when one of their children is suffering.

In Capernaum there was a nobleman who had a sick child. He may have been a successful businessman. He might have wielded some influence in his community. But the driving factor in his life at that moment was a child who desperately required intervention. The child did not have long to live.

For many leaders, their children can suddenly move front and center into their lives. These people may be successful leaders, prosperous businesspeople, and influential leaders, but when their child begins to struggle, everything else in their life moves to the back burner.

To this man’s credit, he made getting help for his son his top priority. Jesus often came to Capernaum, but this man could not wait for His next visit. He went up into the hills of Cana and sought out Jesus himself. He did not even trust this task with a servant or messenger. The man was determined to do whatever was necessary to obtain relief for his son.

Seeing such determination, Jesus granted his request. His son was healed. This man fades from our view in the Gospels after this. All we know is that, when this man’s child was in distress, the father did everything necessary to save him.

Cana is a tiny, insignificant village on the slopes of the Galilean hills. It was just down the road from Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. Even today, there is not much to see in Cana, even for eager tourists. There are no great monuments erected to former heroes. No major battle was fought there. No world leader emerged from that town. It has always been a backwater place for ordinary people.

It is therefore surprising perhaps, that the first two major signs Jesus performed in His earthly ministry were in Cana. One would think Jesus would have performed those in Jerusalem in an elaborate, well-publicize event. Or, He might have traveled to the Forum in Rome and made a huge splash on the world stage, heralding the coming of the Messiah. But He did not. Instead, He saved a wedding celebration from disaster when the wine ran out and He healed the son of an unknown man in Capernaum. Almighty God delights in the ordinary!

Scripture indicates that to whom much is given, much is expected. Imagine the undeserved privilege the citizens of Cana received when they had the Son of God visit them more than once! Why would the God of the universe take time to even visit the unimportant hamlet of Cana once, let alone twice? With the purposes of God to carry out, how could such an insignificant place merit any attention from the Messiah at all? But such are the ways of God. He delights in the ordinary. He loves the common places and people. No place is insignificant in His eyes or heart.

Is your life a Cana? Are you prepared for God’s next encounter with you?