25 Samaritan Woman

People who met Jesus : 25 :  The Samaritan Woman

Jn 4:4-10 Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar …..  tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well….. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

As we come to consider the lady in our verses today her very designation is what makes her stand out. Like the crippled lady we considered previously she is someone who Jesus approached, not someone who came to Jesus. The first part of her designation is quite natural. This is the province of Samaria and so anyone who came from the little town would be likely to be a Samaritan. Nothing strange there! The emphasis is made because Jesus was a Jew and the Jews and Samaritans never got on. There is not space here to go into their history; sufficient to say there was hostility between them. We see Jesus here crossing racial, cultural and social divides in approaching this woman and her response to his request confirms this.

Now Jesus doesn’t simply say something like, “Oh, racial divides mean nothing to me.” Instead he drops an enigmatic bombshell in front of her. There are two areas where you are ignorant, is what he is saying gently. First you don’t know what God wants to give you and, second, you don’t realise that I am the one who can bring you that gift! If you had realised these two things, you wouldn’t be questioning me about social niceties, you would be asking for the gift that I alone can give you.

I think if Jesus had said that to me out of the blue I would have stood there with my mouth open wondering about it. What is he talking about? This woman ploughs in where angels fear to tread and takes what he says literally and starts questioning him about the practicality of him drawing water for her. Jesus doesn’t respond to that but declares, “Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (v.13,14)

Now she may not understand this for her answer seems to suggest that she is still thinking in material terms, but who knows, she might be glimpsing what he means: “The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” (v.15) Now she may be unclear but Jesus decides to take her on in the process. To receive eternal life, something else has to happen first so he asks something (even though he knows the answer), “He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” (v.16) to which she replies, “I have no husband.” (v.17). Well that’s the first sign of honesty, of willing to face her situation.

But then Jesus reveals that he knows all about her: “Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” (v.17,18) When we come to Jesus, when we start thinking about becoming a Christian, coming to God, however else you might express it, we need to realise that He knows all about us already, so there is no point in trying to hide anything from Him. To this she responds that he must be a prophet and in the dialogue that follows the subject of the Jewish Messiah comes up and Jesus declares, “I who speak to you am he,” (v.26) one of his most specific claims. Her response was to go and tell the people back in the town what had happened.

As with so many of these encounters, they often reveal more about Jesus than they do about the person meeting him, yet there is more to be considered about her. Yes, she may be summed up as a lady with a less than stable background. The fact that she’s had (and been rejected by five husbands – for that is how Jewish divorce took place) indicates that here is a lady who either feels rejected by life, or who doesn’t care what people think anyway.

We make that latter comment because, of course, another reason for her being divorced five times is that she could have been found guilty of adultery. Now according to the Jewish law that should have resulted in stoning but it seems fairly clear from the Gospels that the moral state of the land was not good when John the Baptist came, so it is not unlikely that that was not followed. Her willingness to dialogue (argue) with Jesus almost suggests that the latter is more likely. She does not appear to have low self esteem, which would follow from being rejected five times. It seems more that she is forthright and has actually been in control of her destiny. It is her folly, therefore, that has brought her thus far – where she is living (as it used to be said) ‘in sin’ with yet another man.

Now what is remarkable about all this is that Jesus clearly knows all about her and is not in any way put off. Indeed, to the contrary, he seeks to minister to her need and show her the way to eternal life. This is Jesus who not only steps over racial and cultural boundaries but who steps over all boundaries to seek the lost. He will not do or say anything that makes him like the people he seeks to reach, but he will love and accept them just like they are as he reaches out to them. Only thus can they receive God’s love and be changed.

However ‘bad’ our life, Jesus loves us and desires to reach out and save us. That must be one of the primary messages of this account. The challenge to us who are his disciples is, will we do the same?

24. The Crippled Woman

People who met Jesus : 24 :  The Crippled Woman

Lk 13:10-13 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

The human spirit is quite amazing sometimes – it has to be, living in a Fallen World where things go wrong. Sometimes we cope in amazing ways – simply because we have to. Previously we considered the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years and we considered the limitations of that, recognising that it was one of those embarrassing things that we suffer that we don’t want others to know about. But then there are those sorts of afflictions that are patently obvious and the whole world looks on and feels sorry for us – or not! The woman in our verses today is like this. She is bent over and cannot straighten up – and she’s been like it for eighteen years! In other words she can remember a time when she wasn’t like this.

Now there are some interesting points in this story that make it stand out. The first thing is that Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues. No longer is he merely a visitor; now he is a welcomed teacher. They give him space to teach. The second thing to note is that this woman is there in the synagogue and it would appear that she is no stranger and not just there because Jesus is there. If she had not normally attended synagogue then it is more likely that she would have waited for Jesus to come out if she had wanted to ask him for healing.

Two things flow from this: first she doesn’t approach Jesus; he approaches her. This suggests she has grown to accept her state and almost doesn’t think to ask for healing. This is a very common state for those of us who suffer with some form of affliction that we’ve had for a long time. Many years ago my mother smoked, had a smoker’s cough, and had bronchitis every winter. I suggested to her that she ask the Lord to heal her and set her free from smoking. I had already shared the Gospel with her but she wasn’t yet a Christian. The suggestion came almost as a surprise to her and she shrugged it off with, “Oh, I expect He’s too busy with important things than worry about my smoking.” So I left it but, when I visited home several months later I found she was not smoking and not coughing (and she never had bronchitis again!). She confessed she had asked Him, He had answered, and she had then become a Christian! But how many of us tolerate these things, stoically thinking it must be God’s will. I am challenged and embarrassed by the incredible accounts of Jesus healing all who came to him in the Gospels – and some, like this woman, who didn’t come to him.

The second thing that flows from this woman’s presence in the synagogue, as we commented in the case of the man with the shrivelled hand, is the inability of the religious leaders there to do anything about it. This was a powerless religion! Is ours similar?

But there is something else there that is strange. The text says she had been “crippled by a spirit for eighteen years.” Now intriguingly it doesn’t say ‘an evil spirit’. Sometimes we may refer to ‘a spirit of anger’ or ‘a spirit of bitterness’ or ‘a spirit of unforgiveness’, and although this may eventually involve the demonic, it starts out at least, by a strong attitude that we take on which takes us over. Now such things, experience tells us, can physically incapacitate us.

Now this interpretation of this situation is strengthened by the fact that Jesus did not drive out and evil spirit from her but simply spoke healing. Now in such situations we might seek for repentance in this lady from whatever wrong attitude brought about this infirmity before we prayed for healing, but Jesus just seems to read her and, we must assume, read her willingness to turn from that past attitude, and thus he speaks healing over her, which follows as he places his hands on her. This latter action, we assume, is either to strengthen faith within her, or to impart power, the same power we saw and spoke about in respect of the lady who had been bleeding for twelve years. Perhaps this change of attitude that Jesus, we assumed, reads, is confirmed by the fact that she gives glory to God immediately she is healed. It is a simple thing, but I wonder how many of us are truly grateful to God when we are healed of something, whether by the miracle of direct healing or by the work of doctors?

There is yet a further rider to be considered to this story which would suppose, as we said earlier, that ultimately, even if it is just brought about by our initial wrong attitude, Satan does have a hand in such things, and is able to use our wrong attitude to bring worse. In a dialogue that follows, as Jesus scolds the leaders of the synagogue for their hardness, we find: “Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen.” (v.16). We have a mystery here but the truth seems to suggest, as we have noted at least twice, that if we open ourselves up to sinful attitudes which we maintain, we open the door to Satan to come and lock us in to them. The lesson is that we need to deal with all wrong attitudes and ensure that they do not persist and open the door for worse to come. May we hear that!

23. Mary & Martha

People who met Jesus : 23 :  Mary & Martha

Lk 10:38-42 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

I sometimes think if we could watch frequent videos of ourselves, we would probably be very different people. This little episode before us today seems like a sort of short afternoon quarter-hour play on TV. It is very simple and very graphic.

We have two sons and although there are similarities, there are also great differences between them. That is often how it is with children. Our daughter has two children and, again, they are very different from each other. The good part of this is that we are each unique. Even identical twins, who are perhaps the most alike, nevertheless are unique and that uniqueness is added to by their own life experiences. So here we have an account of two very different sisters. They have a brother but he doesn’t figure in this little cameo. The only other reference to this little family is found in John 11. Mary and Martha appear as alike as chalk and cheese. Let’s see what happens.

Jesus arrives at a village which, John tells us, was Bethany. This isn’t a story about healing, as in the recent meditations; this is about hospitality and about priorities. Jesus arrives in Bethany, and the word has no doubt gone out about him, and people are out in the road to see him arrive. Martha is one of those and she invites Jesus into her home to rest. Now of course how I have described it is purely speculation because Jesus could have invited himself in and she simply graciously welcomed him in, for all we are told is “Martha opened her home to him.” That conveys a beautiful picture of hospitality. Not everyone would be comfortable in having Jesus come into their home. Do you envisage Jesus coming into your home? Would he feel comfortable and at ease there? Would he find peace, order and blessing there, a place where it is easy to rest?

Now unfortunately there is a down side to this hospitality thing. We’ve had a few ‘big names’ stay in our home and my wife on each occasion thoroughly cleaned throughout and made sure everything was just right. That was Martha, except she could only start doing it once Jesus had arrived because she had had no warning that he would come. So now she is in hyper-hospitality-mode, clearing up, getting food ready and so on. She is going to be a great hostess. I’m put in mind of weddings here, Christian weddings. I’ve been to quite a few and I think they resemble what went on here. Great preparations, lots of scurrying around to make sure everything is just right, but unfortunately it’s not.

One of our preachers in our church recently spoke about our “upside down God”, God whose values are often so different from ours. Whether it be straight forward hospitality, preparing for a party, or preparing for a wedding, our priorities are to make sure the place is clean, the food is perfect and there are enough drinks and we’ve created just the right environment for people’s enjoyment. We do all that – and leave Jesus out. Thus it becomes a godless or semi-godless occasion, and we miss out.

I can say all this in the light of the different reactions from the two sisters to Jesus coming into their home. Martha, we see, is into ‘hostess-of-the-year’ mode, which we’ve just been considering, and many of us are identifying and empathising with her. But now look at Mary, the other sister. Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to all he had to say. Martha is stressed by this and asks Jesus to scold her and get her to come and help. When you ask Jesus to do things for you, you always have to be prepared for him to point out a better course. Look; “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Wow! Look what he is saying. There’s only one thing needed here, and Mary has gone for it!

Let me take what might appear to be a slight diversion. Suppose you had such a thing as a time machine and could travel anywhere you liked in history – but you can only visit one person. Which of these would you go and visit: Einstein, Solomon, Gandhi, Jesus, or Florence Nightingale? Any answer other than Jesus shows you haven’t understood who he is yet!

For Mary, having Jesus in her home was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, an opportunity that rarely comes and so when it does it must be grabbed. In years to come she would be able to tell of the words she had heard come from the very mouth of the Son of God in her own home. Martha would remain silent.

This is a story of hospitality versus opportunity. Hospitality is good; grabbing the opportunity is better. This, I suspect, applies to many circumstances in our lives. How often to we miss opportunities to encounter the Lord because we are too busy, too tired or whatever. I think of the times of worship or prayer etc. in our church that I have been in when the Lord has turned up, and I have grieved for those who were too busy or too tired to have got there and who, subsequently, missed out on meeting Him. We only have one life and we need to grab every opportunity that the Lord gives us. May it be so!

22. Woman of Tyre

People who met Jesus : 22 :  The Woman of Tyre

Mk 7:24-26 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

Now if you have a map in the back of your Bible, you will see that Tyre is in the far north. This is another of those parts of the Bible where you wish more was said. For instance we don’t know why Jesus travelled there. We don’t know whose house it was that he went to and we don’t really know why he went there and why he didn’t want others to know he was there. Perhaps part of the reason will come out in the story. But why he went to this particular house in the far north is a mystery, and yet Jesus always did things with a purpose. Some might say he went so as to meet the woman we’re going to consider but a) he still had to know the person whose house it was and b) why didn’t he go directly to the woman’s house if his Father was sending him to her? No, he has travelled north to see the people in this home for a reason – they are important to God! What a beautiful thought, that Jesus travelled all that distance just to visit some people who were important to him!  Had they been south previously, and invited him to come up and use their home as a retreat for a rest sometime? That’s a nice thought as well!

Anyway, Jesus gets to Tyre and his friend’s / acquaintance’s house but somehow someone either, sees him arriving and recognises him, or someone gossips. Whatever it is the word gets to this lady who has a need. Now I have to say I have a problem with her need. My understanding of demon possession is that it can only happen when someone has opened themselves seriously to Satanic / occultic things. This suggests that this family has a dark background, yet the woman has become so desperate that she recognises that she needs help. She knows what is wrong and she knows she needs someone with a deliverance ministry and the word on the street, from those in the know, is that this is what Jesus does. As frustrating as it sometimes is, we have to sometimes wait until people do become desperate about their situation, sufficiently desperate that they will seek out help and sufficiently desperate that they will receive the help being offered.

So she comes to Jesus but it is the way Jesus responds to her that is significant. We find a dialogue opening up: “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” (v.27) It is normally accepted that Jesus is speaking enigmatically about his calling. The ‘children’ are God’s children, Israel. The trouble with Scripture is that it doesn’t convey the tone of voice or look on the face. It is possible that Jesus was speaking ironically here, saying what the Jews usually thought of others who were not Jews, when he referred to dogs. Now I think if that is so then it is quite possible that he says it with a grin on his face so that the woman knows he is really making fun of Jewish snobbishness. She obviously understands it and almost banters back, “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” (v.28). If it is banter, note that there is nevertheless respect in it, for she calls Jesus “Lord” which is the only time it appears in this Gospel. It is a term of respect. I think banter fits far better here than any form of hardness in Jesus. He knows she is in need, he knows she is desperate and he knows she has come in faith. If he wants to test her commitment to belief he doesn’t have to be hard. I know how he has always dealt with me and although it has often been firm and distinct, he always speaks with the fruit of the Spirit – gentleness! How we so often lack this in the Church.

His response to her is to simply reassure her that her child is now freed from the demonic influence. “Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.” (v.29,30) Now we may read this so easily but do we realise the incredible authority that is being exercised here. In the Creation account we read, “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” (Gen 1:3) i.e. God simply speaks and it is done. That is what we find in this account here. Jesus simply says it is done – and it is!  How staggeringly different this is from some of the deliverance ministry that is seen today that is noisy and prolonged. When Jesus is present, exercising his will, it is simply done with no great fuss. This is yet another expression of the kingdom of God on earth, with His authority being seen even more powerfully.

Note in this account that there is no great theological dialogue about belief. The woman simply comes, obviously in faith that Jesus can deliver her child and so after a little preliminary banter that makes her declare her belief in him, he delivers the child simply by the statement that it is so. This is Jesus, saviour of the whole world, not merely of the Jews. Yes, he came to them first, but he is saviour of all people who will come to him – with no exceptions. Hallelujah!

21. The Ill Lady

People who met Jesus : 21 :  The Ill Lady

Lk 8:42-45 As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

For most of my life I have been blessed with strength and good health. It was only as I got a lot older did I find I ached and things didn’t work as well as they once had. I write that because I came to realise how so many of us take our good health for granted. I watch young boys on skate boards and envy their fearlessness that partly comes from a sense of strength and well-being and the knowledge that they ‘bounce’ reasonably well! I have sought to empathise with those I know who have struggled with long-term poor health, but it is not easy. You really have to walk that path to appreciate it.

The lady who is the subject of our study today walked the path of ill-health. For twelve long years, the text tells us, she was subject to bleeding. There is a note in your Bible that says that some manuscripts say that “she had spent all she had on doctors.” Our text above simply says “but no one could heal her.” Both of those comments indicate in a measure, the depth of human despair that sometimes accompanies such things. Probably those who know this most are those who have tried unsuccessfully for children and have been to every sort of specialist possible with no avail. Life in a Fallen World is sometimes very difficult!

The ‘bleeding’ spoken of suggest some form of hemorrhage and for a Jewish woman this meant that she was separated off from the religious life of the community, which was a very significant thing in that society. Lev 15:19- indicated in the Law that when a woman was experiencing her menstrual discharge she was to consider herself ‘unclean’. Now this did not mean ‘dirty’ as some might think, but simply that for that time she was not qualified to perform the usual religious rites. That, I suggest, was God’s gentle way of telling her that while she was in that state and feeling debilitated, He understood and there was no need for her to make the effort to go to the Temple.

Now that is all very well for a week, but for twelve years, it was just another aspect of this disability that would have made her feel somewhat of an outcast.  Any one of us who suffers from some form of embarrassing disability feels this in a measure. When you are struggling with some physical ailment, which you don’t wish others to know about, it makes a separation, in your mind at least, between you and others. For her, this had been going on for twelve years – and then Jesus came to town!

It is because of this ‘embarrassment factor’, I suggest, that we find her sneaking up behind Jesus to touch him. She has a high level of faith, this lady! She recognises that Jesus has a power within himself that heals. It isn’t that he uses magic; the healing comes because of HIM.  Now many of us don’t even realise this! When healing is granted it is because God Himself touches us and His life imparts a life-energy in us that kills off germs, viruses or whatever, and recreates cells to make the body well again. There is not some magical, mystical force in the world; it is God’s very own presence that brings the life and healing. Somehow this woman had understood that, so she knows that, if she can simply make contact with Jesus physically, she will be healed of this long-term affliction.

So, in the midst of the crowd she touches him. Power flows out of Jesus and she is healed – and Jesus knows it instantly! Jesus knows that someone has reached out in faith and the Father has brought healing to someone. Now comes a slight mystery. Why did Jesus call out for the person to come forward? Surely he would have known exactly who it was? The text says that when she touched Jesus “immediately her bleeding stopped.” Something had happened and although outwardly she might not have been aware of change, inwardly she obviously knew what had happened. So when Jesus looked round, something would have shown on her face it least. Relief? Pleasure? Joy? Gratefulness? So why did he bother to ask?

The only answer that I can suggest is that he wanted her to openly confess what she had done and what had happened. The Bible indicates that there is something significant about speaking out the truth and about confessing what has happened. For her, it may be part of the healing process. Thus we read, “In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” (v.47,48)

Do you notice that final part: “Go in peace.” i.e. all of the stress and the anguish of the years has gone; you can go and enjoy life now. She is no longer a dweller in isolation. She can come and be a full member of community life again, without any restraints. Some of our disabilities mean that our social activities are strictly curtailed. That is no longer true for her. Isn’t that wonderful; what a relief! Hallelujah!

20. Mother-in-Law

People who met Jesus : 20 :  Peter’s Mother-in-Law

Mt 8:14,15 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

Do you think God knew about mother-in-law jokes? What is it about mother-in-laws (mothers-in-laws?) that creates humour?  There is often a strain of relationship where the new wife is threatened by the years of experience of the mother-in-law. Verse 14 above tells us a lot of basic information about Peter. He has a house. We assume it is his, yet it could be his father’s house but the absence of a father’s name in Simon Peter’s designation suggests that perhaps he has died. Peter is only ever designated as Andrew’s brother. The only times we hear the name of Peter’s father is when Jesus speaks to Peter on the lakeside after his resurrection: “Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John,” (Jn 21:15).  So, what we have is a suggestion that Peter’s father has died and has left him the fishing business and the home.

But now it gets more complicated. We now come to Peter’s mother-in-law. Peter is obviously married, because you don’t have a mother-in-law unless you have a wife. (The first ‘pope’ was married!!). Now one possibility is that she was just visiting and was taken ill and given a bed to lie down in, but a more likely scenario is that her husband (who is not mentioned) has died and she now lives with Peter and her daughter. The phrase ‘lying in bed’ suggests a little bit that this was her bed, her normal bed.

What an embarrassing position to be in when an honoured guest arrives, to be in bed, presumably in a room that is easily visible to people coming in (for Jesus saw her when he came in – there is no indication that he ‘went upstairs’ having been told of her illness. We aren’t told much about this incident; it is all very low key, and so we have to make a lot of assumptions. The Gospel writers are usually pretty careful about noting down details and words that Jesus spoke to bring healing, but in this instance there is nothing dramatic, nothing boldly spoken. All that happens is that Jesus goes over to her where she is lying incapacitated in bed, and touches her.  In her case, the healing that follows comes from nothing but a touch.

So why is it that sometimes words seem to be such an important part of the healing process that Jesus brought, but here they aren’t? I suspect the answer is to do with faith. Faith, we said previously, comes through hearing God’s word and is responding to it. Somebody, we said, has to have heard that it was God’s will to bring healing and very often Jesus’ words are linked to the faith of the other people concerned. Sometimes when Jesus spoke words of command to bring healing, it was to stir the faith of the person being healed. But there is none of that here!

Why might that be? Is it something to do with the nature of what needs healing?  Not wanting to diminish blindness or paralysis in any way, but in both of those cases the person in question is fully alert and has clear thinking. When you have a ’fever’, you tend to be delirious and not in your right mind. In such situations it is very difficult to think clearly, it is very difficult to either hear God or rationally respond to Him. Thus Jesus doesn’t bother to speak any words against this fever, he just touches her and his power is conveyed to her that brings the complete healing.

It may also be that he is fully aware of what she is feeling, having an honoured guest in the house and be unable to provide hospitality for him. He doesn’t want to draw attention to her and to her plight so the healing is very non-dramatic so she simply finds she is suddenly well and able to get on with her duties as a good hostess providing hospitality for guests. If that is so, it is another of those cases where Jesus shows his sensitivity to the feelings of other people.

I suggest it raises the whole question of how we deal, as church, with people who need healing or deliverance. In situations I have seen in the past and which, I am sure, still continue in the Church, especially in the case of deliverance, but also sometimes in the case of healing, the minister bringing deliverance or healing does it in such a way that the person being healed or delivered is being made a public spectacle and is actually being demeaned. Now, yes, Jesus did most of his healing and deliverance work publicly, but much of the time he was demonstrating it for the sake of his disciples who were to continue what he was doing. Yet again and again, we find Jesus being sensitive to the needs of the person being healed. Yes, there is value in letting the healing being seen publicly to stir faith in the watchers, but does it also demonstrate the goodness, love, kindness, concern and care of Jesus in the way we do it? Questions that are worth considering!

19. The Deformed Man

People who met Jesus : 19 :  The Deformed Man

Mk 3:1,2 Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.

There are times when ‘religion’ is helpless and even positively a hindrance to ‘life’. When we come to the story of the man with a shrivelled hand, there is one thing that particularly stands out and brings great significance to it: the fact of its location. This happened in a synagogue and what makes it worse, it was on the Sabbath. So here is a man with a particular need and ‘religion’ seems completely oblivious of his need because ‘religion’ is utterly powerless to do anything about it. Now when I speak of ‘religion’ I mean a life of ritual, a life that has no life. Week in, week out, this man could have come into this gathering and remained unchanged. They could do nothing for the fact that he had this shrivelled hand.

We don’t know why it was like it, what caused it, or how long he had been like it, but the truth was that he was stuck with it. We have many people today who are ‘disabled’. The politically correct brigade may try and call them something else to soften their state, but they know that in some way, some part of their body has been disabled and is not working properly – and they are stuck with it. Oh that Jesus would come in power as he did here! Do we ask him to, I wonder, or have we just accepted their state, like the people in this synagogue had done?

But then Jesus arrives. It is the Sabbath and so, as was his custom as a good Jew, he went to the synagogue, and when he arrives in this particular one, there are three groups of people there. First of all, of course, there is the man with a need that no one cares about. Then there are the bulk of ordinary people who are just there and have no strong feelings one way or another. The third group are those who are truly ‘religious’ and are there to protect the status quo and make sure nothing changes. Now for them, it is bad news that Jesus arrives, for he has a reputation, and part of that is that he is good at healing people, and part of it is that he seems somewhat unorthodox and doesn’t mind upsetting the establishment.

Thus there are some there who, the moment he comes in, are on the alert to criticise him. In fact Luke tells us who they were: “The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.” (Lk 6:7) These were the self-styled guardians of the Law. They had taken the Law and broken it down and added to it as they sought to apply it. They ‘knew’ that it was wrong to work on the Sabbath (Ex 20:8-10 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work.”) However, the tricky bit was deciding what constituted ‘work’ and so they had categorized whole lists of things that they considered work, so many things in fact, that it was virtually impossible to do anything on the Sabbath. Thus they thought they were honouring God. ‘Religion’ does this! It thinks it honours God when it worries all about what is right or wrong and manages to completely miss the point.

Matthew tells us that it was these men (possibly seeing Jesus eying up the ‘congregation’ to see who he could bless?) who took the initiative: “Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” (Mt 12:9) but Jesus understood the motivation for their question: “But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.” (Lk 6:8) Now that is interesting! Jesus gets the man to stand up at the front. He is going to make a point – and the man complies. We might think, how awful of Jesus to put this man in an embarrassing situation, but that is just our ‘religion’ showing again, for Jesus knows the outcome and he knows that the man will be so overcome by joy that he won’t worry about what people might of thought about him being put on display.

But, as we said, Jesus wants to make a point, so he turns to those who want to criticise him and who apparently know the Law and asks them a question: “He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” (Mt 12:11,12) OK, he says, you know you would help one of your animals in need, so shouldn’t we much more help a person? Both Mark and Luke just then indicate that Jesus healed him, but Matthew, remembering clearly what happened expresses, it seems, his total surprise as he writes, “Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.” (Mt 12:13) We might say his hand was made ‘just as good as new’ but Matthew, having been there remembers that after Jesus healed him you couldn’t tell one hand form the other. A nice touch!

So, we aren’t told much about this man but we are about ‘religion’ and therein comes the challenge. I always remember the story told of something that happened in an early house church last century. The new group was worshipping in the downstairs of the leader’s house when an ambulance had to be called to attend to an elderly person upstairs. The ambulance men carried the person out on a stretcher through the worshipping company who continued as if nothing was happening. How unreal is ‘religion’! We have to perform and heaven help anyone who suddenly has a real need. The ‘service’ must come before the person. That is not ‘life’ and that is what this story points out to us. Have you felt uneasy or even annoyed with my account? You probably have a problem because you are ’religious’. Jesus came to bring life not legalism, reality not ritual. Let’s get free so we can be free, and Jesus can be free to be himself in our midst today! Then we might see some of the same things happening as we’ve just read.

18. Two Blind Men

People who met Jesus : 18 :  Two Blind Men

Mt 9:27-31 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”; and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.

Those who came to seek out Jesus came with all sorts of ailments and all sorts of infirmities. Sometimes they came in great crowds and Jesus healed all of them. We read, “Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them.” (Mt 15:30) and “Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.” (Mt 19:2) But in the examples we are looking at, it is individuals who come. The ‘crowds’ show us how popular he was and the extent of his power in that he healed them all, but the individuals show us his care and concern. Individuals are important to God. I am always amazed at the lists of names that are included in various places in the Bible, names that mostly mean nothing to us today, but they mean a lot to God; they were those He had dealings with at that particular time, and for that reason alone they have a place in the records of history..

In our next account it is two men who come to Jesus. There is an old proverb, “Birds of a feather flock together.” It simply mean that like minded people, or people of similar character of experience stick together. These two blind men came together; perhaps they are friends who had begged together and gave each other support. If you were a blind person living two thousand years ago you were utterly dependent on those around you. If your family got fed up with you and cast you out, you became a beggar; it was the only way to survive. That must have been pretty soul destroying but it was all you could do and so you had to persevere at it. That may be the reason that these two men persevered in the way they did.

What is odd about this story is that Jesus must have been aware of them for some time but did nothing about it – at least not for a while – because we read they “followed him, calling out…” and then “when he had gone indoors…” Time passed and these men persevered. So why did it happen like that? As we find so often in Scripture, we aren’t told and so we are left to speculate. Two reasons come to mind why Jesus let these two men wait.

The first is that he wanted them to show that they really believed in him, that he could really heal them. For some reason faith seems bound up in healing. John Wimber used to say that in every account of healing in the New Testament, faith is observable in someone. Sometimes it was simply in Jesus himself – he sensed the Father’s will. Sometimes it was in the person who was ill and who sensed that this was going to happen. Sometimes, as in the case of the four men bringing the paralytic, it was others who were convinced. Faith, the Bible tells us, comes from hearing God’s word. God speaks His will to bring healing, and someone hears it. Faith is then responding to what we’ve just heard. Did Jesus want these two men to be utterly convinced about this? All we know is that the New Testament also shows us that on occasion healing was prevented by unbelief. In his home town we read, “And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.” (Mt 13:58)

The second reason that comes to mind, is that Jesus wanted them to follow him into somewhere private so that what he did was not seen by everyone. This seems confirmed by the fact that he went indoors and then after he healed them he told them not to tell others. Now why did he do that? I can only assume it was that he did not want to progress his ministry too quickly. It is clear that Jesus was working to his Father’s agenda, the final part of which had him in Jerusalem after three years of ministry confronting the authorities with his good works, so they would take him and crucify him as the sacrifice for the sin of the world. When his mother tried to provoke him into performing a miracle, he asked, “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” (Jn 2:4) When his brothers tried to provoke him into action he declared, “Jesus told them, “The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right… for me the right time has not yet come.” (Jn 7:6,8) Thus, knowing that such a miracle as a double healing of the blind would cause such excitement, Jesus tried to keep it under wraps.

Yet we have to acknowledge that Jesus who knew the minds of men, would have known that these two men would be so excited that they could not keep quiet about it so, although his greater desire was not to cause great public excitement, he seems, nevertheless, moved by the faith of these two men to heal them anyway, despite what he knew would happen. It suggests that Jesus’ concern and compassion for people, overrides expediency sometimes. Love will act to meet a need, even if it knows that the end will not work out to the best. That is amazing. In both of the instances just quoted, with his mother and brothers, he actually did eventually conform to their expectations.

So, are we those who hear God and will we persevere in our faith? If He speaks a prophetic word through one of His servants and it takes a while to be fulfilled, will we persevere in faith? Will we maintain a right attitude as we ‘pursue Jesus’?  These are important questions that address our spiritual maturity – or lack of it and which arise as we consider this story today.

17. Jairus

People who met Jesus : 17 :  Jairus

Lk 8:41,42 Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.

Being a parent can be a mixed blessing. On one hand it can be one of the most wonderful things that can happen to you; on the other hand it can be a real heartache or a real worry. Yet as I weigh the pros and the cons, I know which side I come down on. I feel sad for those who choose to put career before having a family, and even more sad for those unable to have children. The truth is that children cost – they cost your whole being. As I watch my children with their children I wonder, oh my goodness, did I do this, did I lose my life for the sake of these as infants, for that IS what you do? Oh yes, there are those today who have children and then try to ignore them and then wonder why they have so many problems in the years that follow. No, having children is life giving; you give yourself for these new little people, and if you are wise, you keep on giving of your life and your time and your energy as it is needed for however long. If you are a real parent your heart will be totally knit with that of your child, which makes it all the more difficult when things go wrong.

And that brings us to Jairus. He is a respected member of the local community, one of the leaders in the local synagogue; he’s probably got a nice house and he has a daughter. It is quite probable (although we don’t know for sure if the practice had yet come about for Jewish boys and girls) that his daughter had recently, on becoming twelve, been welcomed in to the synagogue at her coming of age. He would, no doubt, have looked on his daughter with all the signs of her becoming a young woman in every sense. Yes, life had been good, and then suddenly something goes wrong. She is ill. He calls for the physicians but they seem to be able to do nothing. She declines. She is obviously very unwell. In fact, now, she looks like she is dying. The bottom is falling out of his world!

I can remember the times with our own children when we’ve had a crisis, when our son who was very young climbed (he was always climbing) onto the front gate and then pitched head first on to the pavement outside. In the rush to the hospital your prayer life takes a leap. At such times you feel utterly helpless. God, if you are there, can you turn up please for this little child. You pray and sometimes they get better – but sometimes it seems they don’t. You weep and you anguish. Jairus is probably at this stage – and then Jesus turns up in town.

Now he has a dilemma. He is a respected leader of Judaism as a synagogue leader, one who is supposed to be an example to the community. What does he know of this itinerant preacher who seems most unorthodox?  He’s heard that has upset a number of the teachers of the Law and seems to disdain the religious orthodoxy of the Pharisees. Yes, they say he heals people, but surely I can’t go to him. But then love kicks in, love for his daughter. At that point all the niceties of local social customs and expectations go out the window! My daughter is dying and no one here seems to be able to help. Maybe, just maybe, this travelling preacher might be able to help. The stories they tell of his ‘miracles’ are incredible. If half of them are true, then there is hope!

He goes to where Jesus is and, in desperation and anguish falls before him, pleading for him to come and heal his daughter. Jesus smiles and says, yes of course, and Jairus leads the way. The crowds are thick but Jairus only has his thoughts on the little woman back at home who looked so pale and weak when he left the house. We must hurry. But then there is some confusion and Jesus seems to have stopped. Oh no, what is going on? He’s looking round the crowd and asking “Who touched me?”  Jesus, there are hundreds of people here; dozens of people will have touched you. But a woman comes forward and he speaks to her, smiles again and then turns backs to Jairus. “Sorry, Jairus, just something I had to attend to.” Yes, I know it’s not there in the text of your Bible but surely that’s the sort of thing that probably happened.

They start off again, pushing through the crowd only to find one of the servants from his house pushing towards them from the opposite direction. He brings bad news: “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher any more.” (v.49) His heart breaks. He was too late. If only I could have got Jesus to come earlier. As if reading his thoughts, Jesus reached out a reassuring arm and quietly said, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” (v.50). What? But she’s dead! Didn’t Jesus hear what the servant said? But then as he looks into Jesus eyes he sees something there that makes him stop. There is total confidence, total assurance – and it’s catching! Can it be that he can even raise the dead?  He quickly leads them on. His mind is full of doubts and questions.

When they get to the home everyone is weeping and wailing for the loss of the little one. Jairus looks at Jesus questioningly. “She is not dead but asleep,” the preacher says. (v.52) Again there is total confidence, total assurance and it is believable. Jairus takes Jesus up to the little girl’s room. Jesus walked over to the body and tenderly took hold of one of her hands. “My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up.” (v.54,55) Tears were now pouring down Jairus’s face. The disciples with Jesus were also weeping with big smiles. Jairus didn’t know what to do or say. Perhaps you might like get her some food, Jesus suggested. Jairus called for his wife and servants. Tears turned to tears. Tears of anguish turned to tears of joy. It was a time for celebration.

Now yes, I have made some assumptions in telling this story but I think they are all reasonable ones that just fill in the gaps of the simple Gospel accounts. This is a story of anguish that turned to joy. I have sought to get us into the mind and feelings of Jairus. When this sort of thing happens to us, we too know anguish. We too know the sense of helplessness and we too will take whatever help is there. Let’s make sure it is God’s help for nothing less will do. That surely has got to be one of the main and obvious lessons from this story. Jesus is totally in control and can be there for us in this Fallen World where things go wrong. But he’s not only there for the crisis times; he’s always there for us!

16. The Paralytic

People who met Jesus : 16 :  The Paralytic

Mt 9:1,2 Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

I cannot imagine what it must be like to be a paralytic. I can try, but I fail. I hear of famous people who have had accidents and ended up paralysed, and I hear how they cope, but I struggle to imagine what it must be like being utterly dependent on other people. That is what it was like for the man at the heart of our meditation today. He is utterly dependent on others. Like many people who came to Jesus, we don’t know who he was, what his background was, what his name was, or even why he was paralysed. It seems those weren’t issues that concerned the Gospel writers. Perhaps sometimes they omitted names because nobody took note of it when it was happening, perhaps it was happening so often they just couldn’t keep up with everyone who was healed, or perhaps they felt that the individuals concerned deserved some privacy and so just didn’t tell us their name.

The thing that identifies this man, as against anyone else being healed, was, first of all, that he had four friends who brought him to Jesus on a mat or stretcher. Mark & Luke tell us of the perseverance of these men: “Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.” (Mk 2:4) We talk of these men as his ‘friends’ but they are just described as “some men” in all the accounts. We don’t know who they are and so we assume they are obviously his friends.

Now although we are focusing on the paralytic these men ought to have the spotlight shone on them, because it is “their faith” that Jesus responds to. The paralytic doesn’t seem to have the faith for healing, but his ‘friends’ do. It was because these men had heard of Jesus and saw (presumably) his power, that they had faith for their friend to be healed. Hence they are determined to get him to Jesus and are not going to be put off. That, I find, is a real challenge. How often, I wonder, do we get put off trying to bring our friends to Jesus? All they need is contact with him, but hindrances come and we give up!

But then we come to Jesus’ amazing response to the man: “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” Now again this is one of those times when we wish there was further explanation given. Why did this man need forgiveness? What had he done? Were these words an acknowledgement by Jesus (who knows us completely even before we say a word) that he understood that this man saw Jesus as a ‘holy man’ and, having very low self-esteem (through his state), felt he wasn’t good enough to come to Jesus? Or had he done something silly that had brought about the paralysis? We aren’t told the cause, only that Jesus gladly and easily grants him forgiveness.

Now the thing about these accounts is that they often include quite a number of ‘players’. Some of the background cast, of this particular play, get upset: “At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” (Mt 9:3) We might be a bit slow to realise the significance of what Jesus says, but they weren’t. He’s claiming to be God because only God can forgive sins! That was the gist of their objection. Jesus’ response is delightful. He doesn’t enter into an argument about why he is God; he simply sidesteps it with a piece of indisputable action: “Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, `Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, `Get up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . . .” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” And the man got up and went home.” (v.4-7) Wow! You can’t argue with that. OK, is what he is saying, it’s obviously easy to say words, but what if I heal him? Will you be happy that I am who my words imply I am? And he does!

Matthew and Mark simply observe that the man left of his own accord. We don’t know where Luke got his information from but as a Physician, being a people-person, he tells us that the man “went home praising God.” (Lk 5:25) This was one happy and grateful man!  Wouldn’t you be? One minute you’d been in an utterly hopeless situation and the next you are free to lead your life how you will. Forgiven and freed! One minute you have low self-esteem, feel bad about yourself, feeling guilty and a nobody, and the next you are forgiven, loved and free to be yourself.

Now there is one further thing I note here. It may just be that the ‘shorthand’ of the Gospel writers didn’t include it, but often in such accounts we find the healed person stays around with Jesus. In the previous meditation, Legion afterwards is noted to be “sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind.” (Lk 8:35), but this man just seems to disappear off home. Not for him is staying around. Again we don’t know why. Perhaps he wanted to get out of the public spotlight – it takes a while to get rid of low self-esteem! Perhaps he wanted to go home and tell his family what had happened. We just don’t know and Jesus doesn’t make any negative comment. At another time when ten lepers got healed and only one came back to give thanks, Jesus commented about the other nine, but there is none of that here.

It’s all right, Jesus understands. We all respond in different ways. There’s a lifetime ahead to be lived by this man now. That’s what counts, how he will make the most of his life from now on, not how he reacts to what has happened. I love the way some brand new Christians react to being born again. We want to hear certain words from them and see them respond in certain ways – and they don’t! They just get on with life and that is more real than any forced or implied or expected responses. No, when life flows, as it did in this situation, and the man is freed, don’t try and mould and channel that life into artificial religion. Let them LIVE in the joy of that and let the Holy Spirit lead them. I realise that these words make some people uneasy but if that is so, it is probably because of our insecurity and lack of confidence in God. Yes, we do need to teach and care for new believers but mostly we have got to let them live out the life that is now bubbling in them, and that may not always conform to our stereotypes.

Do you know anyone who you consider an ‘impossibility’?  Is their life ‘paralyzed’ and not going anywhere? The most crucial thing we can do is somehow introduce them to Jesus – and that is more than just speaking words. It is about encountering the living Son of God who has the authority to be able to make possible the impossible, and who has the love that desires to do it. Hallelujah!