Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable, regardless of our belief...

This week, we are looking at an unexplainable event from the history of Jesus life that is recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of John Yesterday, we looked on as a man who had been paralyzed as a result of a debilitating illness for 38 years suddenly feels within him the ability to walk again. This man, even though he did not know who Jesus was, responded to Jesus unexplainable activity in his life by getting up immediately and walking. We looked on as this man does not even ask Jesus his name. And Jesus heals this man, even though He does not acknowledge what Jesus had just done for him or even ask his name. Jesus searches this man out and miraculously heals him and the man simply gets up and walks away without even thanking him or asking his name?

John then mentions that it was the Sabbath on that day. Now if we were watching this as a scene from a DVD, at this point some ominous music would begin playing. You know some “duh duh duh duh”. Some ominous music would begin to play in order to set the stage for what was about to happen as this man walks away from Jesus without thanking him or asking his name. Today, we see John record for us what happens next in John 6:10:

 So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet." But he answered them, "He who made me well was the one who said to me, 'Pick up your pallet and walk.'"They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Pick up your pallet and walk '?" But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place.

Now throughout the gospel of John, John uses the phrase “the Jews” to refer to a group of Jewish people who were self-righteous religious people who opposed Jesus and were far from God. John tells us that these self righteous religious people confronted the man who had been miraculous healed by stating "It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet." These self righteous religious people were calling out this man for breaking one of their religious rules that they had made that was in addition to God’s rules. Because that is what self righteous religious people do, isn’t it? 

While God had instituted the Sabbath to be a time when people would pause from their normal work routines to remember and look up to God as the creator and One who is large and in charge of all things, these self righteous religious people had added a whole list of additional rules when it came to what was considered “work”. And one such additional rule was that the moving of furniture was forbidden on the Sabbath. And this man was now breaking their rules by carrying his matt that he had been lying on paralyzed for 38 years.

John tells us that this man who had just been miraculously healed by Jesus responded to being confronted by these self righteous religious leaders for breaking one of their rules by blaming Jesus. The man basically says “It’s not my fault. The man who healed me told me to so I did. It’s not my fault, it’s his fault”. Notice the self righteous religious response here: "Who is the man who said to you, 'Pick up your pallet and walk '?"

You see, the self righteous religious people wanted to know so that they could go bust him for breaking the Sabbath, because these self righteous religious people believed that any healing was also a form of work that was forbidden. John tells us that the man responded by explaining that he did not know who had just healed him because he had walked away from Jesus. And now with the large crowds around, this man was unable to find Jesus in the crowds because Jesus had left the scene unnoticed by the crowd. We see what happens next in verse 14: 

 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you."

John explains that after being confronted by the self righteous religious people, Jesus searched for and found the man who He had miraculously healed in the temple, where he probably went to give thanks to God. Upon finding this man Jesus states "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you." But, why would Jesus say that? What is Jesus stalking about here?

When Jesus says "do not sin anymore", He is revealing for us that reality that this man’s prior debilitating illness was a direct result of his selfish and rebellious activity. You see this man was not born with this physically debilitating illness. Instead, this man had participated in selfishness and rebellion that had stricken him with this debilitating illness. And now Jesus had done the unexplainable by miraculously and permanently healing this man physically from the results of his rebellion so as to restore him to health. And now this man is in the temple thanking God for being physically healed.

However, while this man was focused on the physical healing that he had received from the consequences of his selfishness and rebellion, this man was not focused on the spiritual consequences of his selfishness and rebellion. And unlike the physical consequences of his selfishness and rebellion, the spiritual consequences of his selfishness and rebellion are eternal.

Jesus is basically saying to this man whom He had miraculously healed “You have now been made physically well, now you need to focus on where you are spiritually. You need to deal with your selfishness and rebellion that you are still continuing in. You need to stop the selfishness and rebellion so that you do not experience the far more severe spiritual consequences that your selfishness and rebellion will bring upon you”.

Now I want us to imagine ourselves in this event from history as the man who had just been miraculously and unexplainably healed. Place yourself in his shoes this morning. How would you respond to all that Jesus had done for you? How would you respond to all that Jesus had just said to you? We see how this man responded in verse 15:

 The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. But He answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working."

John tells us that this man did not become a follower of Jesus. This man did not thank Jesus. This man did not even ask Jesus for His name. Instead this man went to the self-righteous religious people who opposed Jesus and were far from God and turned Jesus in as the one who was breaking all their religious rules. This man chose to align himself with those who opposed Jesus in spite of the fact that Jesus had healed him.

Now that leads us to the question that we asked earlier, which was “So why this man? And why only this man? Why did Jesus step over and around all the others to get to this man?” John never provides us an answer to these questions. Instead, John tells us that the self righteous religious people were harassing Jesus because He was breaking their religious rules.

However, Jesus was undaunted and undeterred by the constant harassment of the self righteous religious people of the day. Instead Jesus responded by making a powerful statement "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working."

Notice that Jesus does not say our Father. Instead Jesus is saying my Father. Now you might be here this morning and you are thinking to yourself “Well, Dave is that really a big deal? Does that really matter? And what does Jesus mean by this statement anyways?”  If those questions are running through your mind, I want to let you know that they are great questions to be asking. And we find the answers to those questions as John concludes this section of his account of Jesus life in verse 18:

 For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

John tells us that Jesus statement not only provoked increased harassment form the self righteous religious people of the day; Jesus statement provoked a desire in the self righteous religious people to kill Jesus. You see, by calling God His Father, instead of our Father, Jesus was making Himself equal with God. Jesus was basically saying “I don’t keep your self righteous religious rules because they are not the rules I made. You see, I am God and I am the One who made the rules and I am the One who knows how to keep the rules. And just like My Father, as God, I am continually at work to reveal who I am and My desire to bring people the physical and spiritual healing that can only come from Me”.

And it is in the unexplainable physical healing of a man who rejected the spiritual healing that Jesus offered that we see revealed for us a timeless truth when it comes to Jesus. And that timeless truth is this:  Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable, regardless of our belief. Just as it was with this unexplainable activity involving a man who had responded in disbelief after being healed from 38 years of suffering from a debilitating illness, just as it has been throughout history, Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable to overcome disease, regardless of our belief.

You see Jesus unexplainable and miraculous healing of this man was a sign. As we discovered in this series, signs are different than miracles in the sense that they point to something significant about Jesus. Jesus, in doing the unexplainable, was providing a sign that was designed to reveal and point people to something significant about who Jesus is and what He came to earth to do. And that sign was that Jesus has power as God to intervene and act by healing diseases that were untreatable. 

But not only does Jesus have the power as God to intervene and act by healing diseases that were untreatable. This sign also demonstrates that Jesus unexplainable activity does not always result in a response of belief. Think of it this way: How often does Jesus provide unexplainable evidences of His activity in our lives as followers of Jesus despite our unbelief? How often does Jesus provide unexplainable evidences of His activity in the lives of those who are far from Him despite their unbelief? How often does Jesus provide unexplainable evidences of His activity in the lives of those who are far from Him and who chalk up the unexplainable to chance or coincidence, or good luck?

However, regardless of our level of belief; regardless of our response to Jesus doing the unexplainable; Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable.

So here is a question to consider: How are you responding to the unexplainable evidence of Jesus activity around you? Do you chalk up the unexplainable evidences of Jesus activity in your life to chance? Coincidence? Luck? Or are you responding to the unexplainable evidence of Jesus activity around you by placing your confident trust in Jesus by believing trusting and following Him as Lord and Leader?

Do you believe that Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable to overcome disease, whether He chooses to or not? Do you believe that Jesus can use your life to bring glory to Him by you going through disease instead of overcoming disease?