Real Pain Relief
Words & Works of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsWe're good at treating symptoms and masking pain; but Jesus is good fixing the real cause of our pain.
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Pain Relievers
Pain Relievers
This has been a winter to remember. I feel it in my joints.
All the shoveling and snow blowing has been a real pain, literally, in my arthritic fingers, wrists, elbows, and shoulders.
A couple of weeks ago I told the story of my high school baseball team. And I’ve talked about my playing many times here. One of the consequences of throwing so many baseballs, sliding head first so many times, swinging a bat at so many balls; is the arthritis I have developed in my joints.
So, all that makes shoveling in cold weather more of a thing that it is.
I’m sure, all of you can relate.
Arthritis is a reality for most everyone our age. We wrote checks as young people, that now, as not-so-young people, our bodies need to cover. Ouch.
Pain relief is a big deal for ppl our age. You see it advertised in all the programs we watch and websites we read.
I brought a few of the products I take for arthritic pain relief. Again, I’m sure our medicine cabinet supply looks a lot like yours. Well, maybe a little different.
Anti-inflammatories:
Tylenol, arthritis formula
Aleve
BLM is a natural, Young Living product that is also an anti-inflammatory.
Here’s something maybe you didn’t know about. Mechanics found out years ago.
You know I go on an annual golf trip w/ some friends I’ve known for 30 years. This year we’re going to Gulf Shores, MS the last weekend of April.
One year, several years ago, we came out to Tucson for the weekend and Sara’s dad joined us. Some of us stayed at his house.
We’re loading up the car first thing in the morning, and one of the guys had an elbow problem. He brought his compression sleeve. But, he forgot his topical pain reliever.
Dad, retired orthopedist, said, “Hang on a second.” He went into his garage, brought out his WD-40, sprayed my friend’s elbow, and the pain went away.
Motor, engine mechanics have known about this for years. They work on their machines, lubricate them w/ WD-40, and the arthritic pain in their hands and fingers went away.
Why? The doctor knew that there is an ingredient in WD-40 that is an anti-inflammatory. It’s not on the market b/c it caused cancer in lab rats.
They way over-dosed them. But, guys, if you’re in your garage and feel a little pain in your hand, or knee; lubricate that thing up w/ a little WD-40 and you’ll be good to go.
I wouldn’t do it just before a dinner date w/ your wife, unless she’s into mechanical things, too. You’ll smell like the garage. It works.
Anybody have a hot tub, sauna, spa? Sara’s brother, in Tucson, has one. They take full advantage almost every night. That’s been very helpful to Sara w/ all the time she is spending working on moving furniture and boxing up stuff at her parents’ house.
She comes out of that stiff and sore. A good soak in the hot tub under the stars does wonders to help her sleep and get after it again the next day.
The pain goes away, at least temporarily.
That’s the deal, though. Right? We’re just making the pain. Dealing w/ symptoms. There is no cure for arthritis.
We’re happy to have less pain. We want t/b active and involved and pain slows us down. Maybe even locks us up so we can’t participate.
I love golf. We hike. I ride my Peloton. I want to be able to wrestle w/ my grandkids and throw balls with them. So, masking the pain is a pretty good solution.
It’s not permanent. And it doesn’t deal w/ the root cause. But, the pain is manageable.
That’s all we can do. Sometimes, masking the pain only make the situation worse. We don’t realize how serious the injury, or illness is. And, by masking the pain we can make it worse. Or, just live in a world of denial thinking b/c I don’t hurt at the moment, I don’t really have a problem.
I’m only sick if the doctor tells me I’m sick. So, if I don’t go the to doctor he can’t tell me I’m sick. Therefore, I’m never sick.
We do this w/ little issues, and we tend to do it w/ big issues. We mask the pain. It might be emotional pain, spiritual pain, mental pain. We take a pill, use our credit card, go for a run, or lubricate up. We mask the pain, deal w/ a symptom, but the cause is always there.
That’s all we can do.
Jesus can deal w/ our biggest problems and root causes of our greatest pain.
Jesus will fix our biggest problem that we may not even be aware of, because we are obsessed with an immediate problem that’s actually a lesser problem. When our bigger problem gets fixed, every other problem becomes manageable.
This is the point of Jesus healing the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda in John 5. Jesus used this man and his situation as an object lesson for Israel, and us, to encourage us to let Jesus deal w/ our biggest problem, even though we are more concerned about our immediate problem.
The Context of the Miracle
The Context of the Miracle
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
Some time later…After what? We’re back in John. Ch. 2-4 Jesus turned water into wine, met w/ Nic at night, JB said whoever believes in the Son has life, Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well, then healed the Roman official’s son.
Some time after that.
A feast brought Jesus back to Jerusalem for the Galilee region. We don’t know what feast. Probably the Passover. It makes the most sense. That means this is the beginning of Jesus’s 2nd year of ministry.
It also means that hundreds of thousands of Jew would be coming to town, bringing and buying lambs to be sac’d for their sin. You’ll see why this might be important in a minute.
This miracle occurs at the Pool at Bethesda, near the Sheep Gate in the wall.
In Aramaic, Bethesda means, “Outpouring of Mercy”. Many hospitals and healing centers are called Bethesda b/c of what happened here w/ Jesus, and even before this miracle.
It’s surrounded by 5 colonnades. A colonnade is like a covered deck. Archeologists have discovered this pool. And as they dig up more of the ruins, they have confirmed this is exactly what it looks like and where it’s located in relation to the city, wall, and the temple.
Here’s a picture I took of what the area looks like today as they dig up the ruins of the pool.
It’s hard to make out what it may have looked like. You can see arches that would have been doorways in. But, but it’s hard for the untrained eye to figure out what you’re looking at.
Here’s an artist’s rendering of what it would have looked like in Jesus’s day.
It’s actually 2 pools. North and South. Then, you see the covered decks, colonnades around both, w/ the 5th colonnade dividing the 2 pools.
Notice the path to wall into the city. That’s the sheep gate.
It’s significant to consider that nothing has been discovered that contradicts any detail in the bible about the lay of the land in either OT times or New. Science has only confirmed the accuracy of the biblical accounts and descriptions.
There were many sick and disabled people around these pools. They would have gathered on the steps close to the water. Maybe a few, up under the covered colonnade.
Jesus picked this on man, on purpose. He was probably the most severe case. He was a quadriplegic. We don’t know why. Injury? Illness? Birth defect? Don’t know. But we do know he had been in this situation for 38 years. Probably, almost all of his life.
His muscles, ligaments, tendons, would have atrophied long ago. I bones weak. His brain would have adapted to his reality long before Jesus showed up.
He picked this guy, who was in worse shape than anybody else there, most pathetic, least hope of them all.
Jesus did for this man what he could not do for himself. W/ a word, well, 8 words, he performed a miracle, and healed the man.
The Cause of the Miracle
The Cause of the Miracle
When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
“Do you want to get well?” A little insulting. Pretty obvious. Duh! Maybe, on the surface, a dumb Q.
Why do you think I’m here? Of course I want to get well. But, no one will help me.
Obviously, friends had brought him to this place. But, unlike the friends of the man who was lowered down thru the roof for Jesus, this guy’s friends went off and left him here.
What help did he think he needed? Why were there so many sick and disabled ppl there?
Legend had it, when the water stirred, an angel had stirred it, and the first one in immediately after, would be healed.
So, this guy had no hope. You had to be first. Think about the desperation of the ppl around the pool. No one was going to help him. They had their own issues to fix.
Mercy? Everyone would have had to wait for this guy to be dumped in first. But, they were desperate for their own healing. They’d all jump in first. Anybody’s guess who was first.
“Last one in’s a rotten egg!” Or worse.
Where’d this come from?
The pools were fed by mineral springs from underground. The water was reddish in color.
When families would travel to Jerusalem for the Passover, either they brought their own lamb to sac, or they bought one once they arrived.
Either way, the lamb would have had to have been washed. It was dirty from the trip or from the fields where it came from.
Only a spotless lamb was accepted for sac. So, the owner would have to wash the spots off.
This was the pool by where the lambs were purchased, then washed, then taken thru the sheep gate to the temple priest for approval, then to the temple butcher to prepare the animal for sac.
It was a mineral spring.
First of all, how did the water stir? Air bubbles would come up from the underground spring. Not an angel.
A man would wade into the water to wash his lamb. When he was finished, he noticed the pain in his arthritic joints was gone. The aches from the long journey, farming the fields, tending the flocks eased.
They didn’t know anything about arthritis. Calcium build-ups from injuries. Frozen shoulders and joints. They just knew before they washed their lamb they hurt. After, the pain was gone.
It was a mineral spring, better than any hot tub, and more effective than natural supplements and anti-inflammatories.
Just like those mechanics who discovered after lubricating their machines, their hands didn’t hurt as much.
Then, the legend of the pools at Bethesda took on a life of their own. Obviously, the first one in after the bubbles could not have been too severely injured to be able to move so fast. So, healing and recovery were a much easier process.
Back to this man Jesus chose. His situ was hopeless. Legend or not, he bel’d the water was his only hope, and there was no hope of being the first one in.
Do you want to get well? Duh.
Well, then, get up! PU your mat and walk.
He had to feel something in his body immediately he didn’t recognize. His fingers moved. Then, his hands. Arms. Feet. Legs. Things started to work. So, he tried to get up.
He had to have some sort of faith to even try. But, at this point, his faith was in the power of Jesus as a miracle-worker. That’s it.
The healing was immediate and complete. Atrophied muscles worked. Weak bones became strong. An under-developed brain developed the ability to communicate to his body parts to work. Balance. Strength. Coordination. It all came to him. Immediately.
And, it was Saturday. The Sabbath. Jesus knew it. The man knew it. Everybody in Jerusalem knew it.
He just wanted to walk again. He didn’t care about the rules or laws or traditions. His priority was mobility, not offending the priests over carrying his mat and walking away.
The rules and regulations that made up the traditions of the c.1 Sabbath laws bore little resemblance to the OT laws that God, thru Moses, put into effect.
Originally, they were intended to set aside a day for the priorities of important relationships, rest and recovery from hard work the other 6 days, setting Israel apart from their neighboring nations, and as a hedge against greed by willingly making less money than their neighbors.
They worshiped that day. Rested. Spent time w/ their family. They served God and those in need that day. The Sabbath started at sundown Friday and ended at sundown Saturday.
All cooking was done prior. All tools were put away before the sun set on Friday. All the candles and lamps were lit before dark Friday.
Grace allowed for individual application of the greater intent for the day. If your family rested by going on a hike, great. Go.
But, what was intended to be restful and recovery, became burdensome.
In c.1, there were 39 main Sabbath laws. These were called the Father laws. The penalty for breaking any one of these was death by stoning.
Then, there were descendant laws.
You’ve heard me say this before. The Father, no plowing. The descendant law, no digging or moving your furniture. B/C, you would leave a rut in the dirt floor or carpet. Thus, hoeing a row. Death by stoning.
A woman could not look in a mirror on the Sabbath. No harvesting. If she were to see a gray hair and pluck it; death by stoning.
No carrying a burden. No extra clothing, even if that jacket is very stylish. No wearing false teeth. And no writing b/c you’d have bear the burden of the pen. Death by stoning.
This guy just wanted to get well. He wanted his mobility. He was much less concerned w/ breaking any Sabbath laws by carrying his mat.
But that didn’t stop the religious leaders from calling him out and making serious plans to do away w/ Jesus.
There were consequences to this action. There was literally, hell to pay.
The Consequences of the Miracle
The Consequences of the Miracle
and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
The religious leadership, their priority was their tradition. This man’s priority was his mobility.
He faced an important question. “Obey their traditional law, or obey the guy who healed him?”
What would you do?
Ironic consequence #1:
They wanted to know who told him to break their law, not who healed him. This type of healing was a sign of the Messiah. They were more interested in punishing Jesus than celebrating that this guy could walk after 38 years and the Messiah had arrived.
Ironic consequence #2:
38 years a quadriplegic. As good as dead. No life. No hope. The religious leaders were prepared to kill him for walking and carrying his mat.
Ironic consequence #3:
You’d think he’d be more interested in who healed him. He didn’t even know his name.
Faith? This guy was not saved when Jesus healed him. His faith did not make him well b/c he had no faith, other than in the power of the miracle-worker.
Salvation come by faith in the person of the Messiah. Believing in the name of Jesus. And he didn’t even know his name. No idea who Jesus was.
Later, when the man is on his way into the temple, walking for the first time in 38 years to worship God, and maybe make amends for breaking the Sabbath law, Jesus came up to him and said,
“Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”
Being a quadriplegic, immobility was a huge problem. But it wasn’t his biggest problem. As intimately aware of his quadriplegia as he was, ultimately he was unaware of just how sick he really was. As bad as his immobility was, not going to heaven would be much worse.
In fact, he would have been better off still on that mat unable to move, but going to heaven, than walking and carrying his mat on his way to Hell.
If you know the story of Joni Eareckson Tada. She was 17 years old in 1967. Just graduated from high school. Athletic. Daughter of an olympic athlete. She dove into the Chesapeake Bay, into water she though was much deeper than it was.
She hit, head first into the bottom and broke her neck, immediately became a quadriplegic.
In time she came to faith in Jesus and now is in Heaven.
Her most famous quote is, “I’d rather be in this wheelchair knowing God, than on my feet w/out Him.”
God healed her, eventually, when she got to Heaven. Her disability did not prevent her from coming to faith. She admitted it was hard. The depression was real. But she did not blame God. She leaned into her relationship w/ Jesus and leaned on Him for the help she needed to survive her injuries.
This man Jesus healed was not a saved man. His sins had not been forgiven as he had not come to faith in the person of the Messiah.
He didn’t know how sick he really was. Just like the man, the religious leaders didn’t know how blind they really were.
The Messiah was right in front of them, showing them proof, and they missed it.
They confronted Jesus on the events of this day. They thought they had him on 2 capital crimes. Blasphemy, claiming to be the Son of God, equal to God, God Himself; was also punishable by death by stoning. And, they had him on breaking their Sabbath law.
Reality. He is the Son of God. He is God. And, He didn’t break God’s Sabbath law. He broke their traditional law. He was guilty on neither count.
Their traditions were blinding them to the truth.
Why did Jesus choose this guy? Why this situation in front of these leaders? No faith at all.
He chose this guy, probably the worst case around the pool, because he represented a picture that was a warning to Israel and us.
If Jesus came as a miracle-worker, He would have healed everybody at the pool. No more doctors, nurses, med-techs, hospitals, clinics, EMTs, no need any more.
But, that’s not why Jesus came.
At His triumphal entry, Jesus cried as He looked over Jerusalem. They were about to Kill Him. But their fate was much worse than His.
He’s going to end up in heaven. They don’t know how sick they really are. He will be able to survive His immediate and short-term pain for eternal glory.
They are hung up on their immediate painful oppressed situ under the Roman gov.t
Do you want to get well? Duh! Dumb Q.
Why do you think I’m here? I can’t get into the water. Dumber answer!
If you knew who Jesus is and how sick you really are, then you wouldn’t be so concerned about the water and what you think you can make happen.
You’d ask me, and I’d save you.
How sick are we? Are we masking our pain w/ a little spritzer of WD-40 and a hot tub?
Ask Jesus to fix your biggest problem, then everything else becomes manageable. And masking whatever pain we have left is no big deal.
We’re not making matters worse, by denying the real pain. Deal w/ it, then manage the rest w/ Jesus’s help.
Applications
Applications
Faith
Faith
God is not limited by our lack of faith. You don’t have to believe more than you do to receive life-changing work from God.
You just need to believe that God can do it and will do what’s best for you.
The change may not be what you expect or think is best for you. But what you get from God will be what’s best for you.
Don’t try to have more faith. Go deeper in the faith you have in your walk w/ Jesus.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle
Holy living, sinning less is an appropriate response to being saved.
Faith alone saves you. Then, make every effort to live a life worthy of the One who saved you.
It’s an issue of respect and love. I do my best to do what Sara wants me to do b/c I love her and respect her. God wants the same from us for him.
We don’t have to clean up first. Jesus will save us the way we are in the mess we’re in. Then, he will give us the tools, encourage us, empower us, and show us how to change our lifestyle.
The same faith that saves us, changes us. By faith, use the tools you’ve been given to sin less out of love and respect for Jesus.
Disabled?
Disabled?
No matter what you may be dealing w/ in this life, if you are saved, you have good reason to praise God in your situ.
Jesus may not calm your storm. He may just calm you in the midst of it. He may not perform a miracle and heal you. He may perform a miracle by giving you the ability to live an abundant life despite your pain.
Your biggest problem, and mine, is our sin. If we’re saved, then our biggest problem is solved.
Maybe we mask the pain that’s left w/ a little spritzer of WD-40 or a hot tub. But, whatever is leftover is manageable.
Manage it. If you’re saved, w/ Jesus you can manage everything else.
Sometimes all we can do is mask the pain. But, the problem w/ that is the pain always comes back.
We do this w/ little issues, and we tend to do it w/ big issues. . It might be emotional pain, spiritual pain, mental pain. We take a pill, use our credit card, go for a run, or lubricate up. We mask the pain, deal w/ a symptom, but the cause is always there.
That’s all we can do.
Jesus can deal w/ our biggest problems and root causes of our greatest pain.
Jesus will fix our biggest problem that we may not even be aware of, because we are obsessed with an immediate problem that’s actually a lesser problem. When our bigger problem gets fixed, every other problem becomes manageable.