Lenten reflection March 11th
John 5:1-18 and Psalm 72:12-13
Yesterday I saw a film called “The bucket list”
It described a meeting between to men in a hospital, both of whom received the message that they were terminally ill with cancer. Cole was a rich, ruthless and lonely hospital owner and Carter who wasa black well read, and devoted husband and car mechanic anchored in true family vaules and faith in God. They decided to spend their last days together, crossing off items on their “bucket list” (a wish list of things they want to do before kicking the bucket).
In the pursuit of some of the things in life that they had not yet experienced, the significance of the story was two questions that were posed by Carter to Cole: "Have you experienced real joy in your life" and, "have you given real joy to somebody else"?
When I read the story of the healing at the pool called Bethesda, I am captured by how Jesus saw the lame man, listened to his story and healed him. His love for him is a revelation of the encounter with the supernatural Jesus and how His love and divine power totally transformed this man's life. He also demonstrated how God sees us and cares for those we might consider the least significant.
This lame man was lying by the pool and nobody helped him in the water and Jesus points to himself as the answer to his needs. Too often we don’t see the needs of others and don’t point them to the only answer to life’s big and small questions; the redeeming power and love of Christ that can heal and transform our lives and give us eternal joy.
The two questions posed to Cole in the “Bucket list” were; have you experienced real joy in your life and have you given real joy to somebody else?
These questions reminded me of the healing ministry of Jesus and the story of the lame man. Maybe the most important questions to contemplate in this preparation before Easter are; have you experienced the love and healing power of Jesus made possible through His suffering, death and resurrection. Have you experienced the true joy of knowing Jesus and what he has done for you?
Are we willing to see people’s real life issues and lead and point them to the One that can transform their lives and give them true joy and hope? Are we willing to challenge people to what real joy is and show them that Jesus can give this Joy to their lives?
I pray that God will bless you in this time of preparation to see the relevance of these important questions in your life.
Pastor
Terje
Gardermoen Kristne Fellesskap
Gardermoen International Baptist Fellowship
Psalm 72:12-13
For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death.
John 5:1-18
The Healing at the Pool
1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.[b] 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When 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?"
7"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."
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
11But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "
12So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"
13The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
16So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Jeremiah 3:6-18*
Romans 1:28-2:11
John 5:1-18 and Psalm 72:12-13
Yesterday I saw a film called “The bucket list”
It described a meeting between to men in a hospital, both of whom received the message that they were terminally ill with cancer. Cole was a rich, ruthless and lonely hospital owner and Carter who wasa black well read, and devoted husband and car mechanic anchored in true family vaules and faith in God. They decided to spend their last days together, crossing off items on their “bucket list” (a wish list of things they want to do before kicking the bucket).
In the pursuit of some of the things in life that they had not yet experienced, the significance of the story was two questions that were posed by Carter to Cole: "Have you experienced real joy in your life" and, "have you given real joy to somebody else"?
When I read the story of the healing at the pool called Bethesda, I am captured by how Jesus saw the lame man, listened to his story and healed him. His love for him is a revelation of the encounter with the supernatural Jesus and how His love and divine power totally transformed this man's life. He also demonstrated how God sees us and cares for those we might consider the least significant.
This lame man was lying by the pool and nobody helped him in the water and Jesus points to himself as the answer to his needs. Too often we don’t see the needs of others and don’t point them to the only answer to life’s big and small questions; the redeeming power and love of Christ that can heal and transform our lives and give us eternal joy.
The two questions posed to Cole in the “Bucket list” were; have you experienced real joy in your life and have you given real joy to somebody else?
These questions reminded me of the healing ministry of Jesus and the story of the lame man. Maybe the most important questions to contemplate in this preparation before Easter are; have you experienced the love and healing power of Jesus made possible through His suffering, death and resurrection. Have you experienced the true joy of knowing Jesus and what he has done for you?
Are we willing to see people’s real life issues and lead and point them to the One that can transform their lives and give them true joy and hope? Are we willing to challenge people to what real joy is and show them that Jesus can give this Joy to their lives?
I pray that God will bless you in this time of preparation to see the relevance of these important questions in your life.
Pastor
Terje
Gardermoen Kristne Fellesskap
Gardermoen International Baptist Fellowship
Psalm 72:12-13
For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death.
John 5:1-18
The Healing at the Pool
1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.[b] 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When 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?"
7"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."
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
11But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "
12So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"
13The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
16So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Jeremiah 3:6-18*
Romans 1:28-2:11
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