Scripture Reading: Luke 5:18-26, Matthew 12:10-13, Luke 13:10-17, John 5:1-15
The migraines started in the winter. At times I was dizzy, other times nauseated, but my head was always pounding. In the summer, I sat across from a doctor as he explained that I had a rare, incurable condition called Diabetes Insipidus. Basically put, my body can’t retain water, which means if I drink a glass of water, it travels through my body in about 25 minutes. It’s an endless cycle of hydration, a thirst that’s never quenched.
At first, it was a relief just to have an answer. But over time my morale tanked and my body crashed. I found myself using most of my energy just to get the prescribed nine to eleven liters of water into my system each day. There was no cure. No rest.
When I read about Jesus healing the man at Bethesda, I come a little undone. Not because all is suddenly well, but because I can so easily imagine the man giving up hope after living on the fringe of community for so long. What I cannot imagine is thirty-eight years of a broken body. One year has been more than enough for me, and a lifetime is far too much to think about if I want to keep my sanity.
But here’s the thing that really haunts me: Jesus says to the man, “Get up… pick up your mat and walk” (John 5:8). He tells the man to walk, but He doesn’t just mean physically. There’s always a bigger picture with Jesus.
Scripture tells us a Jewish festival was taking place at that time in Jerusalem (v.1). The healed man was able to attend the feast as a restored member of society, no longer an outcast. During the celebration at the temple, Jesus finds him and says, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you” (v.14).
Jesus is getting at something much deeper—our sweet Savior is talking about the heart, about spiritual paralysis. He says, in essence, “You think that was bad? There are far worse fates.” Jesus’ charge to walk has a much more significant meaning: to step forward in faith, repent, and believe. The physical healing was never the end of the story.
When faced with long-term devastation, we ache because we feel that horrible tension of longing for better while living with broken. To watch Christ administer miraculous healing to broken bodies in Scripture reminds us that one day, we will all be healed and whole and well. But now, today, we live in both broken bodies and a broken world.
There are days when I go a few hours and forget that my body is broken. But there are also days when I feel myself starting to lose my grip—when I look in the mirror and think to myself, Surely, this is going to stop. And it doesn’t.
So this is what I do: I take slow, steady sips of water. I take one day at a time. And by His grace, I lean into Jesus, through the long-term illness that keeps me close to Him. When I feel paralyzed by what seems to be both a life sentence and a death sentence, I find that He is ever-present in my struggle (Psalm 46:1).
Jesus beckons to me in my broken, crippled body to “pick up my mat, and walk.” He invites me into faith, into a taste of eternity now in relationship with Him.
Melissa Zaldivar is a social in the world of academics and an academic in the world of socials. Ever the Enneagram Six, she likes to dream big, talk herself out of it, and then just do the thing already. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Bible/Theology as well as a Master’s in Theology. Her passions include eating Jimmy John’s sandwiches, showing people pictures of her nieces, and nerding out over biblical languages. If you ever need to know anything about obscure Puritanical American history or NASA, she’s your girl.
Loved the last study question instructing us to read genesis 1 and john 1 and asking the significance of words that come from the mouth of God. I was so excited to open the new SRT Bible and to write in the margins!!! Beautiful work! It is a gorgeous Bible!
Genesis 1: God saw… God said.
John 1: God’s Word is a being. God’s word = Holy Spirit. If we choose to receive Him, we too become children of God who live according to his will. John saw Jesus and he testified (spoke). Jesus saw Nathanael and he spoke to him.
All throughout our reading today, Jesus saw and he spoke. In Genesis God saw and he spoke. In John, the Word is an actual being (part of God) that creates all things. We see John seeing and speaking the Word. We see Jesus seeing and speaking the Word.
God’s Word creates.
I love how in these studies it’s been pointed out that it’s not just about healing physical illness. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Miracles are about bringing you and your witnesses closer to God. They’re about you seeing and testifying (speaking).
Here are the things I wrote down if you want a miracle based on what I’ve learned thus far in this study.l:
1) trust God sees you
2) use your words to tell God what you want, for you are a child of God and he always hears and sees you
3) trust in God’s plan no matter what happens, even if you don’t understand it. Allow your current situation to deepen your relationship with Him. Seek spiritual healing above all else. Pray for sight.
When I was in the 9th grade, I broke my neck. My family put me on the prayer line and the break was miraculously healed. But my injuries were still so severe (mild brain damage, head trauma, back trauma, neck trauma, etc) that I couldn’t go back to school for a long time. In that isolation, I found a level of acceptance and trust in God. So many physical and spiritual miracles took place. God blessed me with a friend who was battling cancer and we encouraged each other (though he was better at it than I was). He didn’t live, but in a way he was healed before me. He told me had achieved spiritual healing (he was only 13) and he passed with great peace. I one day hope to be healed like he was. I also hope to do great things in my life for the Glory of God and also in my friend’s honor.
Oh, Lana. Thank you for sharing your story. I wrote down your takeaways in the margins of my Bible. I cannot express how much I need that. THANK YOU!
Lana, I just wanted to say thank you for being such an encouragement to me today by sharing your story and your thoughts on the study. God bless you.
Thank you for sharing your story, Melissa! What a powerful thing Christ is doing through you!
Thank you for sharing your story so truthfully.
Lord, I lift up these precious sisters in Christ to Your Throne of Grace asking You to please make their suffering count for eternity. Please,Lord Jesus, draw them close and comfort them that they in turn may comfort others with that same comfort. In Christ I pray, Amen
Thank you all for sharing your stories!
I’ve been sitting with this scripture for about a week and a half since studying it in the Unashamed workbook. I’ve been healed mentally and physically and have seen so much healing in others. But so often I get stuck and don’t take action. I freeze, wanting to take the perfect actions or next steps. (As an enneagram 9 with a strong 1 wing ;) ). I too often sit in a pile of shame while holding my healing because taking up my mat & walking seems exhausting & scary. So, this scripture has been reminding me to be a person of action. I doubt the man stood up from his mat and had it all together and the smoothest gate in town. It probably took him a second to get the hang of walking, but he did it. So, this scripture reminds me to move forward and take steps in faith because even if those are not perfect they are better than staying on my mat.
This is so timely for me. I currently have cancer. I feel fine most of the time and often forget it’s there, but there are times that my body just feels like my enemy. To be honest, sometimes I just want out of it; a new body, complete healing here while on earth. I do long for restoration. To have miraculous healing from this. Reading the healing stories and even seeing the healing of others stirs up this question in me: “Why can’t that be me?” I hate having that feeling, because a bit of envy and sadness comes with it. I look at others lives of having families and relationships and not being sick and that question pops up again. With the same feelings. And I find myself finally opening up to God, which is what He ultimately wants me to do instead of stuffing it. He speaks words of comfort. Words of love. Words of healing to my soul. That I am valuable. I am loved. I am His.
I know God will heal me in His timing, whether it be supernatural healing or healing through the treatments I receive. I know God will restore brokenness in my body and relationships. I just have to keep walking, keep seeking Him and know that someday my prayers for restoration will be answered.
Praying for you! Strength to take it one day at a time.
I love you and I’m praying for you.
May healing be yours in the name of Jesus! Like He said “woman thou art loosed from thine infirmity” keep the faith. Love you. God bless you.
thank you for sharing your story with us! I pray God heals you completely and gives you a supernatural peace in the process.
Thank you for your story. I am praying for you. As you take steps forward toward our eternal destination that God will give you strength, courage and peace to make you walk easier, these three, by no means are all the gifts God bestows to us, but I feel those will be of great use to you… Blessings to you ….
Thank you for sharing this. So encouraged by your words this morning. Please know we are praying for you and asking God for healing!
– Stormye
Thank you all for your prayers and kind words. I appreciate it and I love this community <3
Gosh, I’m so humbled by this reading this morning and I am so sorry for all of you sweet gals who suffer physically.. Jesus, You had such a compassionate heart for those who suffered.. I lift up all the women who have shared their battles with physical pain and illness, for those who have not shared but know all too well the daily moment by moment struggle of suffering.. please, God meet them in their agony.. heal their ailing bodies, restore them to good health.. this is the request in our humanity, when we can’t see what You are doing or why You allow what You do.. but You are trustworthy and Your ways are not our ways they are higher.. we want health and happiness, You want far more than those for us.. Paul asked You three specific occasions to remove the thorn in his flesh.. to heal whatever was irksome to his body, but You replied, “My grace is sufficient for you, my strength is made manifest in your weakness” it wasn’t the answer Paul wanted, it was they answer God gave though.. His concern for us is far greater than we can fathom.. His love gives us what changes us from the inside.. praying His love and His arms of comfort tightly around all who suffer this day.. in His massive never ending love I pray.. amen
Thank you Diane, I prayed this along with you for these brave and beautiful women who have shared their physical burdens this morning.
Praying in complete agreement with you Diane! I love what you wrote … thank you for praying these words, for declaring Gods complete healing.
Can anyone give additional insight into the significance of Sabbath day healings? It seems Jesus is making a point to remind us to never rest from helping and loving others.
That was exactly what I was picking up over these last couple days. My husband and I were just discussing sabbath and what that should look like. I’m so thankful for the Word and how Jesus’s life (just his everyday life) shows us what the Father has for us and how to walk in it.
Matt Chandler recently spoke a good word on the Sabbath called “Work and Rest”. http://www.tvcresources.net/resource-library/sermons/work-and-rest
Thank you! I’m excited to plunge in, Erica. And I was definitely wondering about this but didn’t think to ask the question, K. Marie. And finally, Kristen, we are also in the same season.
Sin for Jesus is not disturbing the Sabbath rest. For the Pharisees sin was breaking the law. One of those laws was that on Sabbath you may not do anything. Jesus makes it clear that you should do on Sabbath nothing that destroys people, makes them small, humiliates them, but helping someone, doing something right for people, that is just what God wants us to do, whether it’s Sabbath is or any other day. (Marcus 3, 1-6)
This is just my opinion, but I hope it helps you. And sorry if I made some mistakes against the English, I come from Belgium.