John’s Tweets for Today

• We’ve left Tyre and are now in Decapolis. Some people brought a man who never could hear or speak & asked Jesus to heal him.
• Jesus took the man aside. He’s putting his fingers in man’s ears & put spit on man’s tongue. He prayed, groaned and commanded “Open up!”
• The man is talking plainly and he can hear us! Jesus told the man & his friends not to tell anyone, but they’re amazed & can’t stop telling.

I think it’s interesting how Jesus heals differently in different situations.  It makes me wonder if it really did take some physical energy from him.  This time he actually groans in prayer and then commands the man’s ears to open.

The story from yesterday, with the woman who follows him into the house in Tyre and asks him to heal her daughter also makes me wonder if it cost Jesus something to heal people.  He seems tired to me in that story.  Of course, I have no way of knowing if he really was tired, but he did enter the house in secret, not wanting anyone to know he was there.

And the story of the woman touching his robe, when he could feel the healing power go out of him also makes me wonder.  Even in that large, pressing crowd he knew someone had touched him.  Was it because he felt it physically?

Is there more to Jesus’ healing than just a “magic” word, a quick command?  What do you think?

Bible Reference: Mark 7:31-37

It would be so easy to read through this story and pass it off as spiritual – meaning didn’t really happen, doesn’t happen, story-in-a-book.  Jesus is walking through a crowd and knows someone touches him.  He knows healing power has gone out from him.  Then he raises a dead girl back to life.

Easy to read past it and not catch the human part of the story.  The parts that show us it’s all real.  But slow down and take it all in for a minute.  These other-worldly events really did happen.

A crowd pressed in on Jesus as he was walking.  Not unusual at all.  It is unusual that he stopped and refused to go further until he found out who touched him.  I think his disciples thought he was a bit crazy for this, until a woman confesses that she was the one who touched his robe.

Don’t miss the scene at Jairus’ house.  His daughter is dead.  The people at the house are weeping.  Jairus’ wife is overcome with grief.  The girl’s body lay on the bed.  A very human scene.  All too real.  But Jesus touching the girl and telling her to get up is just as real.  The girl’s response of rising up from the dead, getting up from the bed is just as human.

A human response to a divine touch.  Real, tangible, true.

Bible reference: Matthew 9:18-26, Mark 5:21-43, Luke 8:40-56

photo credit: josef.stuefer

More often than I would like, I find that my heart is just as black and tainted as the hearts of the Pharisees.  Jesus cast a demon from a man, giving him both sight and hearing.  The response from the Pharisees?  He only casts out demons by the prince of demons.

Have you ever questioned the motives of another person’s or organization’s good work, just because you didn’t like that person or group?  I know I have and it’s shameful.  Just because I’m upset with them or don’t like the direction they’re taking things or I feel threatened in some way, I decide that they have no pure motives and their good deed is only meant to manipulate.

Lord Jesus, forgive me and guard me from this attitude.

Bible reference: Matthew 12:22-37

photo credit: Meredith

The Roman Centurion in the story today has some awesome character qualities that I want to nurture in myself and my kids.

He recognizes Truth immediately.

He understands that Jesus has authority.

He’s humble.  He doesn’t feel he deserves for Jesus to come to his house.

He brings his request directly to Jesus.

He cares about his servant.

I often tell my kids to remember who they are and make good choices.  This man knows who he is and he knows who Jesus is.  Everything else flows out of that truth.

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers. – Psalm 1:1-3

Bible reference: Matthew 8:5-13

photo credit: Richard0

I love this scene in the Temple.  Jesus is there, teaching on the Sabbath.  There’s also a man with a crippled hand there.

The religious leaders must have seen Jesus looking at the crippled man.  They were whispering about him healing on the Sabbath again.

So Jesus, instead of letting them continue to whisper, brings the man to stand in front of everyone.  And he puts them on the spot with the question, “What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Good or Evil? Helping or leaving helpless.”

The silence and anticipation in that moment was awesome.

Jesus tells the man to stretch out his hand and the hand was restored.

What the Pharisees were whispering about, Jesus did so that everyone could see and understand.  He came to bring help and healing and He wasn’t about to be stopped.

Bible reference: Matthew 12:1-14, Mark 2:23 – 3:6, Luke 6:1-11

photo credit: striatic

So far, on our journey with John we’ve seen Jesus heal people, free people from demons, forgive people of sins.

He is the elixir for all that ails us.

He’s the balm for our wounded hearts.

He’s the salve for all that itches and irritates us.

He’s the relief for suffering.

He’s the antidote for the poison.

He’s the panacea, bringing changed life, inside and out.

He’s the Remedy.

photo credit: darkpatator

Bible reference: Matthew 9:10-17, Mark 2:15-22, Luke 5:29-39

What do you think about a man literally going through the roof to get to Jesus, only to have Jesus at first “ignore” his paralysis and treat a different problem instead?

I think it’s safe to assume that this man had heard about all the healing Jesus had been doing and wanted some of that healing for his body too.

Have you ever had it happen to you?  You pour your heart out to God with your problem, only to have him address a different issue?

Tell me what you think.  What’s your story?

Bible Reference: Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12, Luke 5:17-26

photo credit: hoyasmeg

The leper could have called out to Jesus from a distance.  In fact, he should have because lepers weren’t to go near other people.

But he came close.  He fell on his knees at Jesus’ feet.

Jesus could have healed him with his words.  He spoke the world into creation, to speak healing would have been an easy thing for him.

But he touched.  He reached out and touched all that was ugly, sick and broken – and made the man whole and well.

Sometimes I need to come close.  To come near Jesus with all my ugly, sinful, broken self and let him touch me.  What about you?

Bible Reference: Matthew 8:2-4, Mark 1:40-45, Luke 5:12-16

Have you ever heard someone scream at the preacher in church?  While he was teaching?

I haven’t.  But that’s exactly what happened to Jesus in the synagogue.  A man screamed at him while he was teaching.  Jesus immediately recognizes the man has a demon and he commands it to leave.  It throws the man to the ground and leaves.

Can you imagine?  What must John and the others thought about that?

Later the same day, Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law and then the whole town shows up at the door.  He touches sick people and they are well again.  Demons are coming out of people, calling Jesus “Son of God”.  Darkness is falling on this scene at Peter’s house.

What would have been going through John’s mind as he lay down to sleep that night?  Jesus isn’t just turning water into wine on this day.  He’s turned the whole town upside down – right side up!

Bible Reference: Mark 1: 21-34, Luke 4:31-44, Matthew 8:14-17

photo credit: batega