BS4D - MIRACLES FOR INDIVIDUALS
As already mentioned, most of Christ’s miracles were to heal someone. Sickness however included more than blindness or paralysis. It included fear, materialism, depression, prejudice, and abnormalities of the spirit which denied men and women fullness and happiness in life. Jesus didn’t heal diseases. He healed people so they could be whole.
In this section I have chosen four individual situations that are representative of many individuals that Jesus helped. Let’s not study these events as something in the past, for Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Hebrews 13:8
He is a risen Savior that is a present reality for our lives as well. Keep your eyes open --- you may just see yourself in these people.
Jesus and a Woman in the Crowd
Jesus had just arrived by boat to a large crowd of people eager to hear him speak. But before He could get started, a situation came up that pressed Him in a new direction.
Mark 5:21-24
Notice in verse 24 that a huge crowd was pressing around him. Somewhere in the midst of this crowd was a nameless woman with a big problem. What did she suffer from?
Mark 5:25-26
This nameless woman had an incurable illness that at all costs needed to be kept secret. If someone knowingly touched her as she was bleeding, they would become unclean. We can only imagine the inconvenience, embarrassment, and weakness that it left the woman with. This illness consumed her life so that it affected her soul as well as her body. She was always on the “edge” of life – never in the center.
This woman desperately wanted to be well and had gone to doctor after doctor for a cure. They had left her penniless, destitute, and without hope. But on this day, she had a little encouragement and decided to pursue that hope. What had happened?
Mark 5:27-28
She had “heard about Jesus” (vs 27). We aren’t told what she had heard but we can imagine. Stories were flying around about blind people seeking, lame people walking, and deaf people hearing. It was enough to light a fire in her that Jesus might be able to help her.
Now notice in vs 27 how timid she was in her approach. Who can blame this poor woman? If anyone close to her knew she was bleeding constantly they would be jumping out of the way screaming “unclean, unclean”!
No, she would do this on her own terms. She would come quietly behind Him, touch his robe, and then slip away unnoticed. What happened when she touched Christ’s robe?
Mark 5:29
There was no doubt that she had been healed because she “felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.” But as for her slipping away unnoticed --- that wasn’t to happen. Why?
Mark 5:30-32
Who touched my clothes? What a question to ask with everyone pressing around Jesus. But Jesus kept looking until finally….
Mark 5:33
We can picture her trembling at His feet and speaking to the ground. But when Jesus speaks directly to her, she looks up to the most tender and accepting of faces and hears the most beautiful words of her life.
Mark 5:34
What did Jesus tell her was the real secret behind her healing?
Reread Mark 5:34
Yes, Jesus is the great physician. He performs the miracle to make sick people whole. But He never does it without our cooperation. Faith is the constant factor in all his mighty works and the one condition He makes of all who seek for healing. He doesn’t even demand a large robust faith because we can see that this woman had only a timid and tentative faith.
The almighty power of God that we see visible in the personal ministry of Jesus is still at our disposal today. But unless we have faith it can’t be discharged into our life. Jesus doesn’t ask that we believe all kinds of theology first or commit ourselves completely to his program of life. He only asks that we touch the hem of his garment and give him the slightest chance to do for us that which we can’t do for ourselves.
Jesus and a Crooked Civil Servant
We come now to a wealthy man who was not sick in his body, but sick in his soul and therefore affected his entire life. Some of us may be in the same place.
Jesus with his disciples were passing through Jericho on His way to Jerusalem. On his way into the city, he had healed a blind man begging by the roadside and by this time the crowds were dense wanting to get even a glimpse of Jesus. List the four things that Luke tells us about this man.
Luke 19:1-3
Notice that Zacchaeus was not just a tax collector. He was the chief tax collector. These “publicans” as they were called were completely unprincipled, scheming, and ruthless. They were Jews working for the Romans. While it was bad enough to collect taxes, these men were allowed by the Roman government to squeeze their fellow citizens for even more than was needed in return for their services. These were men who had “sold their soul to the enemy” and had become very wealthy as a result.
No decent Jew would associate with them. In fact, they were ranked even lower than robbers, adulterers, and prostitutes! Publicans were alienated from God, from their fellow Jews, and not part of the Romans either. They were a hated society and on their own.
Zacchaeus had heard about Jesus and today the news of their blind beggar getting his sight back had spread like wild fire. So, it was natural that Zacchaeus too wanted to see Jesus. But how? He was short and the dense crowds would most certainly try to edge him out. Luke tells us:
Luke 19:4
Now a sycamore tree was a typical eastern shade tree with a broad, short trunk and thick forked branches that spread out like a huge umbrella. It was highly undignified, but in a moment, Zacchaeus had grabbed a low branch and swung himself up into the tree just ahead of where the Lord would soon be coming by.
Perhaps Zacchaeus had heard that Jesus had a tax collector (Matthew) as one of his disciples. Coud it be possible that he too could start over? He was a man who had rationalized his evil ways and learned to live with the shame of it in return for a wealthy life style.
Zacchaeus had gained all that the world had to offer but was without God, without friends, and without family. He had lost peace, dignity, and self-respect. He was alienated from any inheritance as a Jew, alienated from God, man, and even himself. What should have been a paradise for Zacchaeus had become a living hell. Jesus put his finger on Zacchaeus’s problem when he said….
Matthew 16:26
Perhaps you have done something of the same. If so, then take heart --- everything can change in a moment! What happened to Zacchaeus?
Luke 19:5-6
Zacchaeus really wanted to meet Jesus but he knew that was impossible so he did the next best thing. He put himself in the way of Christ. He might at least see his face. When we put ourselves in the way of Jesus, we then see Jesus taking the initiative to look our way and ask to stay at our home.
Revelation 3:20
The reaction from the crowd was predictable.
Luke 19:7
This means that the crowd didn’t see themselves as sinners at all. They only saw Zacchaeus as the sinner because his sin was so blatant and public. Zacchaeus didn’t need the crowd to judge him. He already knew the kind of sinner he was. But that one look from Jesus and those encouraging words judged him to his core. Before Jesus had a chance to say anything more, and in front of the crowds what does Zacchaeus promise?
Luke 19:8
Christ’s answer to this promise is for Zacchaeus but perhaps more for the crowd.
Luke 19:9
Zacchaeus’s promise was really his repentance for extortion and cheating. He not only repented, but he committed to stop doing what he was doing and make right what he had already done. Difficult? Yes, but well worth it for a fresh start. It might take time (if ever) for his fellow Jews to believe him, but he could be back on track with God – the ONE who really mattered. Jesus affirmed that he too was a “son of Abraham” and that was music to Zacchaeus’s ears. He could start over.
God sent Jesus to single out people like Zacchaeus who are “up a tree” in their own moral failures.
Luke 19:10
You might be someone in that spot, or one from the crowds who sees yourself as a good person. Either way you are alienated from God. Because Jesus is seeking for you, He’ll take the initiative. He doesn’t care what you have been (good or bad) because He only sees what God intended you to be. So, if you take even the slightest effort to put yourself in Christ’s way, He’ll reach out to you and help you in just the way that you need it.
On your part it will mean a change. When you receive Jesus as your guest there are some things that can’t stay in His presence. Perhaps like Zacchaeus it will mean a change in the way you make your living. In fact, you may need to change nearly everything you once thought was important. But Jesus will make you into something that we can never be without Him and that is worth more than any price we can ever pay.
Jesus and a Divorcee
We come now to another sin sick soul who like many of us acted as if everything was OK. Jesus had been in Judea and was now on his way back to Galilee. What area did He need to travel through, and where did He stop to rest?
John 4:4-6
The detail about it being the sixth hour meant it was around noon – the hottest part of the day.
Jesus, after sending his disciples into town to buy food, sat down to wait for his appointment. He had come especially to meet someone who didn’t yet know it. What two things do we learn about this person?
John 4:7-8
The fact that she was a woman meant she was little more than a slave, a play thing for men, and a piece of property. The fact that she was a Samaritan made her part of a despised race of people who were the enemy of all Jews. Upon seeing Jesus (a Jewish man) she was no doubt leery and kept her gaze from his. As with most encounters, Jesus took the initiative and asked a question.
Reread John 4:7
This question put Jesus in her debt and the woman reacted with a natural astonishment.
John 4:9
Christ’s response to her astonishment perhaps made her feel he was having “sport” with her.
John 4:10
Ok, she would give some back to him.
John 4:11-12
Jesus wasn’t “playing” with the woman. He was offering her a priceless gift and appealing to a longing that he already knew was in her heart. He proceeded with her gently and patiently.
John 4:13-14
She answers back quickly and with a hint of sarcasm. Yes, she’s tired of doing this water trip at high noon alone.
John 4:15
Perhaps Jesus is reading in her face that she is tired of life, tired of men and tired of being a social outcast. This is life for her and it’s more like a living hell. She has squeezed the world dry of its pleasures and nothing has satisfied her. So, it’s with sarcasm that she agrees to want what Jesus is offering – living water.
Jesus has seen through her façade but she has yet to see it. He probes with a pointed request. He’ll give her living water together with her husband.
John 4:16
But there is a problem.
John 4:17a
How does Jesus react to her revelation?
John 4:17b-18
He has just blown the lid off the fact that she has made a mess of her “love life” and she now lives as an adulterer with a man. Jesus is commending her for telling the truth! There is no condemnation in the way Jesus speaks to the woman – just an acknowledgment that she has exposed the truth about herself.
In reaching out to receive the gift Jesus was offering, He was directing her through the conversation to face the truth about herself. This made her very uncomfortable and she tries to pivot the conversation from herself to spiritual matters in general.
John 4:19-20
Religion is often a means of escape from Christ and is used today as well. We’ll get caught up with theological discussion and Christian activism. We’ll do anything to avoid a face-to-face confrontation with Christ himself.
Jesus meets her evasion with the truth that none of what she says will matter. Why?
John 4:21-24
In other words, where we worship God will not matter. It’s how we worship Him that will matter in the end.
She pivots the conversation again. Someday we’ll all see things more clearly. Why?
John 4:25
“When the Messiah comes….” Jesus pops a surprise on this last evasion tactic.
John 4:26
Jesus IS the Messiah and the time for salvation is NOW! She had just experienced a divine visitation – a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet the Messiah and face the truth about herself. He was offering her living water and whatever that was, she wanted it! How do we know that?
John 4:28-29
Once we have met Jesus and grabbed hold of his offer of life, the first thing we want to do is share it with someone. This woman left her water jar and I can imagine her almost skipping back to town. Despite the fact that she was an outcast in the town, she called out to whoever would listen: “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could He be the Christ?”
She did exaggerate a bit. Jesus had not told her everything she had done. Rather He had exposed to her the “everything” that mattered in her life which caused her pain and cemented her status as an outcast. So, in a way, He HAD told her everything she had done.
All the way to town she probably wondered: “What should I say? Will they listen?” The simplicity and sincerity of what Jesus said to her convinced them. How do we know that?
John 4:30, 39
This Samaritan woman had started an avalanche of hungry seekers that kept coming to Jesus. What happened next?
John 4:40-41
This encounter with the Samaritan woman still goes on today. Jesus will sneak up on us and before we know it our mask of sophistication and pretense is stripped away and we see the sin and sickness in our soul. Jesus is Emmanuel, “God with us”. He comes to where we are stuck and therefore exposes Himself to all the winds of evil that has beat upon our soul. What we see can be a shock to us but we never shock God. He knows us, understands us, and loves us in spite of what we may have been.
God, who has revealed Himself in Christ asks us initially only one thing. We must face the truth about ourself however painful that may be.
Pastor Ernest O’Neill once used this picture in a talk that has stayed with me. He held up a glass milk bottle that still had the remnant of old dried milk clinging to the sides. He then asked this question: “What will happen to any clean, pasteurized and homogenized milk that we pour into this bottle?”
Answer: It won’t stay clean for long. The bacteria still lingering in the bottle will soon turn the clean milk to sour milk.
That’s why Jesus can’t pour his Spirit of life – the living water – into our soul before we have faced the sin causing us to be sick. He knows it’s painful, but His water of life is still offered to us. All He asks is that we’ll come to Him and then stay with Him so He can make us whole. The Gospel of Christ opens the way for us to face the truth about ourselves and this can be the most cleansing, healing, and comforting experience we will ever know.
Jesus and a Dying Criminal
We come now to one more individual that encountered Christ at his death. We’re told that on the way up the hill to Calvary or “the Place of the Skull”, there were two others appointed to die by crucifixion. What is the only thing we know about these men?
Luke 23:32
Depending on your translation they were called criminals or thieves.
Once they got to the top of the hill, the Romans did the skillful work of driving long spikes through their wrists and ankles to pin them like bugs to their crosses. Crunching bones, flowing blood, and screams of agony erupted. Then, the crosses were lifted and the crowds started their mocking. The interesting thing is that they weren’t mocking the criminals – only Jesus.
Luke 23:35-38
Even one of the criminals joined in mocking Jesus! On the road to Calvary, he had been listening to the jeering crowds and found out that this man had claimed to be the Messiah. What does he dare Jesus to do?
Luke 23:39
The other criminal had been listening as well. But he was also watching Jesus and something was churning on the inside of him. What did he hear Jesus saying?
Luke 23:34
How could this man forgive the Romans who were his instruments of torture and killing? How could he forgive his own people who were mocking and humiliating him? How could he be at such peace when he was dying? He’s not sure who Jesus actually is but he’s starting to believe that he just may be the Messiah. Amidst all the mocking he musters the strength to respond to his fellow thief.
Luke 23:40-41
We can only imagine Jesus turning his head to look at this man with gratitude. One look from Jesus seems to judge him and yet not condemn him.
John 5:22-24
He seemed to know from his very core that Jesus deserved none of this pain, suffering, and humiliation. Somehow, he sees the contrast between his life and Christ’s life and he wants to be part of Christ’s life. The man has so little understanding and yet he turns to Jesus and makes a simple statement.
Luke 23:42
The statement is pregnant with meaning. The criminal seems to know that when Jesus dies it won’t be the end of Him. He’ll be with His Father in an eternal kingdom. He doesn’t speak out his sins but he seems to also know that in this man’s presence he is forgiven. It gives him the courage to ask if Jesus will remember him.
Jesus gives him an answer that is also pregnant with meaning.
Luke 23:43
“I tell you the truth, TODAY….” In the Kingdom of God there is no time. It is one eternal NOW. Jesus doesn’t go into what “paradise” will look like but the one thing that it will be is life with Jesus every moment. It’s Jesus that makes paradise a paradise.
The dying thief was the last man in history to speak with the earthly Jesus, but he was the first man to experience the saving power of the cross.
It’s the cross where the gospel begins. It’s no coincidence that the two thieves were placed on either side of Jesus. In a very real sense, we are all there on one side or the other. We are either mocking Jesus, and joining those against Him, or we are reaching out to join Him in the Kingdom of God. There is no middle ground. Even if you are just quietly ignoring Jesus you are rejecting all that His life has to offer.
Matthew 12:30
The penitent thief should encourage all of us and here’s why:
First, we see one of the worst among men being “surprised by God”. This was another divine appointment that brought a dying man to God. It could be that this man was a Jew turned Zealot (Jewish guerrilla fighters against the Romans) who took God’s concerns into his own hands resulting in a criminal life. His desire to defend God’s ways had a kernel of goodness in it, but was completely misguided in his actions. Maybe you too have been misguided in how you have handled life.
Second, the thief had no real image of God or theology. All he knew was that Jesus next to him was the purest, strongest, and yet most tender of men that he had ever seen. Maybe you know very little about religion or theology and yet you have an encounter with Jesus through one of his servants. Relationship is what Jesus wants – not ritual or religion.
Third, until we get a revelation of what it cost God to forgive our sins, we don’t have a true picture of how sordid our own sins really are. How does God see us?
Psalm 14:2-3 / 53:3 / Isaiah 64:6 / Jeremiah 17:9 / Mark 7:20-23
It’s at the cross that God’s merciful and loving heart is laid bare for the entire world --- that includes us. It’s only next to Jesus that we see ourselves for who we are and long to be different.
Then, in the stench of our own swamp, Jesus gives us the courage to cry out to Him. We don’t need to worry about our exact words. We can just let them flow from our hearts whatever way they come. And as we see from the penitent thief, one sentence is enough. Here are others who dared to cry out to Jesus. What did they say?
Matthew 15:25 / Matthew 17:15 / Mark 10:47 / Luke 17:12-13
This encounter that the penitent thief had with Jesus raises three questions:
- What prompted the thief’s radical change of heart?The answer was letting the life of Jesus seep into his own so that he wanted the life that Jesus was offering. All of us at some time or another will be confronted by Jesus. He’ll stand at our door and knock, and whether we open the door to Him will decide everything.
Revelation 3:20 - Is it right that a person go through their entire life mocking God and then at the last moment change and be admitted into Heaven?
The answer may be unsatisfying to some but true none-the-less. God doesn’t judge us the way we judge each other. We see only the outward conduct in life, but God sees the deep-down intentions of the heart. He doesn’t look at what we’ve done, but at who we are.
He sees our inner core of hunger, humility, and hope that lies buried in the protective shell of our personality. He knows that inside of us is the making of a better person than we have ever been before. It’s on this deep knowledge of us that God forms his final judgment.
1 Samuel 16:7
- What good did a radical change of heart and a pardoning word from Jesus do for the thief in the final hour?
It’s true that it probably brought him a greater measure of peace as he was dying, but this is not really very important if you believe that death is the final end. This man caught a glimpse of eternity through Jesus and to live eternally with Him was all he finally wanted. Christ gave this gift of hope to a most undeserving man and He continues to offer that to each of us today. “Today, you will be with me in paradise” is intensely personal for many of us.
“The penitent thief is like the patron saint of all “poor devils.” (From Encounters with Christ by Leonard Griffith – p 146)
He is living proof that there is no sin that is greater than God’s grace and no hour in life too late to turn to Him
Romans 5:15 / Titus 3:7
What did Jesus do?
Jesus said and did exactly what God the Father was saying and doing in Heaven. The proof of this lies in the miracles that backed up his words and actions. Jesus came to show us that the Kingdom of God is more than just words.
1 Corinthians 4:20
Next Study: BS4E- What is Jesus Doing Today?