20 March 2012

20 March 2012



"Do you want to be well?"


Jesus knew the man had been suffering for a long time.  He saw the longing in his eyes for the healing pool which he could never quite reach in time.  He knew that his own efforts where never going to get him to that pool.  On his own he could never make it to a place where he could be healed.  But Jesus is the water of life, of which that pool was only a dim reflection, and so he said "[r]ise, take up your mat, and walk."  The water of life finally came to the man after years of not being able to get to it in time on his own.  This water is the only true source of our own life.


"There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God,
the holy dwelling of the Most High."


There is no other stream like this that can gladden and give life.  We look to many different sources to quench our thirst and yet the LORD sets before us the one river which can truly meet our needs.


"Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,
and there shall be abundant fish,
for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.
Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;
their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail."


Jesus is the source of our life.  He makes our waters fresh and gives growth to our fruit and leaves.  This fruit is superabundant, growing monthly rather than seasonally.  Even more importantly, this fruit is used to make the medicine that the world desparately needs.  It may
seem incongruous that a river can be so important to the city of God but it is not.  The river is there precisely because "God is in its midst" and therefore "it shall not be disturbed; God will help it at the break of dawn."


Let us remember that the porticos were normal means, not for natural healing, but supernatural.  Even so they were not the LORD's chosen instrument for everyone. Rather than clinging to how we expect him to work in our lives let us cling to he himself.


"The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob."