Practice the presence
May 5
John 5 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 and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 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?”
In my recent studies I have been wondering about what Jesus had to lay down as part of his deity to be born as a human child. I have learned that he had to lay down his omniscience (the knowledge of all things). As God in heaven, part of the trinity, Jesus would know everything. He was there before the foundation of the world (John 1:1) and he is there in heaven right now as the lamb (Revelation 19).
But again here it says that when Jesus learned that this man had been in this condition for such a long time…
Jesus did not instantly look at him and know everything. In chapter 2 we read of the woman at the well who went and called her friends to see the man who told her all things that had happened to her. This was a word of knowledge. So why did Jesus have a word of knowledge at that time and on this occasion, he learned that this man had been there 30 years? I believe that it is because Jesus had to experience life as we live it. There are times when we have revelation and insight by the Holy Spirit. I believe that Jesus had this far more than anyone else because he was so close to the Father while he lived in human form. How did he get so close? Was it just because he was born God? I don’t believe so. I reckon it was because he practiced the presence of God more than anyone else.
What a wonderful saviour we have. What a wonderful example. We do not have certainty in life other than the certainty in death that we will go to be with him. But just like Jesus, we can learn to practice the presence of God.