Jesus when into a synagogue and there was a man with a withered hand. Jesus asked everyone that was there if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Jesus proceeded to ask the man with the withered hand to stretch out his hand, and it was healed. the Pharisees conspired to destroy him.

“Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all and ordered them not to make Him known.”

Matthew‬ ‭12:15-16‬ ‭ESV‬‬

People with infirmity were not allowed into the Temple, the Temple is where God’s presence resided. The people that followed Jesus out from the synagogue desired to be in God’s presence (have a relationship). I believe that Jesus knew the people were not seeking healing but a relationship with God and their infirmity restricted them. The healing was to give them access to God, not just another sign. In contrast, Jesus went to the pool of Bethesda and only healed one.

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.”

John‬ ‭5:2-3, 5-13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Why?

The others at the pool were looking for the pool to be stirred (a sign), not looking for the healer. They were more focused on a sign and not the one who created the sign, for them it was not about the relationship but their own needs. Even when one in their midst was healed their focus was still on the pool and missed their opportunity for healing.

We can get so focus on how we expect God to move in our lives and the lives of others, that when God moves we don’t notice. This happens even with the disciples, the men that were walking with Jesus and saw all the miracles Jesus did. They and all of Israel were looking for a Conquering King and not a Servant. So when the Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign in Matthew 12 Jesus share about the great sign He was to do.

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

Matthew 12:38-41

Jesus was talking about his own death on the cross and resurrection for the dead three days later. How many of the Pharisees and even some of Jesus’ followers realized after the resection who Jesus really was and what they missed out on.

Jesus can to this earth to give us access to have a relationship with the Father by removing our sins. Everything God does is for a relationship so He can have a relationship with us. If we are so focused on a miracle or a sign and not on a relationship with Him, we are missing out like the Pharisees.

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1 Corinthians‬ ‭1:22-25‬ ‭ESV‬‬

APPLICATION

• Accept Jesus and all that Hie did for us.
• Focus on having a relationship with God
  • Reading the Bible (daily pray)
  • Communication with God (daily pray)
  • Fellowship with one another (church, small group, bible study)