When I have travelled around Africa, I used to hear a song called 'Jesus Power, Super Power' it was sung with real enthusiasm and claimed the power of Jesus over evil and whatever the singers would throw in for good measure, it was a lot of good fun but also with it a side of truth with warning.
Last week at church I spoke on the authority of Jesus with regards to healing, looking at John's gospel chapters 4 and 5, I was struck by the tremendous authority which the Bible tells us is residing with Jesus, not only to heal the sick, but also to give life. On one hand He challenges our fickleness to desire signs rather than Himself; to read the bible but not seek His presence ...but never in the confrontation of our human frailties does He dispense with words of faith that bring life to hopeless situations.
This is not meant to be an in depth study of this passage but a desire to get to the heart of it, the integral truth's which must arrest our hearts to awake us from a spiritual malaise.
The most revealing point is that Jesus shall call all of humanity from the grave to a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous, life from the dead only to be faced with the Judgement of God...sobering stuff indeed. Would we not rather He ask us now 'Do you want to be made well?'
Jesus is willing to be involved in our lives to restore us in our relationship with God, friends and others. The man who had sat at the pool awaiting a spiritual awakening, waiting in hope of a restoration that was never coming is an example which we should take heed of. He was reliant on a special moment to come to find God, this is a dangerous place to be as the years can go by. Life being lost to just a memory, losing hope as life passes you by, friends disappearing and pragmatism taking hold to the point of a self realisation that 'I am never going to change!' This is not true and certainly not spiritual to be awaiting that special moment, when the wind is right! It is a certain route to despair.
If we are to learn anything from these chapters of John's gospel we should learn to look to Jesus for our help today, He has all the power to restore us no matter how we have been broken, or by whom. He is the one who will look in on our situations to bring us out of a life awaiting an awakening; to call our hearts to arise with His presence and words of challenge and integrity. He is true to His own power to change us and our own need to have a willingness to follow his word. 'Get up...take up your bed and walk.'
'Jesus Power' is truly 'Super Power' but it is His alone and ours to follow with obedience.
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