The Healing at the Pool on the Sabbath -
After this
there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 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. John 5:3-9 (ESV)
"Sir I have no one to put me in the pool."
Our excuses are so numerous; "I'm not smart enough! I come from a
very dysfunctional family! I was abused as a child! I have no talents or
anything to offer." ...and the list goes on and on. We often value our
excuses more than the hope of breaking free of them. Or is that the
problem? We grip our excuses ever so tightly out of fear that we might
fail if we try to break free. We hold them as if they are an anchor to
keep us from falling... our "safety" rail to keep us from falling off
the edge of the cliff. After all, they are all very valid excuses.
Are you hanging on to your excuses to protect you from the unknown?
Is that a death-grip you have applied onto those hurts of the past,
which you are allowing to murder your future? Are you still replaying
the words of loved ones, perhaps even spoken to protect you, over and
over in your mind, even though they are death to the dreams God gave you
as a child?
Well, my friend, do you know what God says? Just as Jesus told the
paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda, who had been there an unbelievable 38
years, He is saying to you right now, "Get up, take up your bed and
walk!"
I have been at that location in Jerusalem, and as I looked around I
could see vividly in my mind just how it was in Jesus' day. The various
pools with all the steps leading down to them below the city gate. This
area near the gate above is where all the local citizens would most
likely have gathered, the religious, the affluent, and all the
influential leaders of the community. What a sight it must have been as
all those wanting to be seen and included in all the "important" events
of the day, busily carried out their activities, ignoring the needy
right below them. After so many years, they were now just part of the
local landscape, only noticed occasionally via downward looks of pity
and judgement, "those poor unfortunate souls", "sinners" who spent all
their days hoping and praying, waiting, hours upon hours for the waters
to tremble.
Surely they had to have overheard, more than once, the comments
filled with judgement, and the looks of sheer disdain thrown their way
by unsympathetic people filled with superiority and pride. How those
comments and stares must have damaged their hearts, each careless
incident removing from their very souls another sliver of hope. Why me
God? What am I doing here? How did this happen? When, if ever, will this
end, God?
But do you know what? Jesus, asked the paralytic a question first.
Before this invalid could even ask the Healer for help, the only person
who knew exactly how long the man had been lying there, and what he
needed, Jesus asked him, "Do you want to be healed?" And how did the
paralytic respond? Did he scream with joyful hope at the prospect of his
lifelong dream being fulfilled? Did he beg for mercy and quick
deliverance? Did the man even offer a simple yes?
No, he offered an excuse... When face to face with the very Son of
God, and faced with the ultimate question by his Omniscient Creator,
"What do you want?" He still clung to his excuse. His lifeline, the
pattern of thinking he had imbedded into his mind over all those years,
to shield him from the disappointment of missed opportunities, almost
caused him to miss his certain deliverance. He, like many of us, had
conditioned himself to accept failure and stay down.
Yet, what I find most amazing in this story, is the fact that Jesus
took the time to ask him that question. Even the most ungodly pagans in
that community knew this man and his condition. One didn't have to be
God to know that he wanted to be healed. He did want to be healed,
right?
You DO want to be healed, right? The God of all creation who knew you
before you were born and knows all that you are and everything you need
is asking you right now, "Do you want to be healed?" And he knows how
to answer. But guess what? He wants you to verbalize it. He wants YOU to
ask.
The very nature of God is within us, His very DNA. And the word of
God that created the heavens is nigh to us, even in our mouths. We only
need speak it. We have the very mind of Christ, so His word, spoken by
us, cannot and will not, return void.
Have you been paralyzed by your past, failures too numerous to
mention, regrets upon regrets? Do you want to be healed? Jesus is asking
YOU this right now. Let your answer be yes, and in obedience to His
command... gather up all that past, roll it up into God's grace, and
"Take up your bed and walk!"
