Learning from Jesus - Pt. 12

 

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 5:1-9 ESV).

 

I’ve never been one to be willing to accept continued defeat, especially in the area of healthcare. That has made aging a bit harder to deal with, simply because there is little to be done as the years pass and my body weakens. So, when I read today’s question from Jesus (“Do you want to be healed?”), I’m a bit confused. Who doesn’t want to feel better! However, I also know there are some who have come to accept the crutch we know as easier than the walk we haven’t experienced. Often that crutch can become a convenient excuse. It’s often easier to rely on the ways we are familiar with, rather than trying a new way that means change and transformation.

 

When Jesus asks this man if he wants to be made well, he does not answer with a yes—only a reason why it can’t happen. He’s had 38 years of only seeing the story one way; the thought of anything else hasn’t entered his thinking. But Jesus is offering so much more than this man can fathom or imagine.

 

When Jesus asks us this question, we cannot limit him on the basis of our experience. We must trust in the hope that he can do something more. When we are confronted with the question of change, of thinking bigger than we have imagined before, we need to say yes to the One who can do all things. When we begin to understand that the one asking the question is our Lord and Savior, our Creator, our healer, and our friend, who loves us and cares about the details of our lives, can we say anything but yes? Today is a day to imagine what the Lord can do if we don’t hold back.