Listening to Get Well

 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?”

7“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

8Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. (John 5)

Thoughts: Some listen to their own ruts.  We can get into our mind what is impossible.  So Jesus asked this man "Do you want to get well?"  His reply was basically, "I can't."  His reply was basically, "Even if the miracle would hold true, I couldn't get down to take part into it."
      For many, they are caught into the rut of sin.  They don't believe they can get well.  But Jesus asks us, "Do you want to get well?"  If we know we are sick- whether it is sick physically, mentally, socially, or spiritually- the question is not how to cope with the rut of our sickness, but do we want to get well.  True religion is not about coping, but about healing.  The standard is not just a little better- but the best we can be.
       The next step was to listen to Jesus' command.  He said to the lame man to "pick up your mat and walk."  He didn't believe he could, unless he listened to the voice of the Messiah.  If we listen, trust the words of the Messiah, we can do more than we can ask or imagine. 

Prayer: Lord, let me listen to your voice and keep me from only hearing the voices of low expectations and despair.  My hope is in you, O Lord.
     

2/4/14- Do You Want to Get Well John 5:1-6

1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda^a and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4]^b 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?” (John 5:1-6)

Thoughts: Surely this person wanted to get well.  Could we not assume that much?  He had been sick for 38 years.  Why did Jesus ask that question?  Perhaps the man had been an invalid he knew no other way of life, and had coped so much that he could not change into wellness in his heart.  Perhaps he was like the kind of person who gets out of prison but goes back because he likes the routine of a hot meal, cot and security
     We train ourselves to cope.  We cope with tragedy, with sickness, with grief.  But what if Jesus wants to transform?   He transformed this man.  He didn't say, here is a crutch.  He said, "Get up and walk."  The image of being born again is not the same as putting on makeup to cover up the age spots and scars.  It is a radical transformation.

Prayer: Lord, help me to want to get well.  Transform me according to your word.

(Pool at Bethesda today)