Our text is John 5:2-9
Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, having five covered colonnades.
3 In these lay a number of disabled people—blind, lame, and paralyzed.
5 One man who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in that condition for a long time already, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”
7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am on my way someone else steps down ahead of me.”
8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your mat and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was healed, and he picked up his mat and started walking. Now that day was a Sabbath.“
Have you ever found yourself in a situation that you thought was absolutely hopeless? It may have been a physical, emotional or financial problem. What was your reaction? Did you dig a little deeper and try to work harder, or did you simply give up? How you react, says a great deal about your personality, and even more about your faith and your view of God.
Picture the scene. There are sick people laying all around. Tradition tells us that an angel would come down from time to time, stir the waters and the first person who could get down into the water would be healed of whatever their ailment was. And, we meet our main character who has been there for 38 years. If you think about this, 38 years is a long time to be doing anything.
Jesus comes into the picture and surveys the situation. By whatever means, He is aware of how long this guy has lying been there. But rather than healing him, he asks him a question…”Do you want to get well?” What kind of question is this? Of course he wants to be healed! After all, he is lying beside a pool that was is supposed to heal people.
Perhaps. But Jesus has asked this specific question for a reason. On the surface it may sound like a silly question, but there are some issues that we need to look at more closely…
This guy is an example of 2 different kinds of people.
One, is the person who wants things to be different, but is investing in the wrong kind of hope.
The second is the person who finds themselves in a predicament and decides that they don’t really want to change.
What’s the plan?
If we assume that our friend at the pool really does want his situation to change, what plan has he made to make this happen? He starts to explain to Jesus that nobody will help him to get into the water when it’s stirred up. Someone else always gets there first. That is indeed unfortunate.
Let us examine this plan. He has been at a pool which is supposed to have the answer to his problem, but it is also the answer to everyone else’s problem. And, there are probably at least a few other people who are strong enough to get in first. Yet, he remains, with no other back-up plan. For 38 years! How many years do you think it would it take for you to figure out that this is a bad plan? Perhaps a bit less than 38?
So, with no other plan in sight, that leaves this man with no real hope and no real way to change is condition. His situation is not ever going to change just by hanging around the pool. But still he stays there. Presumably because he can’t come up with a better plan. This is a good picture of people without spiritual hope.
We see this every day in our family and friends, and, sometimes in ourselves. This man trusted in a rumor about a pool, and he has also put his trust in some invisible friends who would put him into the pool when the water was stirred.
How many of us continue to trust in things that are doomed to fail? He was trusting in “if only” and so are many, many people today. He trusted that “if only someone would help me”.
Think back to when you were a teenager…“If only I can make that team.” “If only I can get into the right college.” “If only I could date him or her.” Then my life would be better.
But trusting in “if only” is a pointless exercise because whatever you put in the space after “if only” is something that does not really change who and what you are fundamentally.
As teenagers we tended to be easy targets. But there is something wrong with you and I if we continue to do the same thing as adults. “If only I had that house/car/boat/furniture….That thing…” “If only I had ‘x’ dollars saved for retirement or ‘y’ dollars in my portfolio, I’d be ok.” If only I could find the right person to marry, or get out of the marriage I’m in, or get through my children’s teenage years with my sanity…” You get the general idea.
St. Augustine said, “All hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”
And, Pascal said, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus”.
Anything else that we depend on, anything that we trust in beside the Lord who created us will lead to disappointment. Trusting in anything other than Christ is vanity and futility, because only Christ can give rest to a human heart, and that is because only Christ created human hearts.
It stands to reason that our only real hope is to turn to the One who created us to find a proper understanding of how life is supposed to operate. It is always easy to point a finger at someone else who isn’t following Christ, as if they are the only ones investing in the wrong things. But, what about us? What about you? What do we really trust in for our own satisfaction?
If we were really, truly honest with ourselves, I think our list wouldn’t look significantly different than the list of those we would write off as being non-believers. We still get caught up in the same trap of trusting in vain and futile things, don’t we?
Jesus said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”
So….”Do you want to get well?” Do you want to get well? Or do you just want to continue to trust in the things you have been trusting in, the things that will never satisfy you.
It’s a fair question…
See you next week.