Heal Thyself
John 5:1-18
How much patience do you have? Would you wait in line for thirty-eight years?
Photo by Kenneth Berrios Alvarez on Unsplash
After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids-- blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 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 making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.” For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God. - John 5:1-18
Okay, so maybe I am being a bit facetious here, but really, thirty-eight years waiting at a pool?
I know I am supposed to feel sorry for this man, but he couldn’t convince someone to help him before today?
Most would say that this is the story of Jesus showing compassion, performing a miracle, but I wonder if it is also a call to action on our part.
Jesus tells the man to pick up his mat and walk.
That is a call to action. Do something for yourself, and you will find healing.
The miracle may be that the man listened to him and took action. He, in effect, cured himself.
So, here is the difference between this miracle and many others. The man did not express his faith before being told to stand. And Jesus did not perform any special acts of healing on the man. He issued a command.
I interpret these differences as something significant. Jesus is telling those of us who have given up on ourselves to get up and do something positive.
Heal thyself.
It is a message to all the whiners among us, including ourselves, when we want to give up on ourselves.
Stop whining and do something.
I had a psychologist tell me that ages ago, when I was a young manager at American Express. He asked me why I felt I wasn’t succeeding, and after listening to my answers, he told me to stop whining and do something.
Wow!
That was a blow to the ego, but it worked. After the initial shock and anger, I took his advice.
A few sessions after that, I told him I was done. I didn’t need his help anymore.
That is how the blow over the head works.
God has used this approach many times. Jonah comes to mind, and so does Moses, and even Job.
God puts us in our place so that we can take the reins of our lives and move forward.
So, what I get from this reading is this. Swallow your pride, gird up your loins, and get out there.
No one is going to do it for you.
More to come...