Acts 16:9-15
John 5:1-9
A father and his five-year old son were on their way to McDonald's one day, when they passed a car accident. Being a good Christian, the father was concerned to say a prayer for the healing of those who might be hurt, so he pointed at the accident and said to his son, "We should pray." From the back seat he heard an earnest voice: "Please, God, don't let those cars block the entrance to McDonald's."
This morning we come to the final sermon in our series on healing as a sign of resurrection life. We have looked at what healing and wholeness really are, in relation to the gift of life which the risen Christ offers us; we have xamined the link between healing and conversion; we have thought about wholeness in our own personal relationships with God; and we have pushed back the frontiers to see healing and wholeness as signs of justice and of the Kingdom of God. But today, we come back home – to you, and to me: and ask a very personal question: ‘Do you - do I - want to be healed?’
Today’s Gospel – from John 5 – recounts the healing of a man at the Pool of Bethzatha in Jerusalem. The account is quite concise: we are given some details but only basic ones, but as ever, with the fourth Gospel, we can peel one layer after another of the 'onion' and discover the riches beneath.
The Greek word used for pool is kolumbethron, which comers from a word meaning 'to dive'. In other words, this pool was deep enough to dive into and swim in. Underneath the pool was an underground stream and, every now and then, the stream would bubble up and disturb the waters of the pool. There was a belief that an angel of the Lord was responsible for disturbing the water and that the first person to get into the water after it had been disturbed would be healed from whatever illness they might happen to be suffering.
For me, I shall always associate the Pool of Bethzatha with the gym at Ely. Not that that had 5 porticoes, but it was a place where, after a workout in the gym, Heather and I used to relax in the jacuzzi. There, amidst the warm, troubled waters, it was possible to unwind and re-charge before going home to undo all the good of exercise by eating cream cakes with coffee! Bubbling water is relaxing and it can be healing.
And so let’s delve into the story of the Pool and unpeel this particular bit of St John’s 'onion'.
1. Jesus knew…..
The central character is a man who has been ill for 38 years, and who has been waiting at the Pool of Bethzatha, for healing. The writer of the Gospel tells us that ‘When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time’ he spoke to him. We are of course, not told how Jesus knew that the man had been there such a long time. Maybe someone at the pool had told him - had pointed him out - or maybe, he just knew by a process of divine intuition. But the fact of the matter is that he did know and he used this knowledge to offer him precisely what he needed.
Jesus knew the man’s situation through and through, and so he knows our situation too, whatever that might happen to be. It's very easy to forget this crucial point - to imagine that we are the only people in the world who know what it is to be me. Of course, no one of us can ever know what it is to be someone else, and we can never even say with any integrity to someone ‘I know how you feel’ – because we don’t. But God does. Jesus knew…… he knew what it was like to be that man who had been ill for 38 years, and he know what it is like to be each of us. He knows each of us better than we know ourselves.
And that is – or should be – a comforting thought. In that, if he knows us so well, he is going to know pretty exactly what we need.
2. Jesus goes straight to the point
Well, having gone up to the sick man at the Pool, Jesus goes straight to the point. ‘Do you want to be healed?’ There's a real directness about his question. You can almost sense impatience in the way Jesus asks it. It's as if he says 'Why have you been sitting around here for so long? Are you serious about being healed or not?'
38 years is a long time to wait. It would seem that he'd been fed up with his situation, but that over such a long time, he had come to accept it as normal. Once he'd been quite hopeful that one day he would be healed, but now his hope had died. In fact it was almost easier for him to stay as he was, with the life he knew, rather than risk the unknown of being healed, of being made whole.
And that same direct question is put to us too, as we read the Gospel almost 2000 years later. Do you – do I – actually want to be healed? Or are we content to stay just as we are?
Each of us - without exception - is in need of some healing or growth in wholeness or other. None of us, in this world, is yet the person God created us to be. Yet do we actually want to become that person – to change – to grow into what God wills for us?
I suspect if most of us are brutally honest, we know that all is not well. Even the most physically healthy among us will know that there are things in our life that need to change: old habits that we know we ought to break; traits of character which we know are not as they should be. But perhaps, even though we know that all is not quite as it should be, we choose to continue sitting at the side of the pool. We stick with being the people we are, rather than taking the risk of letting God change us. Because, after all, that might be quite frightening: what sort of person might we turn out to be, and what scary ideas might God have in store for us. No - it's safer to sit at the side of the pool rather than risk what healing and wholeness might bring with them.
For the man at Bethzatha it meant a mind-blowing change. He would have done nothing for 38 years – and now he would have to live a life as an integrated member of society. It's not easy to do that, as anyone who has become institutionalized will tell us. Prisoners who have served life sentences are often terrified when their release date comes near…….
Jesus goes straight to the point: for the man at the Pool, and for us: 'Do you want to be healed?'
3. The man’s answer….
So how did the man answer? Well, not directly. At first he appears to be complaining: ‘Sir,' he says, '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.’
This was probably quite valid. It’s highly possible that he didn’t have anyone with him to put him into the water, and as soon as he made some faltering attempt to get near the water someone else pushed in front of him. The man’s situation was a very sad one: so near the opportunity for healing, yet he had no one to give him the help he needed.
But there's another way of reading his reply to Jesus. If we listen we can almost hear a petulant wail in his words…..
‘Sir,' he says, '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.’
It’s almost as though he has become so used to his lot – that he has come to rather like his own hopeless situation – and part of that is to enjoy a dose of self-pity. Maybe, I’m reading too much into it – but for me this helps my understanding of Jesus then goes on to do.
4. What has to happen
So what has to happen? If the man is to be healed, then it has to be his decision to accept the healing Jesus offers. It has to be an act of will on his part. Jesus has asked him the question ['Do you want to be healed?'] – and he has to respond. Does he want it or not? It’s make his mind up time.
Notice how in his reply to Jesus, the man had suggested that his healing depended on the goodwill of others. He needed someone else - someone he didn't have - to put him in the water. But Jesus makes it clear that his healing depends only on 2 people: on God and on himself.
If we are to be made whole - if we are to receive the wholeness (whether of body, mind or spirit) that God wants for each of us - then we cannot escape the fact that it requires us to do something about it. It's make our mind up time. Just as we can't put it off for ever, nor can we pretend that it is something beyond our control. It's up to us to accept the offer (or not).
Once the man has made his decision - that he does want to be healed - he has to get on and do as Jesus tells him. And again, Jesus doesn't beat about the bush. ‘Stand up, take your mat, and walk.’ He gives a clear command and it’s up to the man to do as he's told, if he really wants to be healed.
He does – and he is. And it is no different for us.
Jesus command each of us to do something if we are to receive his healing, and if we are to accept that gift of wholeness, then we must respond with confidence to that command. What is it he commands of us? Well, it will be different for each of us. Remember that, somehow, he knew that man’s situation intimately – and the command he gave was tailor made for him. He knew precisely the sort of healing he needed, and the command to 'stand, take up his mat and walk' was the way he had to respond in order to accept the gift. God’s healing - God's wholeness - is a personal gift.
Jesus knows each of our individual situations intimately – his command for each of us will be different for each individual.
For some of us, his command might be to go and make our peace with someone we have offended, or who has offended us - maybe years and years ago. By putting that right, we shall be opening ourselves to receive God's wholeness. For others it might be to give up doing something in our lives which is not as it should be - something which dishonours the image of God within us. By putting that right, we shall be opening ourselves to receive God's wholeness. For others it might be that God is calling us to take that leap of faith - that we've been teetering on the brink for ages, but have been frightened to cross. By taking that plunge, we shall be opening ourselves to receive God's wholeness.
Whatever it is for you – and for me – if we are to grow in wholeness we must do as we are told by God.
5. What about the rules?
But what about the rules and what on earth would people say?
For the man at the pool, his healing was very worrying because all happened on the Sabbath. The Jewish law was very clear - there were certain things that you were not allowed to carry about from place to place on the Sabbath, and a bed was one of them. (Strangely, it was OK if someone happened to be lying on the bed in question!)
It's almost as if Jesus was setting him a test - as to how far was he prepared to go. Because by accepting the healing by taking up his bed and walking with it on the Sabbath, was a sign that he thought rather more of Jesus than he thought of the law of his ancestors. He was being challenged to move from a belief based on religious observance, to a faith based on a living relationship. To move from a legalistic code to a personal faith.
It seems that the man at the Pool didn't hang about. For him, wholeness and a genuine relationship with God through Jesus was a good deal better than the legalism that had left him 38 years in need of healing. This would doubtless leads to problems. He'd broken the rules - but then, Jesus sat rather lightly to the rules, if they happened to get in the way of extending the Kingdom of God.
There will be consequences for us, too, if we choose to take a step in our own personal journey of faith. If we accept God's offer of growing more fully towards wholeness, then certain things might change – the way we behave, perhaps; the company we keep, the way we treat other people, the way we spend our time or our money. What will people say? But do we care? Or is a living relationship with God through Jesus so overwhelmingly important that it matters not one bit what people might say?
Conclusion
The man and the pool got far more than he bargained for. He was looking - in vain - for physical healing - and he got a whole new life. That is the message for us too, and it is the reason why wholeness - healing - salvation - is part of God's offer of new life. The new life we celebrate in this season of Eastertide.
Jesus knows each one of us, through and through. And for each of us he comes straight to the point. 'Do you,' he asks, 'do I actually want to be healed?' The answer depends on us.