The Gospel of John, chapter 5, verses 1 to 9.
Here, we meet an impotent man waiting at the pool called Bethesda in Jerusalem, the City of God. He was, along with other feeble folk, waiting for the supernatural turning of the water; waiting for the day he would finally be the first to plunge in after the pool was stirred; waiting for the day he would be completely cured of his protracted infirmity; waiting for a miracle from God… waiting… waiting… waiting….
He was doomed to die stricken, he thought. After all, he had lived in agony for almost four decades and had come to terms with his fate. Thirty-eight years of trauma had taken a huge toll on him – physically and mentally. He was now so frail that whenever he started moving towards the stirred-up pool, someone else would get in there before him. Someone else whose illness was ‘better’ than his; someone who had ‘a man’ to help him into the pool once the angel came; someone ‘more favoured by God’…. There was always somebody else ahead of him… ahead of his vision.
He believed the world was unfair and cruel to him. Nobody had offered to help even though he could see them bustling in and out of the sheep stalls in the market across the road, haggling, buying and selling. For those ones, the poor sick fellows waiting among the five porches by the pool were only a sight to glance at, whisper a ‘thanksgiving’ to God that they were better privileged and perhaps give alms of a few coins spared from their exchange at the sheep market.
So, our nameless protagonist was waiting for an angel… for a particular kind of breakthrough… some drama… some shaking… some whirlpool… some uproar… some noise from the rest of his companions rushing to get in first… But Jesus showed up; no drama, no sirens, no protocol, no gymnastics, no halo over his head. The Lord of the Universe walked up to him – just him who had been there for a long time – and probed him, saying; ‘Do you want to be healed’?
‘Sir, I have no man….’
The only man he in truth needed was standing right in front of him, and he did not recognize him.
Jesus was not merely speaking to the sick body – bruised and broken, fatigued and forsaken – lying on the bed he had brought along. Jesus was questioning his innermost thoughts; his twisted, unstable, misdirected mind which blamed every other person but himself for his prolonged ailment. A mind which accused his past; despised his present, and queried his future. A mind that looked on, hatefully, at new clumps of infirmed people as they trooped to the pool every now and then, joining in the wait, thinning his chances further. Jesus was interrogating that mind that resented the angel who would not alert especially him of the next stirring of the pool. A mind that hitched his miracle on the presence and help of other men. A mind that would not be inspired by itself unto its own victory. A mind that had made company with sick people like himself – going nowhere, angry at the world, offended at the healthy and wealthy who came to the sheep market every day. Jesus by that singular question was first healing the mind of a self-pitying dying critic. A mind that had lost its way; a mind paralyzed by unpleasant circumstances.
Wilt thou be made whole? When you lift your hands and cry ‘Save me Lord’, do you really hope to get saved? Do you sincerely pray for a turn-around or are you secretly enjoying the attention your ‘condition’ has brought to you? Do you anticipate the crumbs people throw to you to help you get by? Have you gotten so used to being helped that you have forgotten what it felt like to be independent? Have you been sick so long you no longer dream of your health even though you still pray for it?
Would you like to get well? Are you ready for the challenges that come with wholeness; picking yourself up each time you fall; walking with your own two feet even when the road is rugged and uncertain; being your own encourager, your own aide? Are you willing to be your own keeper, your own caretaker? Are you ready for some responsibility?
Do you want to recover? Will you hastily debunk slander and gossip? Can you give up distasteful stories of men of God who have to answer to their Master? Are you still sitting in judgment against other believers? Has the beam in your eyes blocked out your light? Have you fed your soul fat on slander and gossip so much that it has piled up a high wall of offense around you, ensnared and entangled you round about like one caught in a noose with one end tied to a millstone and hurled into a bottomless sea?
Are you ready to be healed? Are you prepared to forgive hurts both real and perceived? Will you step out of the way? Are you willing to release from your heart the people you have held long and hard in accusation? Are you ready to root out every fragment of bitter debris from your net after toiling all night long, and wash it again so you can launch out into the deep for an exceptional draught?
Can you stand to be blessed? Are you prepared to end the blame game? To forget about the uncle who didn’t help you, the sister who would not pay your school fees, the brother-in-law who denied you a job in his company, the relative who molested you, the lecturer who victimized you, the sweetheart who broke your heart….
Are you ready to quit all of that and move on? Do you want to grow up and out of this bed? God wants to do more for you than you can ever desire. If you will be half as serious with God as he is with you your journey here on earth will be totally amazing.
Wilt thou be made whole?
Then rise up, pick up that bed and walk away from it all. Live again.
Sista Mercie
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