John 5: 5 Now a certain
man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When
Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He
said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
7 The sick man answered
Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up;
but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
John 5: 5-7 is part of a larger passage recording
how Jesus healed a man who had been waiting his turn at a miraculous pool on
the grounds of the great temple in Jerusalem.
We aren’t given the man’s official diagnosIs, but the primary effect was
that he couldn’t walk.
A couple of weeks ago, I preached from this
passage. When I prepare to preach, I
study the given passage from every conceivable angle. I look up, cross-reference, analyze, and pray
for deeper revelation at every verse and sentences. But, here’s (one of) the really awesome
things about the Word of God: No matter
how deep you go----there’s always more.
So like I said, I’d just vivisected this passage
when I came across it again in my morning study time.
And, Bam!
God was like, “Hey, check this out!”
Verse 5 is a single sentence informing us that a
certain man had been an invalid for 38 years.
The last sentence in verse 6 is the question Jesus asked this man, “Do you want to be made well?”
But, look at the sentence in-between.
As readers, we already know how long the man has
been incapacitated. Verse 6 begins with the
moment Jesus acquired that knowledge.
John 5: 6 WHEN Jesus When Jesus saw him lying there,
and knew that he already had been in that condition a long
time…..
Now every other time I’ve read this sentence, I
assumed that Jesus (being God incarnate) already knew how long the man had been
lying there. I assumed that the WHEN
related to the moment Jesus looked at the guy.
But this morning the Holy Spirit showed me something more: Jesus asked.
This isn’t unprecedented for Jesus. In Mark 9: 21, before casting a demon out of
possessed boy, Jesus asked the child’s father, “How long has this been
happening to him?”
John 5: 6 shows that there was a specific point at
which Jesus acquired information on the duration of this man’s paralysis. WHEN
Jesus ... knew that he already had
been in that condition a long
time, that was WHEN Jesus asked the question,, “Do you want to be made well?”
Jesus asked the question BECAUSE of how long the man
had been sick.
For this particular man, in this particular
situation, the extensive duration of his condition provokes a further
inquiry: “Dude, you ‘ve been like this
for how long? Do you even want to get
better?”
Here is the unfortunate, uncomfortable truth: Sometimes
the reason it’s still bad is because we’ve gotten used to it being bad. Sometimes, the reason’s we’re still as
screwed up as we were is that subconsciously we don’t want be made well.
I fault the church (the temple establishment, that
is) for not getting more involved. They
could have assigned people to go out at
least a couple of times per week and help those with the worst conditions get
their turn in the healing pool. I
fault the religious establishment for caring more about their Sabbath protocols
than the human suffering right there in their community.
But the faults of the Pharisees then and of the institutional
church today, do not absolve the one Jesus holds ultimately responsible for his
continued infirmity.
In this case, Jesus actually did blame the
individual who had just lain there in that condition a long time.
The tone and context of Jesus’ question are aggressive. That why the man responds defensively.
“Sir, I have
no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am
coming, another steps down before me.” (John 5: 7)
Basically, the man said, “It’s not my fault. I can’t help myself.”
Until this morning, I didn’t notice what the man
DIDN’T say.
He didn’t say, “I asked for help.”
He didn’t say, “No one will help me.”
He didn’t say, “I’ve tried.”
He said, “I have no one assigned to help me.”
No institution, no outside persons had taken it upon
themselves to send him help, and so he just lay there in that condition a long time.
The church might not come to your rescue. That’s the church’s fault but it’s not an
excuse for you.
You might slip through the cracks of government programs created to help folks like
you. That’s the agencies’ fault, but it
doesn’t excuse your responsibility for you.
Family, friends, and the entire community might just
step over you as they scramble for help with their own needs. They might do a little better and go on,
forgetting about you. Still, not an
excuse.
You might not have anybody but Jesus, but that’s
O.K. Jesus is enough.
But understand that you have to receive Jesus
however He comes to you, and Jesus isn’t always sweet. He is the Truth, and He has been known to
confront with hard questions and harsh truth.
The hard truth is sometimes this: For all the people
at fault in your life, it is ultimately YOUR FAULT that you are still like
this. Now, do you want to be made well?
So then you rise.
You get yourself up. You stop lying
there waiting for somebody to send somebody to do something for you. You pick up your own bed. You move yourself out of this place you’ve
been in for a long time. Listen to what Jesus
commands you, and do it. He will provide
what you need on the inside to move and change your external circumstances.
You, start moving knowing in advance that when you
start to do better, everybody won’t rejoice.
Some of the very ones who ignored you when you were doing bad will attack
you for doing better. That still doesn’t
absolve you of your responsibilities.
Remember that the same Jesus who spoke healing to
you is the same Jesus who spoke conviction to you for staying there so long. So don’t be surprised that Jesus expects you
to do for others what others may not have done for you.
Afterward Jesus found [the man He’d healed] in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no
more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” (John 5: 14)
Jesus looked for the man to be in church (that is in
the temple even though the temple elite had been hating on his healing). And, Jesus expected the man to live better,
not simply to have a better/ more physically prosperous life, but to actually
live holy.
Your healing is not an opportunity for vengeance. Your miracle is not a reason to reject Christ’s
church. Your breakthrough is not a
vehicle meant for selfish pursuits. Be
honest. Be real. That’s what laid you
out in the dirt in the first place. That
kind of living and thinking is what kept you down there for so long.
Look! Now you
have been made well. Don’t act like that anymore. Cause if you go back, it’s going to be worse
than it had ever been.
“See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a
worse thing come upon you.”
This thing you’re stuck in, stuck with---- if no one’s
helped you all this time, stop expecting someone else to help you. All you’ve got is Jesus.
The good news is:
Jesus is all you need.
Rise up.
Follow Jesus. Face His harsh
truths about you, and follow Jesus. Live
the way He tells you to live. Follow
Jesus.
That is, unless you just like lying there.
---Anderson
T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and
consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall
Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
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