“My Life Will Never Change”
Several
years ago an elderly mother and her adult son stopped by the church office.
They were looking for some financial support and visiting different churches,
making their rounds on a regular basis. While I was having a conversation with
them, I really wanted to help them not just one-time financial support, but
help them to break out of a vicious circle. So I shared the good news and
invited them to come to church. But they said, “I have never been to church for
more than 20 years. I am unholy. If I go to your church, the church will be
falling apart.” I said, “No, we are all broken people, but Jesus is able to
help you. He is able to save if you turn to him.” But they insisted, “No, my
life will never change.” And they walked away.
Do You Want to Get Well?
How sad! But some of us in
this room may feel like things will never change in certain areas in our life.
Some of us feel like our prayers are not answered. Some of us feel like healing
doesn’t come. If you feel that way, today’s message is for you. In today’s passage
we meet a man who had been ill for 38 years. At that time there were hundreds
of sick people – blind, crippled, paralyzed – laying on the porches. But for
some reason, Jesus saw this particular man lying there, and he knew that
this man had been there a long time. Here in verse 6 the Greek word gnous, translated as “to know” refers to
supernatural, divine knowledge. Jesus
knew what this man was going through.
Jesus knew that he had been sick for
38 years. More importantly, Jesus knew
that his mind was just as sick as his body. Jesus knew that he had been there a
long time without hope.
Perhaps, at first this man came to Bethesda (“healing place”) with hope. He was eager to be healed. He got up early in the morning and kept watching a pool. But little by little, he began to get used to his dull life at Bethesda. He began to get up late. For him, everyday became the same. Eventually, he had lived in Bethesda, the healing place, for 38 years. But ironically, he had never experienced healing there. He just got used to his dull, powerless life. He got used to maintaining the status quo. He came to believe, “I will never be healed.” “My life will never change.” Deep in his heart he already gave up being healed. He already accepted this powerless life as his fate.
Once I had a chance to ride an elephant while I was in Thailand as an exchange student. I was amazed how this big elephant was so submissive to his trainer. And after that, I heard how they train an elephant. It was very simple and easy. First, a trainer just ties an elephant to a stake. Of course, at first the elephant tries hard to escape. But later on, the elephant gives up and just stands beside the stake. Then the trainer unties the rope. The amazing thing is that the elephant would never try to run away any longer although he is untied.
The invalid became exactly the same as the tame elephant. Now his heart was filled with despair. Jesus knew that this man’s illness of the mind, disease of despair, had to be healed first. So Jesus asked this strange question, “Do you want to get well?” The man didn’t say, “Yes.” But instead, he said, “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.” Basically, he was making excuses, complaining, and blaming others. “I am not healed because no one helps me! I am miserable because no one cares for me!” But nevertheless, Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk!” Many of us grew up in the church. We got used to living here in this place. We feel comfortable. We feel at home. But, have you experienced healing and transformation through Jesus Christ in this place? Jesus is asking us today, “Do you want to get well?”
Healing on the Sabbath
In verse 9 the Apostle John
purposely says that the day on which this healing took place was a sabbath. Why is this important? Why did
Jesus heal this man on the sabbath? It is because Jesus wanted to reveal his
glory. He wanted to reveal who he is to the Jews and to us. When the Jews saw
the man healed, they were mad and said, “It is not lawful for you to take up
your bed on the sabbath.” Then later, they accused Jesus of breaking the sabbath.
Jesus said to them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.” After
this, they were seeking even more to kill him because they thought Jesus made
himself equal with God. Actually, they saw his point: “Jesus is equal with
God.” But they refused to believe. They refused to come to Jesus to have life. They
were expectantly waiting for their Messiah for a long time. And now there he
is. They should celebrate their Christ. They should celebrate this healing and
rejoice with the man. But instead, they are angry and furious. Why are
they mad at the healed man? Why are they so angry with Jesus? It is
because of their spiritual sickness –
a deadly disease of legalism. They
did rigidly observe the sabbath. But
they couldn’t celebrate the sabbath.
There was no joy, no life, no power in their religious life.
Karl Barth tells us a story about people who live in a wilderness alongside a canal. The canal was there to bring them water and life, and the project cost them a great effort. Great sacrifices were made, and many even died when the canal was cut through mountain and desert. But the great irony is that the canal has become dry, and while they still see evidence of the coursing of water, there is nothing there that can give life to anyone. Nevertheless, the people continue to service it, to defend it, to name their children after its architects and engineers; but it is only a historic thing. A canal meant to convey something— water and life— now has become static, an end instead of a means. Something for the museum. People tell stories about it instead of drinking from it. And no one has a memory of what water in the canal really looks like.[1]
A Life-Quake
If the invalid was an
irreligious person who believed superstitions and struggled with despair and
self-pity, the Jews were religious people filled with pride, and a self-righteous,
judgmental spirit. Jesus invited both of them. Jesus loves both religious
hypocrites and irreligious people. Jesus loves the healthy and the sick, the
self-righteous and the self-pity. Jesus loves them all. Jesus invites all of us,
saying, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in
me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow
rivers of living water.'” (John 7:37-38, NRSVue).
Today’s passage is called the third sign. At least seven signs are written in John’s Gospel, and each sign points us to the truth that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, so that we may believe this glorious truth and have life in his name (cf. 20:30-31).
For me personally, I love “a life-quake” metaphor that Pastor Tim Keller used to compare the Lordship of Jesus Christ based on his own conversion experience[2]:
When a great big truck goes over a tiny
little bridge, sometimes there's a bridge-quake, and when a big man goes
onto thin ice there's an ice-quake. Whenever Jesus Christ comes down
into a person's life, there's a life-quake. Everything is reordered. If
he was a guru, if he was a great man, if he was a great teacher, even if he was
the genie of the lamp, there would be some limits on his rights over you. If
he's God, you cannot relate to him at all and retain anything in your life
that's a non-negotiable. Anything … any view, any conviction, any idea, any
behavior, any relationship. He may change it, he may not change it, but at the
beginning of the relationship you have to say, "In everything he
must have the supremacy."
Jesus’ question is still valid: “Do you want to get well?” It might be a physical illness or an illness of the mind, or both, or something else. Whatever it is, if your answer is “Yes, I want to be healed,” then come to Jesus right now with a trusting heart. He knows what you are going through. Let him in. Love him. Savor him. Worship him. Give him full control. And streams of living water will flow from your heart. Your life will never be the same. Amen.
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