Visualize, if you will, a large city teeming with life. There is a constant stream of activity at the gates of this large city.
Traders bringing in goods.
Farmers bringing to market their fruits and vegetables.
Craftsmen carrying the results of hours of painstaking work to trade.
Similarly, leaving the city are those folks carrying home the food, clothing and other products which were the result of careful bargaining or bartering.
Watching over the ebb and flow at the city gates are the guards. Some standing tall and self-importantly apparently watching all, but seeing nothing. Others, leaning against the walls of the city, bored to tears and caring for nothing except the soon end of their watch. Still others being mindful of their responsibility carefully watching who enters and leaves ensuring that nothing is coming in or leaving that shouldn’t be there.
As you make your way into the city, you see all manner of humanity. The poor limping along in worn sandals and wearing tattered clothing. The rich sitting in their sedans which are being carried by four strong men with poles on their shoulders. Perhaps, even the rich man holding a scented cloth next to his face as he walks so he won’t have to smell the teeming humanity nearby.
Along the side of the roadway will be merchants hawking their wares, hoping for a quick sell. Occasionally, you might see a tavern-keeper standing in the doorway trying to entice someone to enter and have a drink or two.
The further you go into the city you notice that many folk appear headed in a particular direction. They appear to be headed towards the center of town. As you follow along you notice that the ground appears to be rising towards a mound. Closer scrutiny reveals a large building on top of the mound with many surrounding structures and a wall.
A few well placed questions and you learn that the hill is called the temple mount and the building is the Temple itself. Surrounding the temple is a protective wall which has four gates. The main gate is the Eastern gate where the pilgrims or petitioners would enter. At the foot of that gate is the Kidron Valley and the Mount of Olives. On the north side is the Sheep Gate. This is where the sacrificial animals are brought to the temple and where a market has sprung up to sell the animals to those that did not bring their own. Also, along the outer porch of the gate is the Pool of Bethesda (which in Hebrew means house of mercy).
As you come near the Sheep Gate you notice that it seems to have attracted many people including the poor and destitute . . .
The sick and the lame. . .
The impotent and the hopeless.
To these powerless and hopeless people, this gate, this porch is as close to the temple as they will ever get. Or so they believe. For it is believed by many that God has rejected them in their infirmities. So, the Pool of Bethesda and its porches has become their home away from home. It is hoped that God in His infinite mercy might eventually take pity upon them.
It is also said that once in awhile God will send an angel to stir the water in the pool. When that happens if one can get in the water in time they would be healed. So, many have spent hours if not days and in some cases, years sitting right on the edge of the pool waiting for the angel.
It is this that you come upon. It is these people, the hopeless waiting with hope for the pool to be stirred. Waiting for the God that rejected them to take mercy upon them. In the midst of these destitute people you meet Simeon.
Simeon tells you his story. For 38 years he has sat here on his mat. He claims to once having been a trader. He owned several camels and traveled in convoy from one town to another buying and selling goods. Until one day a rival trader ambushed him, killed his camels and broke Simeon’s back. Since then, he has sat near the pool waiting for his opportunity to be healed.
During your conversation you learn a little about Simeon’s observations of people and his philosophy on life. You can tell rather quickly that he is a cynical individual and held little hope for mankind.
He tells you about the poor rural folk that come to the Temple Mount seeking relief from the sins and walking away fleeced by the avaricious priests who sold second hand animals for slaughter upon the altar. Sometimes, a more prosperous pilgrim walked for many days leading the best of his sheep to the Temple Mount only to be told by the priest the animal wasn’t good enough. Then the priest would sell the farmer a sacrificial animal which the farmer would duly have slaughtered. Then the farmer would leave without the lamb he brought having sold it to one of the priests for a few shekels. Days later the priest would sell that lamb to another unsuspecting farmer. Oh, the stories Simeon could tell you.
Despite his sarcastic commentary about life as he saw it, he still felt that it was rather pleasant there on the porch. During the summer the shade provided by the porch made the day bearable. During the winter the walls and the porch provided shelter against the winds. Simeon does tell you the only bad time is when the winds come from the east, then he could smell the animal pens which at times would choke him by their stench.
You ask Simeon why he has stayed by the pool for the last 38 years. Was he waiting for a miracle? Some divine intervention? Simeon laughs at your naivete. He tells you “it doesn’t take long to figure out there is nothing miraculous about the waters. No miracle is going to occur. We have all been rejected by God” he tells you. Some of the other people near by nod their heads in agreement as they overhear Simeon’s comment.
“No,” Simeon tells you, “we are here because it is a good place to seek alms from the pilgrims. Many a petitioner at the Temple will take pity on us and leave us a few shekels. With the money we collect during the day we can buy food and the pool provides an endless supply of drink.”
You shake your head at his comments. His cynical attitude finally gets to you and you say your goodbyes. You head down the road to look at the other sites in this bustling town.
A few days later being rather curious you head back to the pool to see how Simeon was faring. To your surprise you notice that he wasn’t there. You ask one of the individuals you recognized from your previous visit where Simeon had gone and his face lights up. Practically shouting he tells you that Simeon was healed. He said it was a miracle! Simeon fell into the pool and stood up and walked away!
“So where did he go”, you ask the man. He replies the last he saw of Simeon he was heading into the Temple.
You begin a thorough search for Simeon. There is an endless supply of people who have seen or heard what happened at the pool. Stories abound about what happened. Eventually, based on the snippets you hear you are able to locate Simeon and indeed he is walking. Actually, more like leaping or hopping.
The next thing you notice is the look on his face. Wondrous joy. Unbelievable happiness. Sheer astoundment at his good fortune. Nothing resembling the cynicism and hopelessness you noticed a few days ago. Obviously, more had changed than his ability to walk.
Finally, an opportunity presents itself and you go up to Simeon and ask him what happened.
“It was the strangest thing,” he tells you. “After you left a stranger came up, a Galilean by the looks of him. He stopped right next to me and looked down at me. Well, I told him, to move along there was nothing more to see and if he wasn’t going to leave me any food or money then he could just mosey on.”
“Well, he did neither. He just kept looking at me. I mean, really looking at me. I felt like his eyes were cutting right through me. I felt almost naked in the face of his stare.”
“Finally, he spoke.” Simeon paused. Then with almost breathless wonder in his voice and tears in his eyes he said to me, “You know what he asked me? He asked me would I be made whole?”
“You know how I responded?” He said with disgust. “I just laughed! I laughed! I told him ‘I had been here 38 years and I suspect I will be here another 38. There is no chance that I can be made whole. Indeed, I said, I have no one to put me in the water anyways.’
“Did the Galilean take offence? No, not that I could see. He just stared at me silently. During those few seconds he stared at me I thought about his question. I looked down at my useless legs and rolled his question around my mouth. I mean the words sent a chill down me. Those words just rang in my ears. Five simple words, but they reached down to my very soul. Then, I thought could it be possible? Could I be made whole again? Then, I considered my reply to him. I became ashamed. I was disgusted with myself. I don’t know how long it took for me to analyze myself, probably seconds, but it seemed like hours.”
Then,” with amazement in his voice Simeon said, “He told me to rise, take up my mat, and walk. Can you believe that?”
“I was dumbfounded,” Simeon said. “But, then, incredibly for some reason I felt the urge to do just that! To get up and walk! At first I didn’t know what to do. I mean, I haven’t walked for over thirty years. I couldn’t even remember how to walk! But, just like that! The urge came upon me. I got up and walked. . .
I walked!!
I could run!
I could jump! ......
I....was....made....whole!!
So goes the story in John 5. The situation around the Temple and especially, the Pool of Bethesda, can happen here today. This world of ours gives us plenty of reasons to be angry, depressed and cynical. This past week, bombs were dropped on people who wanted to be free of a dictator. In another country people are rallying to break the chains another dictator has on them. Off the Horn of Africa over 60 ships have been seized and their crews imprisoned while their captors make demands of tens of millions of dollars in ransom, threatening to kill the prisoners if their demands are not met. Then yesterday an earthquake, the fifth worst quake since 1900, struck Japan. Hundreds, if not thousands, are dead or missing. And in our own country, Governors and Legislators are debating bills that will take away benefits we have come to expect in order to balance their budgets. Congress also is debating how to fix our broken economy and where to slice billions from programs many have relied upon for their very survival.
Things are changing rapidly in this world. Disasters, natural or manmade seem to occur daily. It is enough to make one cynical, depressed, dispirited, hopeless. Sometimes, our hopelessness can paralyze us if not literally, than figuratively. We become enured to the pain and suffering around us and focus only on our own problems. Those that would help us we ignore sometimes because we have begun to cherish the pain and suffering that is our lot. No wonder psychiatric drugs are becoming the most prescribed medicine by doctors, second only to pain pills!
Would you be made whole? A very strange question to ask someone that has been paralyzed 38 years. However, there are people that relish their infirmities. They like the attention they get, the pity that comes their way. They really don’t want to be made well. It is so sad and heartbreaking to realize that some people find their identity in their infirmities.
Would you be made whole? Christ asked the paralyzed man. Christ wanted the man to acknowledge that he could not be healed by any action that he has taken himself. The man needed to realize that he needed the help of someone of a higher power. The man needed to realize not only what his condition was, but exactly what he needed, whom he needed, to make him whole.
Would you be made whole? That is what Christ asks each of us today. We are not necessarily talking about our physical health, though it certainly is a possibility. No, He is asking about our spiritual health. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father is being brought into question. Do we have one? Do we want one? If we have a relationship how tenuous is it?
Does it need to be strengthened?
Does it need to be revitalized?
Does it need to be torn apart and put back together again?
There are some people who suffer in silence. But, the majority of people have difficulty being silent when they are suffering. A prime example of this is how quickly we run to the doctor when we are sick or injured. Sometimes, the very day we become ill we rush to the ER. We don’t wait to see if it is a 24 hour virus. Nope! We want healing and we want it now!
When we get to the ER or doctor’s office we become impatient if we have to wait more than ten minutes to see the doctor. Today, there are digital billboards alongside the highways giving us up to the minute information on how long we may need to wait to see the ER doctor. We can even go on the internet with our smart phones to see how long the wait is. We want to be made well, NOW!
Yet, in our spiritual life how demanding are we for healing. The majority of us don’t even recognize how ill we are spiritually. Perhaps, if there was a cough to remind us or an achy joint we might be more receptive to healing spiritually! Although, if we were quick to know our condition we would probably want instant healing. Come on God ,you might say, just give me a pill and make me better!
God doesn’t work that way though. God wants us to recognize the need. He wants us to understand what is wrong. We must be aware before we can be healed.
It is not like the doctor’s office. For most of us when we go to the doctor for healing we expect the doctor to know exactly what is wrong and what the cure is. We rarely ask the doctor what the illness is, how we got exposed, what the precise germ/bacteria/virus is and how to prevent infection in the future. Yet, that is what God wants from us.
When Christ asked the crippled man at the pool if he wanted to be made whole, He wasn’t talking about his legs. The man had lost hope. He lost faith in mankind, in himself, but more importantly, he had lost faith in God. The man was a dispirited, cynical, hopeless individual.
Christ came to him in his moment of greatest need and provided him a lifeline. Christ looked deep into the man’s soul and saw that Simeon did not like who he was. Christ gave Simeon the opportunity to take inventory of his life and his condition. With Christ’s help Simeon understood what he had become. With Christ’s guidance Simeon swam his way from the deep pool of depression he was in to the Light shining on the surface. In the process of restoring Simeon’s spirit Christ also healed Simeon’s spine and legs.
Christ told him to “Rise, take up thy mat and walk!” One might say that it was a very impudent thing for Christ to say. A man 38 years paralyzed was to immediately begin walking? Astounding! Yet, the very power of Christ was in those words. The healing began when the man actually made the attempt to walk. The very power of Christ helped the man to walk, to regain the balance we take for granted when we walk. Christ’s strength was immediately imbued into the man’s limbs so that they could withstand the weight of the body. But, so much more was given by Christ’s words. The paralyzed man realized the miraculous healing was more than the healing of his legs. He recognized the real healing was in his soul and his spirit. This is the same healing Christ offers us today.
Christ told the man to take up his mat and walk. He purposely told the man to take his mat, because Christ wanted the man to remember where he came from. The mat represented the old self. A self of depression, cynicism, perhaps even anger and hate.
Similarly, when Christ heals us, we need to remember where we came from. We don’t ever want to go back to that life! To help us remember God gave us something to carry with us, the Bible! But, for this to be a useful item we need to do more than carry it around looking so very spiritual. We need to do more than leave it on the dashboard of the car or living room table gathering dust. We need to open it and read it. Now, Language Arts teachers will tell you the word Bible is from the ancient Greek word Biblia meaning book. However, some more enlightened people will tell you that the word Bible is actually an acronym that really means :
Basic
Instructions
Before
Leaving
Earth.
God put the medicine, the virtues we must have and the ordinances we need to follow into words. Words found in the Bible. But, just like the medicine we get from the doctors, unless we swallow it we would not be made well. Similarly, we need to swallow the words of God, we need to believe in them, we need to follow them, to be made well. Our hope, our cure and improvement in our spiritual life begins with reading the Book. And that books points the way towards God.
Did the paralyzed man need to tell Christ how long he had lain there at Bethesda unmoving? Of course not, Christ knew how long the man had been there to the very minute! He will also know how long each and everyone of us has suffered. How much we have longed for a closer walk with Him. How tired we are of being on this old world with all its suffering. So, now He asks you and me “Would You Be Made Whole? If so, rise up and walk towards me!”
