CHANGING THE NARRATIVE—John 5:1-18
Read John 5:1-3. For many years, skeptics said there was no pool called Bethesda by the Sheep Gate of Jerusalem. However, excavations in the 1800’s found 2 pools, with a 5th portico between, as John said. Evidence of the pool being called Bethesda finally emerged in 1952, with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. One of the scrolls, the “copper scroll,” referred to Beth-eshdathayin by the Sheep Gate
John takes us to the pool of Bethesda, where Jesus has a divine appointment with a paralyzed man.
Read John 4:5-18.
Is there anything you would like to CHANGE about your life or circumstances?
Health (physically, emotionally, spiritually)
Relationships (marriage, family life, burden for certain people)
Pace of life: stress, you run all week, and then gone most weekends
Focus: busy, but lacking purpose or significance
The man at the pool needs CHANGE—desperately! And Jesus can help him!
Jesus says 3 surprising things to him (and to us):
DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL?
Why would he ask that? Of course the man wants to get well!
But that isn’t how the man answers! Instead of answering the question, he gives an explanation for why he hasn’t been healed. (Read verse 7.)
His answer reveals a lot about him. He feels helpless, and maybe a little defensive. Perhaps he wants Jesus to work something out: a system to take a number, and some volunteers to put the person with the next number into the water.
Yet when we examine his situation more closely, we find that he is just as stuck mentally as physically. He has been locked into one alternative for 38 years, and it is not working for him! If he has no chance of getting into the water when it is stirred, why is he there?
That’s not to blame him; maybe he has no better choices.
Then Jesus shows up. He says, “Do you want to get well?” Why does Jesus ask, when the answer seems obvious?
The question is not just for that man at the pool. The healing of this man is a SIGN, the 3rd of 7 in John. Other gospels call them miracles, but John calls them signs, because they point to who Jesus is. They were signs for people then, and they are signs for all who read the gospel, like us.
“Do you want to get well?” Do you want change—really?
Change is difficult: It upsets the balance of our lives, often in a good way! Yet it may be harder to be well than to be sick!
Some of us are so busy, always tired and stressed, running from one thing to another. What if you were less busy? Would you feel guilty, or lose your sense of identity or worth? Would you miss the “bragging rights” to being so busy? (When people ask, “How are you doing, often people will say, “Really busy.” Nobody says, “Bored most of the time.”)
When you have free time, is it healthy time? Do you mope around, or are you glued to a TV, phone or tablet? ***I saw a quote last week: “I’m not sure whether Facebook ever caused the lame to walk, but I have seen it cause the dumb to speak.” Where did I see the quote? Facebook!)**
Change is hard. If you unplug, you might have to talk to your wife! That might be a good thing, but what would you talk about? We might want some things to change, but the “same old, same old” is familiar and comfortable.
People around us may resist change, because it upsets the balance in the system. ***I knew a man with a 30-year meth habit. His wife took responsibility for holding the family together, taking care of the kids, and keeping him functioning. Then, with treatment, he slowly began to get better. It took a long time, with the help of Christian people. As he got better, his wife was overcome by anxiety, so that she couldn’t function! She couldn’t handle the new normal.**
Change is hard in the family. If the kids open up about what is happening at school, the parents might go ballistic. If you tell your husband or wife how you really feel, who know how they might respond?
If you change the patterns at work, or an organization like a church, breaking up alliances, refusing to play games, there might be chaos. If you refuse to engage in gossip with your friends, and reach out to include other people in your group, there might be pushback.
Change made life much more difficult for the man at the pool.
He took Jesus at his word, picked up his mat, and walked. Hallelujah! But not everyone was shouting hallelujah: It was a Sabbath, and Jews were upset. Read verse 10.
His life, which had been so simple, was suddenly chaotic, full of decisions and choices. “What is true religion?” “Who am I?” “Who is Jesus?”
For 38 years, he had dreamed of this day, but he never dreamed it would be so hard.
Maybe that is why Jesus asked, “Do you want to get well?”
Then Jesus said to the man…
TAKE UP YOUR MAT AND WALK
Now that would be a great miracle—the kind that only Jesus could do. Would you have done as he said? Of course you would have!
But let me ask you: Has Jesus ever told you to do something that would change your life? Maybe it meant trusting him for a small miracle: talking to someone who might not respond well, taking on a task you never thought you could do, getting out of bed when you are depressed. Will you do what Jesus commands?
“Take up your mat and walk.” Jesus has the power to change lives, but it won’t happen unless we make changes.
If we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we will get similar results. If you come at your work like you have for who knows how long, not much will change there. If your family life is pretty much the same as you learned growing up, it won’t be better. If you give your relationship with God and the church the same priority as you have lately, you are unlikely to grow spiritually and in other ways.
Many people keep doing the same things, getting the same results. Why? Because they want those results? Maybe. But maybe, like the man at the Bethesda pool, they can’t imagine any other way.
Jesus says to the man, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” He was able to do it!
When Jesus is around, a lot of impossible things become possible (Do you believe that?) But nothing will change until we take the first steps in faith. With God’s help…
…do what it takes to get in shape (physically and in other ways)
…learn ways to challenge and motivate and encourage without nagging.
…do the right thing in business, overcome negativity, and love difficult people.
“Pick up your mat and walk.” Take the first steps to new ways of living.
The man does it. He not only gets up, but he picks up his mattress, like Jesus told him to do! Jesus slips away, but later Jesus finds him, and he says to him…
SEE, YOU ARE WELL AGAIN. STOP SINNING, OR SOMETHING WORSE MAY HAPPEN TO YOU.
Whoa! Was his paralysis a result of sin? Was he a worse sinner than most?
What does this man know about sin? He has been on his bed for 38 years! He hasn’t robbed any banks or killed anybody. But yet, the man is not immune to sin, in his thoughts, words, and attitude toward God and people.
Now, he has new opportunities to sin: He can steal, go to wild parties, or sit in his room wasting his life. Also, he has a new opportunity: He can follow Jesus. Why wouldn’t he? He has no job to hold him back, and no family responsibilities, it seems.
Why should the man follow Jesus? He didn’t know who Jesus was. Read John 5:12-13. He needed to learn and trust. The greatest sin—the one that could destroy him for eternity—would be missing his opportunity to put his trust in Jesus. As John 3:18-19 says, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” The greatest sin the man could commit would be failing to know and trust Jesus!
Health and wholeness comes from WALKING WITH JESUS IN TRUST. It is a continuing encounter with Jesus, through the Holy Spirit.
How do you overcome anger or frustration? Confront insecurity or fear, or self-centeredness, with Jesus.
How is a marriage or family healed? Bring Jesus in: repentance, forgiveness and grace, truth and commitment.
How do you reduce stress? Give it to God, and stop trying to control what you can’t control.
How do you lose a bad habit? Admit that you can’t on your own, but make a habit of listening to the Holy Spirit, and learn to love God more than the habit.
How do you grow spiritually? Walk with Jesus in the Bible and prayer, obey him, and seek the support of other Christians.
“Stop sinning.” Repent, change patterns of behavior, and seek a deep spiritual transformation.
How does positive change happen?
We have to want it. “Do you want to be healed?” (What do you want?)
We take a first step of obedience: “Get up…walk”
We keep walking with Jesus: “Stop sinning…”
Accept Jesus as the Son of God, the Savior who gives life, and the Lord we must obey.
As we walk with Jesus, we see change that we couldn’t dare hope for without him.
