John 5 vs 6-8 No more excuses
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.”
8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.
From the beginning of time even starting back in the book of Genesis we find Adam and Eve shifting the blame for a sin that they had committed, God asked the question after they sinned, “what have you done”? The excuse Adam gave was the woman you gave me; Eve said the serpent beguiled me. Excuses
God asked Moses to go to Pharoah and tell him to let my people go, Moses said I can’t go I can’t go I can’t talk well enough; I have a speech impediment. Excuses
This morning Jesus is at the pool of Bethesda asking an Invalid a question, that has been laying at this pool for 38 long years.
Jesus is at a Jewish Festival that is not named in the text because it’s not important, and He winds up at Bethesda, which in the Hebrews means House of Mercy, and there is an ironic scene at this pool of Bethesda, because at this house of Mercy is misery, blind people, lame people, paralyze people. The pools are about the size of a football field five of them, separated by Colonades and there is a mass of people who has gathered at this house of mercy because they are blind and lamb and paralyze. All of them are there clustered around this pool at Bethesda waiting on the troubling of the water, because they superstitiously believes that an angel troubles the water, and I need to get you to understand that verse #4 is a superstition they believe that the water is troubled by an angel, and they don’t know the science of the Arteagan wells, underneath the waters of Jerusalem are Artegan wells and those wells bubbles up every once and awhile and the minerals from those wells sweep into those waters in Jerusalem and the first person into the water when the water starts bubbling and moving causes these minerals that has Madisional properties to come into the waters, they believe that an angel has stirred the water and the first one to get in because of the minerals properties in the water gets well
And they believe in this superstition but what they don’t realize is there is no magic in spiritual matters, God does not magically make the waters heal they just believe in their superstition pretty much like the older folks believes it’s bad luck when a black cat crosses your past, or somebody sweeping over your foot means you’re going to jail, or putting salt in your food and throwing some behind your back, that’s a superstition and the same thing is going on here in this passage of scripture
Here Jesus He is in Jerusalem for a feast. He is alone. He’s not there to teach the disciples or to draw a crowd. The people need him—so he’s there. There are blind and lamb and paralyzed, and out of all the people there Jesus singles out one man who is paralyzed and he’s been in that condition for 38 long years he’s paralyzed, 38 long years at the pool of Bethesda, he’s paralyzed at the house of mercy. He’s lamb and he’s laying at the place that promises to cure him. How many times in life have we depended on something that had great promises just to find yourself empty, disappointed, still longing for a cure, still longing for answers, still longing for a peace of mind, still waiting at the House of Mercy
Don’t just look in Jerusalem, Bethesda could be at UIC, Bethesda could be at the local bar and lounge, it could be at the Tabernacle house of prayer, it could be at Grace apostolic; it could be in my house, your house, because it’s not just the outer part that’s blind and lame and paralyzed because God’s not looking at the outer appearance He’s looking at the heart. You may not be physically blind, but spiritually blind, you may not be physically lame but you limping spiritually, you may not be physically paralyzed but you’re spiritually unable to move even when the spirit is moving. Picture a battleground strewn with wounded bodies, and you see Bethesda. And the more I read this story I began to realize this story isn’t about an invalid in Jerusalem. This story is about you. It’s about me. The fellow isn’t nameless. He has a name—yours. He has a face—mine. He has a problem—just like ours, he’s lamb and he’s at the house of mercy just like you and I when we find ourselves at the throne of mercy waiting on God to move on our behalf
Can you picture it? Jesus, walking among the suffering, and out of all the lamb, blind and paralyzed invalid there Jesus spots this one lamb man and just by divine Theios, just by divine sovereignty decides to bless one man, and walks up to him knowing he has been there for 38 long years and asks him what looks like a cruel question, it’s a cruel question at 1st reading. Looks at Jesus He asked a paralyzed men do he want to walk, and the paralyzed man said, not to Jesus but I can only imagine the man said to himself “what you think I’m doing here” I been here every day for 38 years and you ask me do I wanna be made whole? But look again zoom the camera in and look again, it’s good to look again because Jesus was not asking a question, He was making an offer. I like the way it reads in the KJV because the king James helps me make this point, it says “will you be made whole” somebody gonna get it in a min, the word made in the text is the real shout. Been whole is not what the shout is, do you want to be made whole, the word made goes back to the prolog in John chapter 1, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God and the word was made flesh and dwelled amongst us, so Jesus is saying “do you wanna be just like me”. Do you want the created work of God to make you over again, and saints of God if you want to be made whole again, because there’s a difference between being made well and being made whole, because you can be well and never be whole, Jesus said do you want to be made whole, not a question but an offer; He takes our brokenness and turns it into blessings
Jesus said do you want to be made whole? The lamb man responded “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming another one steps down before me.” That’s so much like us Excuses
Every one of us can find ourselves in this lame man at the house of mercy
I can’t deal with this job any longer, do you want another job? Every time I think about applying somebody more qualified applies
Do you want a husband or wife? All the good ones are taken already
Do you want reliable transportation? I can’t afford a car payment
Do you want to go to the doctor? All he gonna tell me is the same thing he told me the last time
Do you want to lose weight? Nothing seems to work for me I tried it all
Excuses, excuses, excuses
He said do you want to be made whole, he said every time I get ready to get in somebody gets in before me, Jesus said I didn’t ask you that, you coming up with all kind of stuff like the people who was invited to the wedding feast
“A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’”
Jesus said go down to Bethesda bring me the blind, lame, cripple and paralyze
Jesus said I wasn’t asking you a question I was making you an offer
I’m not offering you an offer to bring you back to a dead water system because you think there is life in that water, when you’re talking to the water of life, life is not in that water, if you’re looking for life in your job you won’t find it there, if you looking for life in your education, you won’t find it there, if you’re looking for life in your mate, you won’t find it there, because life is not in a broken system it’s in a person
Stop looking for life in a dead situation, stop stopping by dead systems
He said every time I get ready to step in some body gets in ahead of me. Jesus said no more excuses, here’s what I want you to do “Rise, take up your mat, walk
He did not heal him and tell him to walk, He told him to walk and he got healed. Because the healing is in the obedience.
I know you haven’t walked in 38 years, but I said take up your mat. I know you haven’t walked in 38 years but at my word rise take up your mat, throw it over your shoulder and walk
And for the first time in his life his paralysis became his purpose
He got up, put his mat on his shoulders and walked, Jesus said take your mat, don’t leave it down there and use it as an excuse to go back to it.
Pick it up, carry it around with you so that when people see you and asks what you doing with that, it becomes your testimony
And somebody here this morning used to lay on a mat of depression, a mat of discouragement, a mat of self-pity
But the Lord told you to pick it up and everywhere you go ppl look at you and say you not the same person you used to be, something is different about you, and the difference is your mat of excuses is now your testimony
He turns your paralysis into purpose, he turns your brokenness into blessing and finally he turns your mat into a miracle
