People… God’s Passion
The legend of the pool
The Legend of the pool was that an angel would come down and stir up the waters. First one in got healed!
Imagine the chaos and people diving into this pool when some waters from a spring below began bubbling up.
Like a game of spoon, musical chairs, or runners in the blocks waiting for the starter’s gun to go off – everyone on the edge and waiting to go!
One false start and everyone is in the water and it’s all moving. Then someone wants so badly to be healed they jump out claiming that they restored and the legend gets a little bigger and a little better.
The man at Bethesda Pool
He was never sure when he began to change. At first he had fought against the paralysis. Shame had washed over him when his friends picked up his pallet and carried him to Bethesda pool. His mouth compressed tightly; his forehead was rigid with a frown. One could feel the determination, sense the voice inside him that demanded over and over, “I will walk again. I will!” How he had watched that pool! He was so desperate to reach it when the waters were rippled, to win the healing people said would come to the first person to slip in them. He had dug his fingers into the pavement, frantically jerking his body across the stones.
But that was years ago. So many years. The friends were gone now, busy with their own affairs. His world was the tiny space occupied by his pallet on the pavement. He no longer struggled to reach the water. In 38 years he had learned to live with his paralysis; learned to accept his wasted, sticklike legs. All the old dreams were discarded. Now he was satisfied with an extra crust of bread in his begging bowl, or a little warmth when the wind brushed the clouds away from the sun. Thirty-eight years. Life had settled into routine, and he was … resigned.
This man was not well
Now, I don’t know that this is what happened to the man described in John 5. We’re told only that he had been ill for 38 years, and that he had no one. But it’s easy to imagine what must have happened inside as the reality of his paralysis wore away his spirit. We can imagine his youthful plans; the success or the security he dreamed of, the family he’d have. And then came an illness that stripped him of everything: strength, companions, and finally he lost all hope.
People today have different pools.
The pool of health
To feel good, to be strong, to be on top of the world – this is the goal. So they exercise, drink protein drinks, get so many facelifts and tummy tucks that they can’t smile or bend over. Their doctor becomes their best friend and closest confidant. There is an endless search for the perfect body and a healthy life.
Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not bad to exercise. I guess. My idea of a good work out is a hot tub of water – pull the plug and fight the current!
I’m glad there are physicians who have made it their life’s goal to heal and help us. I’m glad we can exercise and feel good about our bodies. But there many who are looking to our physicians to heal the soul and their exercise trainer to satisfy the need to feel good about themselves. They go around saying, “If I can just get the right treatment or exercise program – then I’ll be better.”
The pool of wealth
If the physicians can’t heal us then maybe the stockbroker can. I just need a little more money will take care of everything.
So many in our culture sit at the edge of the pool of wealth. They work two jobs and stay up late working the Internet to find a way to get into the pool first. Every time someone wins the lottery the waters are stirred and we all dive in. If I just had a little more.
We watch all “The Apprentice” and see the lifestyle of not only “helmet hair” Donald Trump but all those who desperately want to obtain it – Sam, Amy, Bill, Omorsa, Heidi, Kwamie, Troy, Nick… Many like these sit at the edge of the pool of wealth.
The pool of Intellect
It was Descarte who said, “I think, therefore, I am.” And thus began the wisdom of man. We have seen the age of reason, the advance of technology, the influence of science, and the importance of education.
Politically we are committed to “no child left behind” although there is much wrangling about what that really means and how to get it done.
So some sit at the edge of the pool of knowledge and intellect thinking that another degree, more letters after my name, another paper published, another book written will somehow get them into the pool and they will be restored, renewed, healed, fixed, and made whole.
The pool of expression – art
Many more linger at the pool of expression. They revere the ability to create artistically and look with wonder at what man can accomplish – his ability to make something beautiful or meaningful.
But art without God is the worship of man. Look at what humankind can do. Art becomes a God when God is not the purpose of our life.
Consider The Strange Case of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
Chuck Colson wrote recently in Breakpoint that Music professor Esteban Buch did just that in his book Beethoven’s Ninth: A Political History. And it’s an intriguing, thought-provoking history.
Beethoven’s magnificent setting of the Ode to Joy (the tune to the hymn, "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee") appeals to people everywhere—and it seems to mean something different to each one. One could argue that people love the symphony simply because of the lyrics that celebrate universal brotherhood, the beauty and emotion of the music, and the inspiring story of the man who overcame his deafness to compose it.
But Buch thinks there’s more to it than that. He writes, "The career of the Ode to Joy … can be read as a fable on the moral value of Western art. All who have invoked the Ninth Symphony have begun by experiencing its beauty and ended with the need for its morality; because they revered the Beautiful and because they believed that they knew the Good, they have made that Beautiful the symbol of the Good."
But as Buch goes on to explain, there’s one small problem: Everybody has a different idea of what good means. Thus, "the communists hear in [the Ninth Symphony] the gospel of a classless world, Catholics hear the Gospel itself, democrats hear it as the voice of democracy. Hitler celebrated his birthdays with the Ode to Joy, and yet the same music was used to oppose him, even in concentration camps. … It was the anthem of the racist Republic of Rhodesia, and it is today the anthem of the European Union." Lenin even said that Beethoven’s music was dangerous because it made him want to be kinder to his fellow human beings!
There’s an important lesson here. As I’ve said before, we need art to inspire and educate and delight us, to train our imaginations and open our minds, even to point us toward God. But even the most inspiring art cannot take the place of faith.
Yet so many sit at the pool of personal expression and art.
The pool of pleasure – Self
If all else fails there is finally the pool of pleasure. Donna and I just got back Monday afternoon from a cruise on the Caribbean. We saw the pool of pleasure and floated upon it in great ship.
There were worshipers of the sun on the deck of the boat and worshipers of the excitement of winning in the casino. Both were usually crowded with people all thrashing around in the pool of pleasure.
In fact, you could walk from one side of the ship to the other and never touch the deck. You’d probably have a lot of people chasing you but you’d never touch the deck!
Many relentlessly sit at the pool of pleasure.
Once and while the pool gets stirred up and unwell people jump in and thrash about trying to be made well and to become whole!
Here is the dirty little secret: The pools don’t work.
The pool in Bethesda didn’t work and the pools of people today don’t work. Even if you get in the pool and win the prize – you won’t be well!
Here is the seat of our un-wellness. Sin has made us sick. We are depressed. We are covered with a spiritual malaise that saps our strength and sucks the joy out of life. No amount of exercise – not even freedom from crippling disease will satisfy our souls.
Sitting at the pools of health, wealth, intellect, arts, and pleasure does not make you whole and fill your soul – not even if you get into the pool first!
But you all know that – but they don’t so they make excuses
People who are not well blame others
They have all kinds of excuses
The man at the pool in Bethesada had a whole list of excuses. I can’t get in the pool… There are too many others… No one will help me… It’s not my fault – Sounds a little whiney doesn’t it!
This guy became a bitter and ungrateful man – and it didn’t change when he was healed. When you read the whole text you will notice that even after Jesus healed him physically he didn’t change spiritually. Later, when he was challenged by the religious leaders for carrying his bed on the Sabbath – The man said, “Jesus made me do it!”
Even later, Jesus had to warn him to stop sinning because sin will make you sick! (not all sickness is caused by sin!)
People today have the same excuses
I can’t get in the pool… There are too many others… No one will help me… It’s not my fault…
I once had a conversation with a person and said, “When I get old I don’t want to be a grumpy old man”. They said if grumpy old men were once grumpy young men.
It’s not about age – it’s about attitude. Excuses are not the problem.
The problem is sin – but we know that! But so many don’t seem to understand this simple fact. Sin eats us up from the inside out.
But they sit at the edge of a pool – hopeless – and strangely – comfortable. They get used to it.
People who are not well become comfortable with the way it is
This man had spent 38 years in this place. It was hard being paralyzed but it had become “normal”. He had his routine.
Lots of people who have been incarcerated in jail eventually become so institutionalized that when they get out they do something to get right back in.
I know people like that. When life starts getting better they create a crisis to return it back to normal where they like to live and give excuses for the way it is.
They have stopped hoping for healing and accepted a bad reality as a normal existence. Hopeless Living has become a way of life for many people. None of the pools will help them even if they could get into them – so they begin to grow numb and hopeless. Life becomes one day following the previous. Life becomes a series of chores, an endless job and a pile of bills at the end of every month.
But we are a people of hope and healing
We are all crippled and broken people. We have been battered and bruised by life. Every person here is a story of defeat and brokenness. Paralysis and disease are part of our reality.
But we don’s sit at the pool of health, wealth, intellect, expression, or pleasure. We don’t need to sit at the edge of a pool – we have Jesus!
Let’s go back to the key question in this story.
Do you want to get well? Surprisingly, this is an important question. Lots of people really don’t want to get well. There is a comfort zone that some seem to enjoy.
Here there were 100’s of sick people. They had a little community and it was probably pretty tight. They were all miserable but it was ok. It had become comfortable and normal for them.
Some of you may want right now to be healed and made whole but there is doubt and fear. Jesus’ offer of new life comes to men and women who have often been in bondage to paralyzing defeat for untold years.
For many of us, an invitation to take a fresh start would be heard with doubts and fear. To understand the grace Jesus unveils and see why it is safe to accept His offer, we need to see more clearly the life that Jesus holds out to us.
No wonder when Jesus saw him, and “learned that he had been in this condition for a long time,” His first words were, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6)
Don’t make excuses. Do what Jesus says to do
Jesus told him to pickup his bed and walk… do it. But what does that mean? Well that’s what we are about as the church.
Our mission is to help the unwell people of the world to have the courage to trust Jesus and become part of the community of the healed and whole.
We are Jesus to the sick world around us. Helping sick unwell people get well. Let me tell you how we are going to do it
Helping People Find their way Home
Entryway – Welcoming everyone
Officially
Unofficially
Family Room – Worshiping God as His Kids
This is an exciting place
Rockin’ fun place to be
Dining Room – Growing together in his ways
Kitchen – serving others
Deck – letting our world know about Jesus
Part of MCC – I’m calling you to a Radical Commitment
Everyone in the Entryway. Three hours a week – family room, dining room, kitchen. Prayer - Tithes and Offerings
Tithes to the storehouse
Offerings to the mission
If you have been on the edge of the pool… I invite you to come to Jesus. He will make you whole!
