When, we are asked, was the man by the pool healed? I wonder, could he have been healed long ago, but had not known it? In our OSL guide we are asked “Of all the disabled people there (at the pool of Bethesda), it seems that Jesus singled out one man…” Why did Jesus single this man out? What was special about him or his case? I wonder if maybe Jesus could see/knew that the man had been already healed, but was not behaving like one who has been healed.
2 In Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate in the north city wall is a pool with the Aramaic name Bethsaida. … 3 and a crowd of people who were sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed sat there.[a] 5 A certain man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. (John 5:2-5, CEB)
Could the man have been healed years before, but had
continued to live in the lie that he was still paralyzed? Being healed
implies a change to one’s current circumstance,
and when that change is unimaginable the healing may not
be realized. So Jesus asks:
“Do you want to get well?”
It’s a great question because I think sometimes we want to be healed of the symptoms but not the wound. I’m not talking about
the severe cases where it seems unlikely that someone will ever get well, but the times
when staying sick, or unhealthy is truly a choice we choose, and choose over and over, even though we have been healed, we choose to act otherwise.
7 The sick man answered him, “Sir,[b] I don’t have anyone who can put me in the water
when it is stirred up. When I’m trying to get to it, someone else has gotten in
ahead of me.”
What if the man was already healed and all Jesus did was see that in him and his potential; seeing things not as they are but as they could be.
It is really too bad that the story continues on past verse nine because it brings to light the fact that people do not always show gratitude. I know I should not want the gratitude, and yet sometimes I do. I want my part in it to be recognized, but doesn't that steal or at least compromise the glory to God?
8 Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Immediately the man was well, and he picked up his mat and walked.What sins (wounds) have we been healed from, but are not able to pick up our mats and go on with life?
re: "I think sometimes we want to be healed of the symptoms but not the wound" - I think sometimes we are too afraid to even consider the wound, or acknowledge that it exists, and so while we may be temporarily "healed," the symptoms reappear until we are ready to address the wound.
ReplyDeletere: gratitude - I find this difficult, as well. While gratitude & praise are needed every once in a while by us lowly humans, I find it awkward trying to redirect the praise back to God, and sometimes wish I didn't receive it at all, but simply bypassed on the way to praising God; a catch-22, or something like that.
re:wounds. Yes!
Deletere:gratitude - I think Barb does a great job of this always saying "to the glory of God!" When we praise her singing or fluting. Which while awkward, is entirely correct.
"Healed of the symptoms but not the wound". From my own experience I know that we can want healing from the wound but cannot really define the wound. That seems to be where we need the Holy Spirit to shine light into our darkness to reveal the wound itself. We also need each others help and it can be difficult to continue to pray for healing, be ready to lower someone in the water when there has been a length of time and the healing has not come nor has the water moved. This seems exactly where Jesus steps in! Praise to the Lord for his intervention in our lives through each other, the word and his Holy Spirit!
ReplyDelete"a change to one's current circumstance...." I think that sometimes I want a quick fix, but not enough to disturb the status quo, especially if it requires effort on my part! Perhaps that is what keeps true healing from occurring.
ReplyDelete