John 5:1-18 The man at the pool. For May 1, 2016
“Do you want to be healed?” Jesus asks a sick man lying
beside the healing waters of the Bethesda pool in Jerusalem. The man had been
there, among throngs of others who were blind, lame, or paralyzed for 38 years,
ostensibly waiting to be made whole.
Jesus’ question, at first, appears to be a dumb one. I can
almost imagine the man rolling his eyes and saying “DUH! Why else would I waste
time lying here?’
I say the man is “ostensibly” waiting to be healed because
I’m not convinced that is why he is there. Perhaps he was for the first few years, but
after 38, he’s in a rut. The pool is a place where the crippled and helpless
gather, and where people come to help them. It’s a good place to beg. It has
become the man’s community. He has quit trying. This is normal life for him,
his routine. He sounds resigned to his fate.
So when Jesus asks the “dumb question” the man gives him a
defeatist kind of answer, an excuse for why he has never made it in to the
pool. If he really wanted to be healed, if he still had hope, wouldn’t he have
answered differently” A hopeful person might have responded with; “yes! Will
you help me?” The man’s answer is a “poor me” answer, he is stuck in a victim
mentality, a belief that he has no ability to change anything and that it is up
to other people to do everything for him.
Unfortunately, this is not uncommon. People often stay in
bad relationships, unhealthy jobs, and continue in bad habits because it is
what they know. It is their “rut” and change seems too scary or difficult, so
they make excuses about why they need to stay in their rut.
A long while ago in university, I had a friend who fit this
category. She was smart, nice looking, and I enjoyed her company…mostly. The
one thing that was hard to deal with was her constant “poor me” talk. She
talked as if everything was wrong with her life. No car, no boyfriend, no email
on her computer (this was a long time ago-no cell phones yet). She became known
for ‘cornering’ sympathetic people with long sob stories. It became her mode of
operation, her rut, her way to get attention. She refused a mutual friend’s offer to set up her computer
to receive email. She turned down a classmate’s invitation to go for coffee. (I
didn’t understand the refusal. He was a brilliant student and an interesting
guy. If I hadn’t been dating someone, I would have gone for coffee with him!)
It’s like she was looking at the pool of Bethesda, and refusing offers of help
to get in because that would change everything she was used to.
Jesus doesn’t back off, and he doesn’t help the man get
in the pool. Instead, he says; “Stand up, pick up your mat and walk.” He hears and refuses the sob story. He does something real and immediate, there is
no time for the man to develop all sorts of rationalizations and excuses for
staying where he is.
The man’s reaction is fascinating. When the Pharisees
immediately chastise him for carrying his mat on a Sabbath (another whole
topic-ridiculous legalism)the man makes an excuse and defers the blame to
Jesus. He is still in “victim” mode, everything is someone else’s fault!
Instead of joy and dancing and owning his actions, he points a finger
elsewhere. This blaming mentality is one of the ruts of the perpetual victim
mode. It is sad, but understandable. After 38 years, this man doesn’t know how
to be healthy, how to take responsibility, he doesn’t know where to walk, how
to earn a living, who he will be with in community…his whole life has to
change. That is a huge thing to face.
People often stay in bad situations and accept poor ways of
doing things because the alternative, while it might be better (probably is
better) is unknown and scary. They feel stuck.
The answer, thank goodness, isn’t only up to the crippled
man, it isn’t only up to us. Jesus intervenes and heals, whether we give him a
straight and honest answer or not. He
gives us the gift of wholeness, what we do with it is up to us. I’m not
impressed with the attitude and actions of the healed man, however, there is
some hope here. Jesus finds the man in
the temple, (Giving thanks? Seeking direction?) After meeting Jesus that second
time, the man becomes a witness, spreading news of Jesus among the Jews. That
sounds positive, not victim like!
Where are you resisting the wholeness Jesus offers? Are you
stuck in an unhealthy rut, blaming others for the situation? When Jesus heals
you, where will you walk, how will you talk?
Do you want to be made well? Maybe not such a dumb question.
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