Why we stay stuck (Part 4 / Conclusion)

Part 4 John 5:2-9 (Conclusion)

What did Jesus ask? Let's look at verse six in its entirety now: "When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"


Over the last few days we have talked about the fact that there are a lot of people don’t really want to be healed; they don’t really want to be made whole.

Saying “yes” to Jesus’ question means two things. First we must admit that we are hurting. Some of us, if Jesus were to walk up to us right now and ask, "Do you want to get well?" We would probably say, “What do you mean, Lord? I’m fine, really. Don’t worry about me; go help my friend, he’s the one with problems.” "Do you want to get well?" If you do, it means admitting you’re hurt to yourself, to God, and maybe even to a few trusted friends.

But that’s not all. Saying “yes” to Jesus’ question also means that we must choose healing over hurt. When Jesus asked, "Do you want to get well?" it isn't a rhetorical question, nor was he being flippant. But some of us choose to hold on to our hurts, because we would rather complain. We’re not done seething in anger at those who hurt us, because we know it’ll take work to get better, and besides, we kind of enjoy the sympathy we get, or the attention, or the feeling of playing the martyr.

But He keeps asking, "Do you want to get well?" If you do, then there's one more gem to be mined from this short passage. And that is, what Jesus said. Look at verse 7. After Jesus asked the crippled man by the pool, "Do you want to get well?": "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."

Let's look at what he’s really saying about the depth of his hurt? He’s saying, “I’m not only crippled, but (a) I am friendless, I have no one to help me, (b) I am flailing, straining and struggling and its tough, and (c) I am frustrated because someone else goes down ahead of me.

Isn't that how we sound in the middle of our hurts? We feel friendless, flailing and frustrated? But it’s what happens next. In verses 8 and 9:“ Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

Jesus apparently didn’t touch the man, or even point to him. He said, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." John doesn’t tell us whether it was Jesus’ words, or a wave or just his will that healed the man. But it’s clear that Jesus had the power to heal him, and he did. Jesus told a man who couldn’t even drag himself into the pool to get up. And the man did! Why? How? I believe it’s because, for some reason, this man believed that Jesus could heal him. And I also believe that there are hurting people who need to believe that Jesus can heal them too.

The Bible says, He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds (Psalm 147:3). And, this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite” (Isaiah 57:15).

God is able and willing to heal your hurts, and I believe he is saying to you this morning, “I am with you. I want to revive your spirit and restore your heart.” Jesus said to the man by the Pool of Bethesda, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." In other words, I think God is saying to many of us, “It’s time to leave your hurt behind. Pick up your mat and walk. Choose healing over hurt. Take the first step.”

So why do you (we) get stuck and stay there? I am told that Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Therefore, like the pool guy, we must be insane. How many times have you done something that either didn't (never) work out or you knew was going to be detrimental to you? Three or four times? Three or four years? How much of your life have you wasted sitting by the pool, waiting for your luck to change while the whole world passes you by?

Sadly, most of us stay stuck because we choose. We don't like what we are getting, but we are too ____________________ (stubborn, lazy, stupid, comfortable, you can fill in your own favorite time-worn excuse) to do something radically different. We too often find a sad kind of comfort in the familiarity of our circumstances, no matter how painful they may be.

My hope and prayer is that the next time you find yourself on that familiar path, you will stop and ask yourself, “What am I hoping to accomplish by doing this?" One of two things will happen:

a) You will choose the same path, the same plan, the same person, but this time should own up to it, or

b) You will laugh at your foolishness, say "What was I thinking?" and turn a different way.

And if you choose plan "B" you can reclaim your life, rather than going through the motions of merely existing. You can go where you want with a purpose.

You can pick up you mat and walk.

Amen....

Why we stay stuck (Part 3)

Part 3 John 5:2-9

I don’t know what your predicament is, but I do know that God can work change in the midst of it. And even if God does not intervene in exactly the way we might wish, even in those situations that he allows us to struggle though, he gives us the grace to deal with the situation. Paul says that he prayed three times that his particular ailment might be taken away. And God did not grant that request. But what Paul finally says is that he was granted an even greater blessing by receiving grace to deal with his situation to God’s glory.

God may not change some of our situations, but he can and will change our rut. He can and will deliver us to a place where even if we are in the same situation, we will not be in the same place.

He will use all that he allows to come to pass to his glory if we yield ourselves to him. Real change is possible with the God who holds everything in his hands!

So, what is the comfortable predicament that we find ourselves in today? I think for each of us there is a situation or two that we say we want to change, but we really don’t. Perhaps it is because we kind of like our rut and fear the change that it might bring to get out of it. Perhaps we simply think it’s hopeless and we doubt that God could do anything about it, anyway. In either case, God is ready and willing to intervene.

Our man back at the pool never really responded to Jesus’ question, “Do you want to get well?” Jesus simply takes command of the situation and tells him to get up and walk. As Lord of the universe, he really doesn’t need to ask our permission to change our lives. These things are done for His glory, and for our benefit. Jesus merely commands him to get up and walk.

He tells him to do something that is impossible. Paralyzed men cannot walk any more than spiritually blind men can see truth. But Jesus is always commanding us to do the impossible and then, making those things possible.

That leads us back to our question, "Do you want to get well?" It’s a fair question for him and for all of us.

There are three things that we should notice about what took place at the Pool of Bethesda. They are what Jesus saw, what Jesus asked, and what Jesus said.

What Jesus saw: If we look at verse 1, we see that John describes Jesus going up to Jerusalem for one of the many feasts in the Jewish calendar. And in verse 2, John tells us about the pool of Bethesda. It was there, at the Pool of Bethesda that Jesus encountered our main character, who had been an invalid for 38 years. This means that this man had needed healing since before Jesus was born! John then tells us in verse 3: Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed.

But it’s the first part of verse 6 that I want to draw your attention to. Here it tells us what Jesus saw: Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time. This hurting man was surrounded by “a great number” of people and yet, Jesus saw him lying there.

What was true that day beside the Pool of Bethesda is still true today. To anyone who is hurting, remember that you are not alone. It’s not just you. There are “a great number” of hurting people all around you right now. If you were to take a good look around you, you would see “a great number of disabled people,” hurting people, people who don’t have it all together, people with scars, people with wounds so deep and some so incredibly sore that it only takes a word or a look to open the scab, and create fresh hurt.

But, Jesus saw him lying there. Jesus sees us. He is not oblivious to our pain, to our hurt, or to our needs. Just as he saw that man and learned that he’d been there for a long time. And he knows just how long, how much and how deeply we've been hurting, too.

A lot of us Christians fail to do what Jesus did by the Pool of Bethesda; we fail to acknowledge the reality of people’s pain. We avoid the subject because it makes us uncomfortable or we communicate to people, “You’re not supposed to hurt. If you were a real Christian, if you were truly spiritual, you wouldn’t feel this way.” Or we offer superficial answers to deep hurts, saying, “Just pray. Have more faith. Let go and let God.” Do we think people are stupid? Jesus didn’t do that.

Jesus saw him lying there, and that's important. Jesus saw the man’s hurt and knew that it was real, and it had been real for a long time. And of course you’ll ask, “What about all those other people at the pool? The Bible says, there were a “great number” of them. Did Jesus pass them by?” I have no idea. Maybe he healed others whose stories have not been preserved for us. John says about 15 chapters later that Jesus did many other miraculous signs, which are not recorded in this book (John 20:30).

[final installment tomorrow]

Why we stay stuck (part 2)

Part 2 John 5:2-9

What about the second kind of person? What about the person who does not want to change? I don't think this is an unreasonable thing to think about this man. He must have been adequately cared for, or he wouldn’t have survived this long. He probably had a few friends who stopped by, although, obviously, not at the right time. He has become accustomed to this way of living. He is surrounded by other people who were hopeless. sick, infirm and lame.

We have all found ourselves in situations where we become either become resigned to our fate, or accustomed enough to it to resist making any changes.

I recently read a study called “Change or Die”. The study followed several thousand people who had been told by their doctors that they must change their health habits or die. People with health issues serious enough that they were facing death, but with issues that were changeable or correctable. They were faced with issues like stopping smoking, stopping drinking, reducing stress, or losing weight. Faced with the choice to “change or die,” what percentage do you think changed their behavior and continued in a new pattern after one year? Nine percent. That’s less than one in ten. Nine out of ten people would rather die than change.

Sadly, I don't find this surprising. But, it begs to question, why would people cling so tenaciously to behavior that they knew would kill them? Perhaps for the same reasons the man at the pool, stays at the pool. He doesn't really want to get well.

If we decide we want to change, we know that there will be implications. And we don’t have a clear picture of what life might be like if we do change. Even if the alternative is a positive one, change can be hard to think about. We get used to our rut. Even if our rut is difficult, it is OUR rut. Sometimes, many times it just feels easier to stay put.

I can imagine that after 38 years our guy at the pool may have made the decision that this is as good as it will get. If he got into the pool and was healed, he’d have to get a job. He might even have to leave his friends behind. After all, if you are healthy and employed, then you can’t hang out at a pool all day. So, while his situation was unfortunate, he may have rationalized his way into thinking that it could be better than the alternative, being whole again.

For those who don’t know Christ, and for some who do, I wonder if they ever have a clear picture of what life can really be like. I’ve known many people who are not satisfied with life, but really have no desire to change. What if they really believed that life could be much better?

Jesus promised that we could have abundant life. Paul said in 1Corinthians 2 that. "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."

Only God can break in and allow people to see what they can and should be. And you and I must faithfully testify in word and deed to that reality so that people can actually see the alternative for themselves! Many people think that if they follow Christ they’re simply trading one bad rut for another. And, where do you suppose they get the idea that following Christ is a joyless life? From us, of course. You know, if you are telling people by what you say or what you do that following Jesus is a bitter, dutiful distasteful existence, then I’d like to suggest that you take a good look at what you’re calling the Christian Life? It really ought to be a life of joy, of peace, and of satisfaction.

That doesn’t mean it is without difficulty. Christians have just as much trouble as anyone else in this world. But Jesus told us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. And he promises to be there with us in the midst of trouble and to help us to make some sense of it. If your words or your life communicate anything other than the fact that following Christ is ultimately an abundant, victorious and freeing lifestyle, then you should do the Kingdom a favor and stop following Christ and giving him bad press! But, don’t sugar coat it either! We will still experience problems and we should not paint a picture of a life with no problems and no pain.

There is another reason I think people who want to change, but don't. They don’t really believe they can change. After all, if you think it’s hopeless, why try? Why on earth would any situation be hopeless? We worship the God of the Universe, who holds everything and every situation in His hands. God can and does change hearts. And God can and does deliver us from our predicaments, no matter how bad or how deep.

Back to our story: We know that Jesus healed many people in response to their faith. He healed many people because they sought Him out and had faith. But our main character was not like this at all. He didn’t find Jesus, Jesus found him. This is a great picture of the grace of God. He finds us and he desires to change us, even if we don’t have the faith to believe that this can happen.

[more to come...]

Why we stay stuck (Part 1)

Our text is John 5:2-9

“Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now, there is in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda…and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there, had been an invalid for 38 years.


When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"

"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."


Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."


At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. "


Have you ever found yourself in a situation that you thought was absolutely hopeless? It may have been a physical, emotional or financial problem. What was your reaction? Did you dig a little deeper and try to work harder, or did you simply give up? How we react, says a great deal about our personality, and even more about our faith and our view of God.
Picture the scene, there are sick people laying all around. Tradition tells us that an angel would come down from time to time, stir the waters and the first person who could get down into the water would be healed of whatever their ailment was. And, we meet our main character who has been there for 38 years. If you think about this, 38 years is a long time to be doing anything.

Jesus comes into the picture and surveys the situation. By whatever means, He is aware of how long this guy has been there, but rather than healing him, he asks him a question…"Do you want to get well?” What kind of question is this? Of course he wants to be healed. After all, he is lying beside a pool that was is supposed to heal people.

Perhaps. But Jesus has asked this specific question for a reason. On the surface it may seem like a silly question, but there are some issues that we need to look at more deeply...

This guy is an example of 2 different kinds of people. One, is the person who wants things to be different, but is investing in the wrong hope. The second is the person who finds themselves in a predicament and decides that they don’t really want to change.

If we assume that our friend at the pool really does want his situation to change, what plan has he made to make this happen? He starts to explain to Jesus that nobody will help him to get into the water when it’s stirred up. Someone else always gets there first. That is indeed unfortunate.

Let's examine this plan. He’s at a pool which is supposed to have the answer to his problem, but it is also the answer to everyone else’s problem. And, there are probably at least a few other people who are strong enough to get in first. Yet, he remains, with no other plan. For 38 years. How many years do you think it would it take for you to figure out that this is a bad plan? Maybe a bit less than 38? So that leaves this man with no real hope and no real plan to change is condition. His situation is not ever going to change just by hanging around the pool. But still he stays. Presumably because he can't come up with a better plan. This is a good picture of people without spiritual hope.

We see this every day in our family and friends, and, sometimes ourselves. This man trusted in a rumor about a pool and in invisible friends who would put him in when the water was stirred. How many of us continue to trust in things that are doomed to fail? He was trusting in “if only” and so are people today. He trusted that “if only someone would help me”.

Think back to when we were teenagers…“If only I can make that team.” “If only I can get into the right college.” “If only I could date him or her.” Then my life would be better.

But trusting in “if only” is a pointless exercise because whatever we put in the space after “if only” is something that does not really change who and what we are fundamentally.

As teenagers we tend to be easy targets. But there is something wrong with us if we continue to do the same thing as adults. “If only I had that house/car/boat/furniture….That thing…” “If only I had ‘x’ dollars saved for retirement or ‘y’ dollars in my portfolio, I’d be ok.” If only I could find the right person to marry, or get out of the marriage I’m in, or get through my kids teenage years with my sanity…” You get the general idea.

St. Augustine said, “All hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” And, Pascal said, "There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus".

Anything else that we depend on, anything that we trust in beside the Lord who created us will lead to disappointment. Trusting in anything other than Christ is vanity and futility, because only Christ can give rest to a human heart, and this is because only Christ created human hearts.

It stands to reason that our only real hope is to turn to the One who created us to find a proper understanding of how life is supposed to operate. It’s easy for us to point a finger at someone else who isn't following Christ, as if they are the only ones investing in the wrong things. But, what about us? What do we really trust in for our own satisfaction?

If we were really honest with ourselves, I think our list wouldn't look significantly different than the list of those we’d write off as non-believers. We still get caught up in the same trap of trusting in vain and futile things, don’t we? Jesus said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”

So...."Do you want to get well?" Do you want to get well? Or do you just want to continue to trust in the things you have been trusting in, the things that will never satisfy you.

It’s a fair question!