"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 thirty-eight 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."
"Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
As I read these portions of scripture this morning... it reminded me of the people I know who have had a sickness that has lasted for years. After a while, some resign themselves into thinking that, "life will never change." And then, there are those who I have known, that have had a terminal sickness and yet were excited to see a new morning everyday, no matter the extent of the pain they were feeling. I know at least two people whom I loved who faced death with a heart of gratitude for the new day they were given. One tried to think of ways she could bless her family after she died... she planned her funeral with excitement and celebration. She purchased gifts for them and had the store call the family on a certain day after she had died and told them to come and pick them up. So, about a week after her death, her husband and children sat around the living room and opened gifts that she had bought and read cards and letters that she had written to them.
What I think is worse than physical sickness, is the sickness that grows in the heart. This man had been like this for 38 years. He was accustomed to his sickness. Jesus knew that healing this man would completely change his life. That is why he asked him if he wanted to get well. After he healed him, he told the man, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse will happen to you." I am inclined to think that an accident of some sort changed the course of this man's life because Jesus told him he was "well again." It is possible that the man woke up every morning with bitterness and resentment or even anger in his heart... Maybe he was irritable to the people around him, and demanding. Jesus knew the sins of his heart.
Jesus knows how we wake up every morning... the things we carry in our hearts. What are those things doing to us. How easy it is to remember the physical healing in our lives and yet still carry the roots of bitterness, anger, envy, or resentment. When Jesus heals us, he desires to heal all of us, not just our physical sickness. As a matter of fact, He is more concerned about our inner being. I am thankful for the examples of love and forgiveness I have seen in the lives of people who have inspired me over the years and lead me to a closer relationship with Jesus.
What are you waiting for Jesus to do in your life? What hurts do you need to lay at His feet? Oh! What a wonderful Savior! He is willing and waiting...
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