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Dear Friends,
Here is the link to today's sermon on YouTube, and the manuscript is attached. Hope you can join us on Zoom next Sunday!
Blessings,
Pastor Chris
Sermon – "What Do You Want?"
John 5:1-18
February 7, 2021
Chris Coon, PBPC
Introduction
Have you ever just felt stuck? I think we've probably all felt this at some point: stuck in our job, stuck in our marriage, stuck in our town – feeling like we can't move on or become fully ourselves because of the situation in which we find ourselves. I had a friend who felt he was in a dead-end job; though he was doing what he had trained to do in finance, the company he worked for was small, in a small town, and there just didn't seem to be much hope for growth or advancement. My friend felt stifled and kept saying, "If only I could get a better job and get out of this place…" Then one day it happened: he got a job offer at a bigger company in a bigger city (in another state, actually), and this job not only paid well but it also came with the expectation of advancement. So, I was shocked when my friend told me that he turned down the job. "It sounded good at first," he explained, "but as I thought about it I realized that I would have to move far away from family and friends; and the fishing here is so much better – I don't what I would do if I couldn't just go out to the lake and fish whenever I felt like it." And so, he stayed in his same situation.
We have certain ideas about what we want and need in life, certain things that we tell ourselves and others that we would do if we had the opportunity. But when it comes right down to it, what do we really want? For my friend, the comfort of his current situation and his excuse for why he couldn't do better were things that he wasn't willing to give up, in spite of what he said. We encounter a somewhat similar situation in our scripture passage today.
John 5:1-18
1After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3 In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" 7 The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Stand up, take your mat and walk." 9 At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.
Now that day was a sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, "It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat." 11 But he answered them, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Take up your mat and walk.'" 12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take it up and walk'?" 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. 14 Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you." 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father is still working, and I also am working." 18 For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.
Do You Want to Be Made Well?
We don't know why Jesus approached this particular man who was lying beside the pool; the passage tells us that many people were lying there who were blind, lame, or paralyzed. We don't even know what the man's infirmity was, although we assume from the context that he was unable to walk. The reason that so many ill people gathered at this pool (the modern translation of the name is Bethesda) is that there was a legend that when the water of the pool was stirred up, it was because an angel had come down and was stirring it up; and whoever stepped into the pool first after this happened would be healed of their illness.
Jesus asks what may seem to us a strange question of this man: "Do you want to be made well?" We might be inclined to assume that of course somebody in this situation would want to be healed – how could they not want to walk after not being able to for so many years? This must be a rhetorical question, right? Well, not necessarily. There is usually more going on in Jesus' interactions with people than might be immediately obvious. This is implied by the man's response, "I have no one to put me in the pool… when I try, someone else gets in ahead of me…" Now this answer may be true and genuine, but it may also provide the framework for the man's self-identity – "this is who I am and there's nothing I can do about it." It was likely also the basis for his livelihood, which was almost certainly begging for money, relying on the generosity of pilgrims visiting the temple in Jerusalem.
Healing for this man would mean a restoration of his body, the ability to move and walk and experience life more fully. It would also mean a restoration of his relationships and place in the community, because illness was often considered to be a sign that a person was cursed and therefore cut off from others. But healing would also mean responsibility and raise new issues for the man: what would he do for a living after he had survived on handouts for so many years? What would be his place in the community now? For so long people had felt sorry for him; he had likely felt sorry for himself, maybe even cursed by God, but believing that there was nothing he could do about it perhaps he had lost the ability to envision himself as anyone other than the unfortunate lame man who depended upon the generosity of others.
What Do You Want?
We hear Jesus ask variations of this question, "Do you want to be healed?" throughout the gospels, most notably in Mark 10 when Jesus asks blind Bartimaeus, "What do you want me to do for you?" But we also hear a version of it in John 1 when Jesus asks the first disciples, "What are you looking for?" On one level, we see that Jesus has great respect for the dignity and free will of the people he interacts with; he does not impose his healing upon them against their will (although the case of raising Lazarus from the dead may be an exception.) God seems to want our involvement in what he does for us, and our openness to receive it is important. Jesus repeatedly tells people that their faith has made them well; by this he seems to be saying that his healing power is affective only when there is faith to receive it.
But the question of what we actually want goes deeper than whether or not we believe that God can give it to us. The man at the pool had to decide not only if he believed that Jesus could heal him, but whether he wanted to be healed; that is, he had to decide if he wanted to be healed badly enough that he was willing to take on all of the responsibilities of being a healthy person – of finding a job, of supporting himself, but also of being in healthy relationships with other people, where he no longer viewed himself as a victim and receiver of their charity. All of this could have seemed so overwhelming and impossible to handle that he may very well have preferred to hold on to his identity as an unfortunate soul who couldn't do any better.
Just as the healing of this man would have effects and repercussions beyond his physical restoration, so the healing that Jesus brings to our lives is also emotional, mental, and most significantly spiritual. Where Jesus is, there is inevitably life and wholeness. There is light, but unfortunately many people prefer the darkness. When offered the opportunity for healing and wholeness, we may assume that our answer would be an unqualified "yes." But when we consider the implications and results, we may have second thoughts. Which is why the deeper question of "what do you want?" is so important. What do we actually want from Jesus? Do we want the warm and loving presence of a good shepherd only? Do we want a savior who upholds our values? Do we want a God who forgives us and accepts us, but doesn't interfere in our lives? Or do we want something more?
Signposts Pointing to Wholeness
Jesus' healings and other miracles are really signposts which are pointing us towards the wholeness that God has for us. Even the resurrection of Lazarus mentioned earlier is a signpost to the greater gift of life that Jesus offers us. This life – eternal life or "life of the ages" – is the life of God which Jesus embodies and desires to share with us. But even as we are offered life, we are also challenged to count the cost, because a transformed life is going to require something of us.
A few examples may be helpful here. God wants to bring healing and wholeness to our relationships. That means that I will need to let go of my bitterness and resentment towards that person who has hurt me so much; I will need to forgive them, even if they don't deserve it, because God has forgiven me. I will need to lay aside my pride and take on humility, as appropriate, in order to see reconciliation. There is a cost involved in healing and wholeness.
Or maybe the healing that we need to experience has to do with our money. We remember Jesus' response to the question of the rich young ruler, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" and Jesus' response, "go and sell all you have and give it to the poor." Facing the cost of what Jesus was calling him to do – that which would bring him to wholeness with God – he chose not to and went away very sad. He had to respond to the question, "What do you want?"
The life of healing and wholeness is the life following Jesus. The paradox is that Jesus describes this life as "denying ourself, taking up our cross, and following him." This doesn't sound easy because it usually isn't. But Jesus is clear: what we are releasing is that which doesn't lead to life, and exchanging it for that which does.
Today, I encourage you to ask yourself this question, "What do I want?" If you could have what you want right now, what would it be? And if you can, ask yourself what is the deeper desire that is present in you? Perhaps it is a desire for security, or for a sense of your own value, or a desire for joy, or a desire that everything should be put right in your life and in the world. Because we are created in God's image, these deepest desires can point us to God. But because we are sinners, we try to satisfy or subvert these deep desires with other things, whether they be self-righteousness, wealth and possessions, a sense of being in control of our circumstances, or holding on to an identity that relieves us from responsibility for our own health.
Conclusion
Jesus wants to bring us wholeness and healing, the blessing of eternal life that begins in the here and now. Do you want to be made well? Is there some healing that Jesus wants to bring to your life, some area of great need that God wants to address – yet you are holding on to, not sure that you want to release it because of the cost? The man at the pool of Bethesda, after he had made his excuse, nevertheless responded to Jesus by standing up and walking. He lost some things, such as his security; but the adventure of his new wholeness was before him, and the cost was far outweighed by the blessing of the abundant life that Jesus offered him.