Do you want to be healed?

There is a wonderful story in the book of John about Jesus meeting a crippled man at the pool of Bethesda.  The theory was that when the waters of this pool “moved” they had healing powers, and so many people stayed around the pool, hoping to be the first into the healing waters when they were disturbed. 

According to the story Jesus walked up to the man and asked a question.  “Do you want to be healed?”  Our first response is to think that this is a crazy question.  But is it?

There is a story about a man who thought he was dead.  He went to a therapist and the therapist used insight therapy to heal the man of this affliction.  He had him read a lot of information about how bodies work.  And about what happens to a body when it dies.  And he had the man focus on the cardiovascular system, and the fact that once a person dies he or she no longer bleeds.  Then he poked the man in the finer, and he bled.  The man looked at the blood with amazement and then looked up at the therapist and said… “well I’ll be darned, dead people do bleed”!!

C. S. Lewis once said that "a familiar captivity is frequently more desirable than an unfamiliar freedom."  Jesus knew that it is not always easy to go from sickness to recovery; not always easy to go from having a wound, a pattern of destructive behavior, from having something that debilitates you, to being a person who is no longer controlled or defined by that problem.  Jesus knew that a change in our lives, even if it is a change for the better, can be difficult, even traumatic.  Something we fear.

In short, it is hard to change

And that is why it is not always easy to hand over those things that may be crippling us, but are somehow comforting, familiar, and safe.  The fact is it easy, way too easy, to make peace with our illness our hurt and allow our illness to become a part of us. We may go so far, according to Wayne Muller, as to allow our wounds, the brokenness, losses, or injuries to become the most important things in our lives.

But the issues can run even deeper.  Not only can we reach a place of ease with our woundedness, a place where are comfortable in our illness.  But we can actually reach a point where we become defined by our problem, our illness, our wound.

People will say things such as “I am a victim of incest”.  “I am a diabetic”.  Even that very powerful and important confession, “I am an alcoholic” can soon morph into an identity that can’t be moderated and becomes defeating.  “I am a sinner” can mean that one can’t accept grace.  “I am a cancer victim” can mean a person can’t continue to really live, but succumbs to the illness and quits

This question, "Do you want to be healed?" is the major faith question that confronts us. It is a question for us to ask ourselves. It is the question of a lifetime. Do we really want to be healed? Are we ready for the challenges healing brings? Think about that. 

What is it in you that needs to be healed?  What is it in you that you need to let go of?  What negative thing do you allow to define you?  For me it is a sense of not being enough, and a resultant anxiety.

If I let go of that, than I have to accept that I am OK.  That can mean a lot of things. That I have to accept that I am enough?  That I have to find my own esteem, within myself, and let go of the pattern of trying to get my esteem from those around me?  It might mean that I would have to let go of my crutches  To let God heal me in this area might mean I couldn’t use anxiety as an excuse for constantly checking my phone = not that I do that J   It would mean I would have to accept criticism more honestly.  And praise more honestly.  The idea of being a person who feels OK about himself would destroy so many patterns I have developed.  So many coping mechanisms. 

What is it for you?  What would it mean for you to accept God’s healing in that place?  What is scary about that?

That brings us to the next critical moment of this story. What did Jesus say to a man who had lost all hope, a man who had given up on himself?  He simply said "Rise, take up your pallet, and walk." And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked. (John 5:8b-9a RSV)

Notice that the first thing Jesus says to do is what the man could not do on his own, what he had tried for years to do.  Think about that!  What did this man have to do to hear those words, and act?  He had to think this way _  "If this man tells me to rise (and I cannot rise), it must mean that he intends to do something to make it possible." Thus what this man had to do, ultimately is transfer his faith from himself, and his own efforts, to Jesus: "

We must always realize that healing must be a matter for God.  Even if it is spiritual healing.  Donald Miller in his book “Blue Like Jazz” talks about trying to do it on one’s own.  Talking about a time he tried to heal himself of a problematic behavior he said,  “I found myself trying to love the right things without God’s help, and it was impossible. “  He then states, “The ability to accept God’s unconditional grace and ferocious love is the fuel we need to change.”  God heals us.  We don’t heal ourselves.   We must never forget that.  It is all about God and God’s healing power.

But if it starts with God it doesn’t end there.  There is a critical clue many miss when they are looking for help from God. God not only wants belief, that transfer of faith, but God wants our participation.  This is a word of action. Jesus does not say, "Try to build up faith in your mind. Try to fasten your thoughts on this or that." He tells the man to do something: "Rise! Stand up!"

And then what? The Lord did not merely say, "Rise," he said, "take up your pallet." Why did he say that? I like the way G. Campbell Morgan has put it, He did it "in order to make no provision for a relapse." The man might have said to himself, "I'm healed, but I had better leave my bed here; I may need it tomorrow." If he had said that he would have been back in it the next day. But he did not. Jesus said, "Take up your bed. Get rid of it; don't leave it there."

First we turn to God, accept God’s love, accept God’s forgiveness, accept God’s Spirit, accept God’s healing, then we act, and we leave the old place behind.

Easy?  No? Possible?  With God?  Yes!  But we have to want to be healed.