Do You Want To Get Well?"

Lectionary readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter

Acts 16:9-15
Psalm 67
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
John 14:23-29 or John 5:1-9

TEXT: John 5:1-9

LISTENING TO THE TEXT

This story of Jesus healing a lame man could simply be another in a long line of miracle stories that show Jesus' power over sickness and disease. It's wonderful at that. But this story has a twist, a surprise that can provide a significant challenge point for preaching.

The surprise is in the question that Jesus asks of the invalid man. This man had been hanging around the pool of Bethesda for some 38 years in the belief that the occasionally stirred waters of the pool could provide his healing. For 38 years he had been "beat out" by others in the race to be first into the water, the prerequisite for being healed. This is the man to whom Jesus comes and asks, "Do you want to get well?"

"What? Jesus, you must be kidding! This man has tried for 38 years to take advantage of something that he believes will heal him. That looks like determination and persistence if nothing else. No offense, but isn't that kind of a silly question?"
But notice the man's answer. He doesn't say, "Well, yes I want to be well, that's why I'm here." Instead he says, "I have no one to put me down into the pool." His whole focus is on the pool as his Source of healing. Apparently he doesn't even consider the possibility that before him stands the Source of healing. Over the years he has become convinced that the pool is the only way to be healed.

How like us. So often we get fixated on particular ways that we want God to work in our lives and then become disappointed when things don't work out that way. We focus on the healing waters of the pool, but that's all we see. So Jesus asks us tough questions like, "Do you really even want to be well?" In other words, are we willing to trust our healing to Jesus? Even if it means that it will come in a completely different way than we ever imagined, will we trust Him?

ENGAGING THE TEXT
THE NEED

Our people are facing any number of issues that need the healing touch of Jesus. For some it's physical. Even more likely it's the healing of a memory or of a relationship. It may healing for damaged emotions or the healing of guilt and shame. And maybe some of those people have become fixated on waiting for a particular kind of answer to their dilemma. They are waiting for things to fall in place just the way they always imagined it. They are focused on the waters of the pool. Perhaps some of them are ready to hear Jesus' question.

GOD'S ANSWER

God is always at work to move our focus from our puny circumstances to the riches of His grace. He wants us to lift our eyes from the murky waters of the pool and into the clear eyes of a Savior who can redeem us.

OUR RESPONSE

We are called to do the same thing that Jesus asked of this invalid man. We are asked to face the reality of whether or not we really want to be well. Sometimes we grow comfortable with our disfunction and prefer it to the hard work of getting healthy. Jesus invites us to let go of our own prescriptions for health and trust him to do his healing work in us. It won't be easy. It might mean dealing with some things that we'd just as soon forget. But if we can trust our healing to Jesus, he will bring us to wholeness and health. It will be in his time and in his way. Perhaps the critical question is, "Do you want to be well - are you willing to trust His way?"

PREACHING THE TEXT

(For a full manuscript of this sermon, go to www.preachersmagazine.org.)
I began this sermon by talking about the frustration of trying to help people who really don't want help. Many people can relate to this. There may be appropriate stories that can be told of people we have tried to help, only to realize that they sabotaged the whole process. It's a hard thing to understand but it happens regularly.

Jesus understands this part of us. He dealt with it too and the story in the text for today illustrates it. The preacher can then "run the story", bringing in the details from exegetical study about the pool and the custom of the people, and so forth.
The watershed of the story is Jesus' question that at first hearing sounds like a silly question. But then when we penetrate the heart of what Jesus was really asking, we suddenly begin to see ourselves. We see the ways in which we become focused on the pool instead of on Him.

Pastors know many of the issues in the lives of his people that need the miraculous healing touch of Jesus. We have dealt with people over and over again on the same issues and nothing ever seems to change. With great care to not breach confidentiality, some of these kinds of issues can be stated in a general way. They key question is one of trust. Will we trust Jesus to accomplish His healing in our lives and let go of all the other ways in which we sometimes to accomplish our own healing?