I woke up this morning with this question rolling around in my thoughts.
“Julie, do you want to be well?” It felt as if Jesus had been intently looking at me all day on asking me this question.
It all started when yesterday morning in my Lectio365 app, this story was brought up from the gospel account of John in chapter 5. The documentation of the story hit me so differently this time as I mulled it over and truly meditated on the deeper meaning of how Jesus healed this man.
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 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?”
7 “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.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
I feel as if this man has gotten a lot of bad rap over the years. We look at his response to Jesus and we automatically think that he was lazy. Or maybe that was just me? I, like a normal religious person, had blamed this man for his own condition. Why is it that our human tendency is to want to be so harsh on people? We blame them for their own laziness. Yet, if I pause here long enough, I can see that this is not what Jesus saw.
Now, we do know that Jesus had a deep compassion for him and his condition, but I also wonder if Jesus was moved by this man’s ability to stay next to the pool all these years amidst great grief and sorrow. The man stayed close even when he was outrun every single time the angel came. How many times over the years did he watch others receive their healing while also so deeply desiring his own? How many times did he see angels with his own eyes but never once encountering one for himself?
It wasn’t until reading this passage again that I felt a deep connection over this man’s condition and an even deeper connection to his heart. I’ve never identified as this man before.
When Jesus asked this man if He wanted to be well, I have now realized that he was asking this man much deeper questions, and in turn, asking me some deeper questions, too.
The Greek word used for well here is “hugies” : as I studied the Strong’s definition of this word, I found that the very idea is this:
To grow (or mature), to become sound, to be whole & pure, to increase
I see now Jesus was really asking this man:
Are you ready to walk away from everything you’ve known the last 38 years and take up a new way of walking?
Are you ready to remove your own limitations you’ve set upon yourself and believe that I have something better for you?
Are you ready to embrace this new identity of love, belonging and peace and walk away from how you view yourself in order to believe what I’ve said is true over you?
Do you really want the fullness of who you are to come alive in Me?
I would challenge that this lame man did a brave and mighty work all the way up to this point. He stayed close to the pool. He stayed in the only place where he knew he could encounter healing. He stayed for 38 years. It would’ve been so easy for him to just be okay with mediocrity and give up trying. However, after years of failing to get into the water first, he never gave up. He lingered, right next to the pool where his only possible healing could’ve been found.. That he knew of..
Until one day…
He encountered a man whose very eyes carried the essence of kindness that the Pool of Bethseda was known for. The pool of kindness came to him through the man Jesus.
Isn’t that just like our friend Jesus? He meets us where we are. He has no requirement for us to do the religious work to be free. No. Jesus rewarded this man for his years of staying despite his own brokenness, lameness and human condition.
The only requirement Jesus had of this man was to believe. And to believe simply means to change the mind of how you perceive a certain situation. It’s like He said to him, “choose my simple way of believing differently and you will be healed.”
As I’ve been pondering these questions and these ideas, I can feel those same eyes of kindness intently watching me. Let’s continue on…
In response to Jesus’ question, have you ever noticed that the man never actually said yes? Jesus moved at this man’s pace. He didn’t rush him, nor drive him. Jesus listened. He must have measured the man’s deep motive as he responded to Jesus’s question. If we look at his response at surface level, we only see his grief-filled response.
7 “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.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
When Jesus commanded the man to “GET UP”, He was actually calling deep parts of his soul to wake up! Literally. The translation of the Greek into the English doesn’t always bring about the true meaning but here we see Jesus calling the parts of the man that had fallen asleep to wake up and MOVE!
When Jesus asked him to pick up his mat, He was commanding him to remove His old belief systems that he used to build his life upon and walk out something different.
Jesus was essentially saying,
WAKE UP AND REALIGN YOURSELF TO WHO I’VE SAID YOU ARE! MOVE IN THIS NEW IDENTITY. YOU ARE HEALED! YOU ARE WHOLE!
Wow. Can you feel the Power on that? Jesus was coming in to change this man’s entire life. All of life stems from our belief systems. Jesus is coming in to change YOUR entire belief system. MY entire belief system.
…or maybe I’m the only one in a season of tearing down old ways of thinking and trying to build new neural pathways and do life differently that I’ve known the last 35 years.
But I doubt that.
I believe that the Lord wants us to read the passage in light of being the lame man. I see him coming in honor of you today. I believe that He wants to reward you for doing the hard work of staying close to him when no one else was looking. You’ve fought, you’ve wrestled to get to the pool. The Lord sees you. He’s coming close to you now and asking,
“Do you want to be well? Will you surrender to what I’ve said about you in all my kindness? Are you ready to be well and move away from old belief systems that have held you down? Simply believe and receive what I have said about you.
You are healed. You are treasured. You are worthy of my time. You are worthy of my attention. You are whole. You are full of my wisdom. You are beautiful.
I have so much more for you, my child. I have so much more for you to discover of myself and of what I’ve put inside you. I have no requirements for my kindness.”
Do you want to be well? Get up and walk.
