John 5:1 After this, there was a Judean festival; and Yeshua went up to Yerushalayim. 2 In Yerushalayim, by the Sheep Gate, is a pool called in Aramaic, Beit-Zata, 3 in which lay a crowd of invalids — blind, lame, crippled. 4 [John 5:4 Some manuscripts have verses 3b–4: . . . , waiting for the water to move; 4 for at certain times an angel of Adonai went down into the pool and disturbed the water, and whoever stepped into the water first after it was disturbed was healed of whatever disease he had.] 5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 Yeshua, seeing this man and knowing that he had been there a long time, said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered, “I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I’m trying to get there, someone goes in ahead of me.” 8 Yeshua said to him, “Get up, pick up your mat and walk!” 9 Immediately the man was healed, and he picked up his mat and walked.
Now that day was Shabbat,
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Do you want to be healed? Our knee-jerk reaction is "of course!" We 21st century folks turn to a myriad of pills, salves, treatments, diets, etc. to assure that we are healed, pain free, well or healthy--immediately if not sooner.
But what should be our reflection when some malady gets us special attention (why do we older folks like to talk about our aches and pains and medical conditions?); or when some condition becomes part of how we see ourselves (who would I be without [fill in the blank]?); Or when some limitation allows us to avoid certain unwanted responsibilities or allows us to no longer be accountable for our behavior?
Are there things from which we don't truly want to be healed? Do we claim the limitation as an excuse and have trouble imagining what life would be if we were able again? Do you really want to be healed, made whole, saved? Then quick, into the pool.
Lord of wholeness. Enable us to claim the fullness of life and seek the healing that will enable us to live freely, responsibly and joyfully. Amen.
Tim Kellgren
Retired, Elim Lutheran Church, Petaluma, Calif.
Master of Divinity, 1971
John 5:1 After 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.[New Revised Standard Version]
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