Word of Salvation – Vol.49 No.35 – September 2004
Do You Want to Get Well?
Sermon by Rev A Van Drimmelen on John 5:6
Scripture Reading: John 5:1-15
Suggested Hymns: BoW 154; 65; 511
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
‘Do you want to get well?’ Jesus asks this of a man at the Bethesda Pool, sometimes called Bethsaida Pool. He is an invalid. He has been disabled for 38 years.
Maybe you know of a person who is disabled. You might see them in a wheelchair or in one of those little motorised buggies in the shopping centres. The disabled man to whom Jesus was speaking had no such luxury. He did not have a wheelchair. He relied on others to move him around. He is lying by Bethesda Pool because sometimes it has been used of the Lord to bring healing.
Some minor Greek manuscripts say that the first person in the pool after its waters have been stirred by an angel will be healed. This man, however, has never been able to be first. So there he lies, crippled, disabled, an invalid.
‘Do you want to get well?’ What sort of question is this?
You have an illness that disables you. You find yourself constantly troubled. ‘Do you want to get well?’ You have suffered a back injury, something that has been causing you trouble for decades. ‘Do you want to get well?’ You suffer from arthritis really badly. You need your hip or knees replaced. ‘Do you want to get well?’
Your child has a disability – physically, mentally, emotionally – and at the beginning of another school term you wonder, how will my child cope? ‘Do you want your child to get well?’ You, or a loved one, is growing old. In many respects they are only a shadow of their former self. ‘Do you want to get well?’ You have trouble getting around. You are not as mobile as you used to be. You have heart problems. You’re a diabetic. You, or someone you know, has cancer. ‘Do you want to get well?’
‘Do you want to get well?’ What a dumb question, Jesus! Of course, I want to get well. Of course, I want my children to get well. Of course, I want the disabled to be made whole.
So why does Jesus ask such a ‘silly, needless, and even insulting’ question? What is His intent?
1. A Sick Man
‘Do you want to get well?’ When most of us suffer health problems the answer to this question is obvious – of course we want to get well. Yet, that is not always the case.
I have a precious little book in my study, first introduced to me by my own mother. It is a book about prayer by Ole Hallesby, a theologian from Norway. Here is a prayer from his book: ‘Lord, if it will be to your glory, heal suddenly; if it will glorify you more, heal gradually; if it will glorify you even more, may your servant remain sick awhile; and if it will glorify your name still more, take me to yourself in heaven.’
‘Do you want to get well?’ ‘That depends,’ says Ole Hallesby, ‘on what most glorifies God.’ I’m not sure if I could ever pray this way. And, like me, I’m sure most of you would rather pray for healing, too.
‘Do you want to get well?’ More than once I have heard of those who don’t want to get well because they love the attention they get when they are sick. They thrive on the care and the prayers that are offered on their behalf when they are ill. These people seem to operate on the principle, ‘I would rather be a someone who is sick than a no one who is well.’
They are offended all too easily if they don’t get their name in the Pastor’s notes in the Church News, or are not the first on his list of visits for the week.
Then there are those who don’t want healing because they want to collect the disability benefits – a lifetime of money without having to work for it. Or a lump sum payment from their insurer.
Still others prefer illness because it helps them to avoid responsibility – I don’t have to go to work, attend worship services, serve on committees, or be in the Session or on the school board if I am sick person.
And then there are those who are too proud to admit they are even sick, so refuse to seek healing. They say, while coughing their heart out, ‘Hey, I’m never sick, haven’t been to a doctor for years.’
‘Do you want to get well?’ ‘No, not really,’ say most of these people in a moment of honesty.
Jesus asks the crippled man near the pool of Bethesda, ‘Do you want to get well?’ The Lord wants to make sure he really does want healing from his physical disability.
It is obvious that the man suffers from more than a physical disability. He also suffers from loneliness. ‘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’ (Jn 5:7).
You can almost hear the agony, see the tears and feel the disappointment. ‘I have no one … I am alone.’ How awful. Loneliness is one of the curses of modern living. In our cities today many people don’t even know their neighbour – the people in the house or unit next door.
Perhaps you heard of the family that went out of their way to welcome some newcomers to church. On finding that the visitors had recently moved into the community they asked them how they liked their neighbourhood. ‘Terrible,’ was the answer. ‘None of our neighbours talk to us and no one has welcomed us into the area.’ After the service the members noticed the visitors were in the car in front of them as they drove home. What made this unusual is that they followed the visitors all the way home. As they pulled into their driveway they noticed the visitors pulling into the driveway next door.
So many people today are lonely. Talk to our widows or widowers. Life is lonely without one’s spouse, even if the children and neighbours visit a lot. Surprisingly, people can even be lonely in a crowd.
Lots of efforts have been made to get people circulating. Governments encourage community centres. They recognise health benefits for those who maintain a wide circle of friends. People join clubs, cliques, and recreational groups. Statistics show they add years to your life.
‘Do you want to get well?’ When Jesus asks this of the invalid at Bethesda Pool, He has more in mind than physical health. He is also asking if the man wants to have a social life with real friends – a life without loneliness, isolation, and rejection.
The invalid at Bethesda Pool also needs healing from oppression. More specifically, he needs relief from the Pharisees and their legalism.
Jesus could speak of those who are ‘weary and burdened’ (Mt 11:28) by all the rules and regulations of Judaism. The invalid is certainly one of these. In healing the man, Jesus said, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk’ (vs 8).
When they saw him, the Pharisees said, ‘It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat’ (vs 10). Here is a man who has been healed after 38 years of paralysis; yet the Pharisees don’t or can’t rejoice in his healing. All they can see is one of their many rules being broken. It seems they want the man back on his mat. Their view: it is better to be lame than to break one of their man-made rules and regulations.
‘Do you want to get well?’ Jesus is asking the man if he wants freedom, from the legalism of the Pharisees and their teachers. ‘Do you want to remain burdened and heavy laden or do you want to serve and worship the Lord in freedom?’
Finally, Jesus also has in mind sin and salvation. Jesus meets the man after his confrontation with the Pharisees and Jesus says, ‘See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.’
The man’s real sickness is his sin; the only real cure is to be saved from that sin.
We know from other places in the Bible that Jesus does not accept the conclusion that there is a direct, one-to-one, connection between sin and suffering. We see this with a man born blind. The disciples asked, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ (Jn 9:2). Jesus’ answer: ‘Neither’ (cf Lk 13:1-5).
Yet, there is a general connection between sin and suffering. We know that at the very least, all suffering and pain is a result of original sin. We also know that sometimes our sin has consequences that are less than pleasant.
Adultery, for instance, can break up a marriage; homosexual relationships can lead to AIDS; pre-marital sex can lead to an unwanted, unplanned pregnancy; a theft can lead to jail; alcoholism and gambling can lead to poverty and abuse.
‘Do you want to get well?’ And Jesus wonders if the man wants a full, complete healing of all that is wrong in his life: his obvious physical problem, but also his loneliness, the oppression of legalism and sin.
What it comes down to is this: Jesus wonders if the man wants release from the realm of Satan.
3. Jesus’ Ministry of Healing
Scripture tells us that Jesus, the Great Physician, makes the sick well. Jesus’ healing ministry to the invalid man is summed up in four verbs: -~saw’, -~learned’, -~healed’, and -~crucified’.
First of all, we are told that Jesus ‘saw him lying there.’ Few people know how to see. In fact, most people in our society don’t see the homeless, the vagrants, the street kids, and so on. They look right over them or through them or past them. It is as if they are not there.
Or, consider that many elderly are put into nursing homes; criminals are put into jails; and the worst of the disabled are put into institutions. Many in our society don’t see these people or think about them. Once they are out of sight they are also out of mind.
Or, when many people visit a sick person, they often stare out the window. They avoid looking into the patient’s eyes, they don’t want to get too involved in their distress. But Jesus saw the invalid. Jesus entered his empty, lonely world. Jesus made contact. Jesus committed Himself to being involved in the man’s life. It seems that Jesus went out of His way to do this.
There was a festival, a feast of the Jews, in Jerusalem, and everybody went into town to celebrate. But not Jesus. He went to Bethesda and ministered to the invalid. This is totally in character for Him. Jesus is the one who left the ninety-nine sheep in order to find the one that was lost.
Second, we are told that Jesus learned that the invalid had been lying there and had been in his condition for a long time. The Greek word for -~learned’ implies understanding. Jesus understood. He sympathised with the man. It is as if He put Himself in the man’s place.
Third, Jesus healed the man. He asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’ And then He said to him, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The fourth verb is crucified. We don’t find the word in our text but it certainly is implied. It is by means of the cross and the grave that the man is delivered from his sin and made whole before God.
So we see that Jesus attacks the very realm of Satan and Satan Himself. When Jesus heals, he heals thoroughly, absolutely, totally. Jesus heals every broken, twisted part of the crippled man’s life. This is why Jesus has come. He has come to make the broken whole, to lift up what is bowed down, to heal what is sick, to find what is lost.
Jesus’ healing ministry is complete, to body and soul, mind and spirit, emotions and attitude; diseased, depressed, dysfunctional, defeated, and sinful. We can all come to Jesus and find in Him what we need for healing.
As Jesus Himself tells us: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour’ (Luke 4:18-19).
Or, as the Lord God tells us through Moses, ‘I am the LORD who heals you’ (Ex 15:26). Truly, He forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases (Ps 103:3).
3. Do You Want to Get Well?
That’s the question Jesus asks you and me this morning. Do you want to experience a full and complete healing of whatever is wrong, broken, or sick in your life?
Healing, of course, always depends upon Jesus. Whether the illness is physical, mental, spiritual, social, or emotional. Healing always depends upon Jesus. It is by grace. But also through faith.
Jesus demands this faith of the paralytic. He says, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!’ Jesus calls the man to believe in what is way beyond human ability. He calls him to burn his bridges. He tells him to take his mat off the ground so he can’t relapse and fall back onto it after the first steps.
To experience this kind of healing from whatever is wrong, broken, or sick in your life, we also, by grace, must come to Jesus in faith.
Jesus demands more than faith of the paralytic. He also demands holiness and godliness…
He says, ‘Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.’ To sin means to put on wrong, to have brokenness, and even sickness. It is sin that leads to disease, depression, dysfunction and defeat. So if we, by grace, want to experience the Lord’s healing in our lives then we must put off sin and put on righteousness and holiness.
Jesus demands that we imitate Him in this. Jesus wants us to be His ministers of healing and mercy to others who are hurting, lonely, sick, and broken.
My thought is that we as a Christian Reformed Church family excel in this area. Yet, there are always some who are left out, ignored, forgotten or overlooked.
Let us all strive to reach out to anyone who needs healing – whether the healing be physical, mental, social, emotional, or spiritual.
Conclusion
It is true that with the coming of Jesus there is wonderful, beautiful healing (Lk 7:22). The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.
At the same time we know we are sinners living in a sinful world – so any healing now is only temporary and limited. So we have to wait, patiently, for the return of the Lord. At that time will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy (Is 35:5-6).
And we pray: ‘Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly.’
Amen.