John 5:1-9
Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem.
Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, "Do you want to get well?"
The sick man said, "Sir, when the water is stirred, I don't have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in."
Jesus said, "Get up, take your bedroll, start walking." The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.
That day happened to be the Sabbath. The Jews stopped the healed man and said, "It's the Sabbath. You can't carry your bedroll around. It's against the rules."
Scripture quotations from The Message. ©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
You may remember seeing this scripture passage recently. I used it for a devo on July 29th. However, I recently heard Joyce Meyer preach from this passage, and her “take-away” from the scriptures was so good that I wanted to share it. See, I think God can use the same passage in scripture to speak to us in one way one day – and in another the next… according to what we need. It’s not that one “interpretation” is right and another is wrong... God uses His word to meet our needs for each day in a truly unique manner. This is why the Bible is such a rich and vital resource in successful daily living for each of us!
As Joyce Meyer explained it, this sick man had come to the pool at Bethesda every day for 38 years. Each time the water was stirred by the angels, one person was able to dip his/her foot and be healed. Apparently this man was so sick or crippled that he had never made it to the pool ahead of the others who gathered. Joyce’s comment was something to the effect of… “Surely in 38 years this man could have scooted close enough to be the first in line to dip a toe!” What she heard in this scripture was Jesus rather impatiently saying to the man, “Don’t you want to be well?” In other words, “What have you been waiting on? Get up and get going!”
Where my message a few days ago was “be patient,” Joyce’s message was “get up and get on with it!” And both are appropriate messages. There may be a lot of us who are stuck in a rut of some sort… often of our own making… and God is telling us to get up and get going! We have all sorts of excuses… I’m too young – or too old… I need to lose 10 pounds first – or I’m not strong enough… I need to get my own life in order before I can help someone else… I don’t have enough money… I’m not smart enough or brave enough – or holy enough!
To all of these excuses… and many others… Jesus says, “Don’t you want to be well?” In other words, “Get up and get going!” Patience is a great virtue… one most of us could use more of in a healthy dose! But there is also something to be said for picking ourselves up and putting one foot in front of the other… being proactive… stepping up and out on faith in Jesus Christ – and letting Him handle the details.
So my question today for each of us is, “Don’t we want to be well? Isn’t it time we scooted closer to the pool and stuck in our toe?”
©2011 Debbie Robus
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