John 5:1-9

Recently I started reading through the book of John, chapter 5, in the Bible. In the first 9 verses of this chapter there is this account of a conversation between Jesus and a crippled man on Sabbath.

The text tells us that Jesus “saw him stretched out by the pool and he knew how long he had been there” (v.6). Jesus asks the crippled man if he wanted to be healed. If you aren’t familiar with this story, you might think that the answer was a resounding “YES!!” That, however, isn’t how the crippled man replied. The man, instead, presents a battery of excuses “I have no help.” He says. “And by the time I get there someone else is already in.” Jesus’ response is not to reprimand the man for his lack of trying but to tell him to get his mat and walk. This crippled man followed Jesus’ instruction and found himself able to walk.

Now you can take this story at face value: A miracle. A man couldn’t walk and at the Word of Jesus his legs miraculous healed. This time around, however, I saw this story a little different. I saw it, instead, as an example of how Jesus handles us.

He sees us.

He knows us.

He calls out healing and wholeness in us.

I read the story again and began to see myself as the crippled man, and it wasn’t pretty. First, I began to see that before I am even aware that God is in the room he sees me. He has his eye on me. He knows where I am. And even still, before I am able to come to him with my story, my excuses, as to why I’m not healed yet, He knows me. He knows how long it’s been. He knows the struggle I’ve gone through, and He knows the future awaiting on the other side of his healing.

I began to hear myself making excuses as to why I haven’t been healed when God has offered healing …

“I am trying but the world hasn’t let me.”

“My circumstances have kept me from reaching that point.”

“No one will listen or help me.”

But much like the crippled man, I’m missing the point. It’s not about the rules of the world, it’s not about what I am able or not able to do. It’s about what God can and will do. It’s about how much of the glory of God can be displayed simply by me saying yes.

The catch is that it doesn’t always look how the world thinks it should. You see, Jesus healed on the Sabbath. The Sabbath, in the Jewish culture, was a Holy Day. It was a day that God had set apart for His people not to work but to rest with Him. But the Jewish leaders, over time, had made it into a restricted day. They tried to define what work was and how much could be done on this Holy Day.

When these leaders saw this man carrying his mat and then heard that Jesus had healed him on Sabbath they became livid. The man shouldn’t have been carrying his mat! Could healing be defined as work? Was this against the laws of the Sabbath? The religious leaders couldn’t accept the way that Jesus had healed the man.

Not much has changed today. People might not be angry with you for carrying your mat on the Sabbath but they might be angry that you don’t want to drink anymore, or that you are moving to a new city, or that you’re friends with that person, or that your setting up boundaries. Often times the way Jesus brings about healing is not the way in which the world would attempt the same.

So as we head into our day, our week…our life…let’s not focus on the obstacles that we may face whether in life or through out the day. Let’s not focus how the world says things should look, but instead be expectant and ask “how can God’s glory be displayed through me today?”