Pastor Dan Eddy

John 5:1-15

How to get well

10-3-10

THE GOSPEL READING………………………………John 5:1-15 NIV

P: The Holy Gospel according to Apostle, St. John, the 5^TH Chapter:

C: Glory to You, O Lord.

¹Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. ²Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ³Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. ⁵One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶When 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."

⁸Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." ⁹At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
      The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, ¹⁰and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."

¹¹But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "

¹²So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"

¹³The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

¹⁴Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." ¹⁵The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

P: This is the Gospel of the Lord.

C: Praise to You, O Christ.

I. Introduction

What kind of question is that? “Do you want to get well?” In verse 6 of our text, was Jesus being a smarty pants or what? Imagine Jerry Lewis on the MDA Labor Day Telethon asking a child with Muscular Dystrophy “Hey little Tommy, do you want to get well?” How insensitive and insulting that would sound. Imagine if your doctor asked you, “Do you want to get well from arthritis, cancer, or depression?” How would you feel? What kind of question is that?

But, notice the in-va-lid’s response. It showed why Jesus asked the question in the first place. This man, who was unable to walk for 38 years, didn’t say “Da…that’s dumb question…of course I want to get well.”

No, how did he respond? “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred.” He had given up hope. He saw no other way to be healed. The locals claimed (but was never proven) that an Angel of the Lord would come down on occasion to stir the waters. But, only the first one into the pool would be healed. And this guy could never get anyone to help him get in first. Someone always beat him to the waters.

Bethesda is believed to be Aramaic for “House of Mercy. House of Grace.” It was a place of hope…but after 38 years the in-va-lid had lost all hope of ever being healed. It would be like if (you’re old enough) you hadn’t walked since 1972, and someone asked, “Do you want to get well?”

(Put up graphic #1…invalid) You see our ill man didn’t just see himself as being an in-va-lid…he saw himself as being in-valid. Do you notice the word in-va-lid and in-valid are spelled exactly the same? This was a point made in John Busacker’s book, 8 Questions God Can’t Answer.

How about you? How do you feel this morning? Are you struggling with physical, emotional, or spiritual illnesses? Do you want to get well? Or have you lost hope of ever being made whole again? Do you fell invalid? At times, do you enter this House of Mercy, this House of Grace with hopelessness in your heart?

In this morning’s text, Jesus shows us the three steps to getting well with His healing. And the three steps are: (1) Get up you are healed (2) Pick up your old mat of sin and get rid of it (3) Keep walking forward healed to heal others.

II. Get up now…you are healed

First, (Graphic #2) Get up now, you are healed. Jesus’ method of healing here is very simple but very miraculous. He spoke “Get up” to the man with the sense of “Get up now.” The power of His Word instantly strengthened the man’s muscles. It’s was all Christ. The man contributed nothing to his healing. God’s Word carries a lot of power. But if you think this text is all about healing physical diseases you’re missing the point the Lord is making.

More was going on here, because the words in this text translated from into English as “well,” “cured,” and “healthy” in the original Greek is pronounced with one word: “who-gee-ace.” Please say that with me “who-gee-ace.” It means “whole,” “complete,” and “restored.” Jesus’ mission was to do more than make the man walk again.

The point here is NOT if you have enough faith that you’re guaranteed to be healed of your physical ailments, or your emotional problems. Jesus did not heal a lot people at the pool of Bethesda. And you may never be totally healed of all your temporary ailments.

No, the point is…Christ healing this man was a sign, showing He was really the Messiah predicted to come throughout the Old Testament with passages like Isaiah 35:3-6.

But Jesus did a lot more than heal this man of his paralysis. He made him whole again by forgiving him of his sins. Look at verse 14. Jesus connected the man’s continual effects of his physical healing to an exhortation for him to stop sinning. The implication is just as paralysis can prevent one from walking, sin will lead to eternal paralysis or condemnation. “The wages of sin is death” Romans 6:23 states. And Mark 16:16 says, “He that does not believe (in Christ Jesus) shall be condemned.” But when Christ speaks His Word, lives are changed…healing has occurred.

The miracle illustrated what Jesus said a few verses later in John 5:24 (ESV): “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

Think of it this way, God created the perfect universe by speaking it into existence. But, the disease of sin was brought by Adam and Eve’s disobedient actions, inherited and confirmed in us with our own sinful acts. Jesus’ healing here pointed ahead to the greatest healing done at Calvary with His suffering and death. When Christ spoke His Word from the Cross “It is finished,” He completed the atonement of all people’s sins, shown on Easter Sunday as the victory healing for all who have faith in Him.

Jesus spoke His Word through the power of the Holy Spirit at your baptism and you were healed…made whole. That’s where the Lord gave you the power to “get up” from your sins by giving you faith for the most important healing. That wholeness is affirmed in the eating and drinking of His true body and blood in His House of Grace and House of Mercy…in this Bethesda we call Christ Lutheran Church.

Now, we do get little glimpses of that everlasting healing today when we hear that Barb Johnson, Sandi Schipul, and David DuBois have seen relief from their respective cancers. When we see healing finally coming to Eric Foote’s after months of hopelessness. Praise be to God….their healings point ahead to the greatest, everlasting healing.

Prayer is a great part of that process. A few months ago I asked that people fill out prayer requests and put them into a prayer envelope, and I followed up with them these past two weeks. And among those who let me open their prayer envelopes a number of them were prayers for healing. Many of them were answered with healing.

And the full effects of that healing will be made whole for you when you rise on the Last Day with your perfect body, mind and spirit.

III. Pick up your old mat of sin and throw it out (Graphic #3)

You don’t need your own mat of sin…the old mat that reminds you of hopelessness. So throw it out. Like the crutches you throw out after you’ve recovered from a sprained ankle. Like throwing away the cast after the broken arm has healed.

Don’t you want to remain well?

This means today you are no longer an in-va-lid. In the eyes of God you are not in-valid. But with Jesus in Your heart you are now (Put on graphic #4) invaluable to God.

For your life in Christ, that means God does not want you to act like an in-va-lid anymore or behave like you are in-valid. Jesus is lovingly commanding you, like the healed man, to live your healing today even if you’re facing physical or mental illnesses. We can believe like Paul did in 2 Corinthians when he admitted he asked God to take away his own trouble ailment, and the Lord told him, no, “My grace is sufficient.”

We hold on to the old sinful mats when we get mad and expect God to heal us in a particular way or in our timing. Or we hold onto our old sinful mats when we forget who healed us or why He did in the first place. When asked by the Pharisee who healed him on the Sabbath, the man didn’t know. He quoted Jesus verbatim…but didn’t know who He was.

The better we know Christ the more likely we are to get rid of our old mats. Jesus did not want this man to return to the hopelessness of the past in other areas of his life. And Jesus does not want you to return to your old sinful ways.

Where do you need specific healing in your life? How can we help you? Come to the Bible study after worship and let’s explore solutions together.

What is keeping you from throwing out your old mat of sin? When we think that more wealth will heal our financial ills, more work and busyness will heal us from lack of worth, or pleasure seeking sins to cover over loneliness or the guiltiness of the past.

It’s like the patient healed of a heart attack, who goes back to the old bad diet of fat and cholesterol, and the lack of exercise that contributed to his heart attack in the first place.

Jesus is saying to you, like the healed man, stop sinning. Confess your sins. Receive His forgiveness. You’re invaluable. You’re loved. Live your everlasting healing.

IV. Keep walking forward to heal others (Put up graphic #5)

But Jesus wants you to do much more with your healing. Christ says “Keep walking forward. You have been healed to be a healer to others.”

The way you look at your temporary ailments or illnesses reflects the confidence you have about your everlasting healing. That’s why we bear each other burdens when we face these illnesses. It strengthens our fellowship in this congregation and teaches us to care for each other more.

So, the question is no longer: “Do I want to get well?” It’s “How can I help others get well?”

One of the greatest ways to open up a conversation with someone on the eternal healing of Christ is to be by their side through the struggles of their current ills. Prayer becomes an important component in this conversation followed up by loving deeds on our part. Just like Jesus followed up with the man in our text.

We, like the man in verse 14, make it clear to others Jesus provides ALL healing, now and into eternity. You never know what kind of powerful witness this may serve for others who have lost hope of any type of healing.

This is one of the reasons we are starting why a nursing home visiting program here in the congregation. These facilities are filled with weaker believers and unbelievers, many have lost hope. And I am proposing that we called this special program, “The Smiling Ministry,” named in memory of Sonja Busi, one of our charter members at Christ Lutheran. No matter how pain she was facing, she was always smiling on others, reflecting the love of her Lord and Savior.

Up until 5-6 years ago before she passed away, she played piano and accordion at the Lutheran Nursing Home in Brockton. She was there three days a week and help with Bingo games. If it was a resident’s birthday…she would take one of her own pieces of jewelry and wrap it up and give it to them as gift.

And when you’d visit her in the nursing home that smile she had…well let’s just say she would cut right through your own misery and your hurt feelings. Sonja would share her love in the Lord to you in such a way…that even pastors like Bob Schipul and me would feel like she was doing more ministering to us than we could ever offer her. She wanted everyone in Scituate to know the healing that this text speaks of.

When you and others have faith in the eternal healing from Jesus….it’s easier to provide relief for those facing temporary illnesses, today. God’s blessing as we struggle with our temporary ailments, knowing we have been healed, made whole, restored for eternity thanks to our Lord and Savior. Amen.