Helpless to be Empowered
Finding God at the End of Your Rope - Part 5
Sunday, March 17, 2024
John 5:1-15
When Jesus saw him lying there, knowing that he had already been there a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
- John 5:6
** Note: This version of the sermon was recorded at New Hope United Methodist Church on April 2, 2017. We had some technical difficulties on the recording at Shiloh this week.
It's in our nature as human beings to solve problems. We are rational and critical thinkers. We always want to fix or improve things... even other people. We also have a million competing ideas of how to fix the problems of our world. We don't agree on who might best lead us toward those solutions or on how to divide our limited resources for the greatest outcome.
Unlike us, Jesus actually had the resources to fix everyone's problems. He could have walked through town waving his hands like a magic wand taking away every sickness and infirmity before people even realized what was happening. But he didn't. Every healing Jesus performed involved a one on one personal encounter. Their "problems" were not "fixed" from a distance. Maybe their problems were not "fixed" at all. In some cases, being healed created a whole new set of problems.
For the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethsaida, for example, being healed meant that he had to pick up his mat and move on. For 38 years, the only life he knew involved sitting beside the pool waiting for someone to help. At first, he may have genuinely hoped that someone would help, that he would be healed and go on his way. As the years pass, however, he settles into a rhythm. Just like many people today, he may not have enjoyed his situation, but it became familiar and even comfortable to some degree. Even if someone did help him and he was healed, what could he possibly do now after 38 years? Surely it was too late to build a life for himself.
We see similar problems all over our society. Addicts can't imagine life without their drug of choice. Victims of abuse often can't imagine being free, and even if they got out of one bad situation, they struggle to trust that they won't simply end up in another one just as bad, if not worse. Those who spend years in prison know that when they get out they will live on the margins and struggle to find work because of their record. So many people get stuck in unhealthy patterns simply because they have come to believe this rut is simply the way life is. They can't imagine anything else.
That's why Jesus asks this seemingly unusual question... "Do you want to get well?"
On the surface we wonder, how could anyone say no? And yet if we are honest, how many times have we said "no" to the same question?
Do you want to be free from your fear and worry?
Do you want to be free from the guilt and shame you carry?
Do you want to drop the weight of the grudges you hold by forgiving those who have hurt you?
Do you really want to spend more time with God?
Just like the man in our story, we find ourselves paralyzed by so many things in life. We know better. We want a way out. We want to experience the abundant life of joy Jesus promised?
We are so good at deceiving ourselves. So long as we say, "yes, I want to get well," without actually doing anything, it is easy to blame everyone else for our problems. "If only someone would help" or "If only I could catch a break," then things would get better. And yet if we're honest, our actions tell a different story. How many opportunities have we passed up? How many offers of help have we squandered or even flat out refused because of our own pride? How many times have we walked away from the altar only to go back to the same unhealthy patterns we just confessed?
And so Jesus doesn't swoop in with his magic wand fixing all of our problems. Even if he did, we would just as quickly create more problems for ourselves, likely worse than the ones we had to start with. Instead, he stoops down to our level, looks us in the eye, and asks one of the hardest questions we will ever have to answer...
"Do you want to get well?"