John 5:1-8

Easter Sunday - Early morning service

John 5:1-8

1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 

2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 

3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 

5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 

6 When 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.”

8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”

Dear Congregation,

Of all the Easter stories in the New Testament, one in particular touches me this year: it is the story of a man who has been ill for almost his entire life – 38 years. This man lies by the Pool of Bethesda. It is a place known for its healing powers. Sometimes the water stirs. Then someone is healed. Whoever gets first into the water is made well. This man is waiting for a miracle to happen.
Bethesda means ‘House of Healing’ – a fitting name for a place where people come to be healed.

At the beginning of the story, we hear Jesus asking this man: “Do you want to be healed?”
At first glance, this question might seem obvious or even superfluous. Of course, every sick person wants to be healed – at least that is what I, and most of us, usually assume.
However, the longer I think about it, the clearer it becomes that the question is justified. For it is not just with this patient that there is a big ‘but’.
We come across such a ‘but’ more often than we think. Sometimes it operates unconsciously and simply voicing the ‘but’ can help. The ‘but’ reveals the thoughts and experiences, the conditioning and habits that prevent people from being healed.

People then say:
“I want to get better, but I don’t want to change anything in my life.”
“I want to get better, but I can’t because I don’t have anyone to help me.”
“I want to get better, but I’ve been let down so many times before.”

Jesus’ question is not meant to provoke but strikes at the heart of a man who has long, very long, been accustomed to being ill.
After 38 years, the sick man must ask himself: Do I really want to be healed?
To be healed – that means change. Healing means becoming a new person. Healing means changing the way I view myself and my illness or injury. Do I want that?

It is a question we should all take a moment to reflect on: Do we really want things around us to change?
Are we serious when we lament climate change? Do we want something to change – or to be more precise, do we want to be the change ourselves?
Are we serious when we complain about social injustice around the world and in our own country? Do we want to change things? Do we want to change our own perspective?
Are we serious when we complain about conflicts within families: e.g. we haven’t spoken to our brother for years, an uncle has been drinking for years, we’ve known for a long time that an aunt is struggling to cope…
Should things change?

The crucial question remains: Do you want to be healed? The honest answer is: “Yes, but…”

The sick man at the Pool of Bethesda also has a big “but”. Yes, I want to be healed, but I have no one to carry me there.
The astonishing answer Jesus gives: “Get up, take your stretcher, take your bed and walk!”
On the one hand, one could say: Jesus thus becomes the one who sets the sick person on their way. In other words: Jesus wipes the ‘but’ out of the way.
Jesus does this in such a way that the man’s own strength is mobilised. That is the second interpretation: Do not wait for anyone. Instead, take up your bed and walk.
So: Stop letting your ‘but’ become so big, so overwhelming. Your ‘but’ stands in the way of your healing.

The real miracle is that a “yes, but” turns into a wholehearted, sincere “yes”.
The resurrection of Jesus brings this man back to life – and it is also a challenge to us all: Do you want to carry on living as if you were destined for death? Or will you take seriously all that you hear at Easter and say: “Death does not have the last word.” “God conquers death!” “Love is stronger than death!”

Are we taking this seriously? Do we trust in it when it really matters: do you want to get better? Or do we basically want to carry on as before?
When we ask ourselves in what way we truly wish to be healed, are we then ready to let go of the ‘but’?
A healing without any ifs or buts.
A healing because we are welcomed into the House of Goodwill just as we are.

For me, this is the key: the House of Goodwill. The encounter with the compassionate Jesus. Where kindness is at work, the ‘buts’ melt away.
‘But’ implies a condition. ‘But’ suggests that something is still missing.
Where there is kindness and kindness is at work, nothing is missing. That is the experience: ‘I shall not want! ’

Easter is an encounter with the power of goodness. It opens up the possibility of healing. It is the realisation that, despite many obstacles, nothing stands in the way of a healed and reconciled life.
“Do you want to be healed?”

Take this question from this service with you into your lives. Happy Easter!

Let us rise, take up our mats and experience life in all its fullness!