Is there something worse than your current situation? Can you prevent something worse happening?

By Dean Collins

My great great grandmother sold moonshine. As far as I can tell, she had a pretty good product; and with 19 children, she had an effective distribution engine as well. I don’t know much about her marketing plan though. Certainly in her generation, there were plenty of folks peddling snake oil with claims of healing some diseases and preventing others. I don’t know if grandma’s brew could prevent anything bad or worse from happening, but too much of it might have produced something worse happening!

Desire to be well

Social media feeds are filled with advertisements and diets that claim to heal most anything and prevent bad things from happening to everything from your back to your heart and especially to your waistline. And quite often, there is no real evidence of such. Yet, billions of dollars are spent every year trying to prevent something worse from happening than whatever bad thing we are experiencing or for whatever bad thing we hope to avoid.

In Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate, there was a pool called Bethesda. Every day, there were dozens if not hundreds of people with various maladies who came and waited for healing. Depending on which translation you are reading, you might notice that verse 4 is missing. Some scholars believe verse 4 was added which says an angel stirred the water. And some scholars believe there is evidence of a spring that caused the pool to stir from time to time. In either case, we know that people with various health issues came every day to this place and waited and hoped that when the water bubbled, they would be first in the pool so that they would be healed.

On this particular day, Jesus showed up at the pool and spoke to a man who was unable to move quickly due to his malady. Jesus spoke to him and asked him if he wanted to be well. The reality that the man was at the pool suggests he did want to be well. But he also conveyed that he needed help to get well. It seems that everyone at the pool wanted to be well, or they wouldn’t have come to the pool.

But coming here by the hundreds, suggested that they believed they had no other options for healing. Their only hope was a miraculous intervention. None of the doctors had treatments that worked. None of the priests had been able to heal them or advise them as to how to change their situation. Without any other possible solution, they all came and waited for the waters to stir and the miracle to happen.

State of wholeness

Reading scripture will often stir questions. We can find answers for some questions, and many times we cannot. And sometimes we miss the big point of a story because we get lost in trying to find answers to all the questions stirring in our minds. I have a lot of questions when I read this passage:

Why didn’t Jesus heal all the sick who were gathered? Why just this one man? Why didn’t Jesus reveal who he was to the man? Why did Jesus ask him if he wanted to be well?

The truth is we don’t know. What we do know is that Jesus healed this man. We know that Jesus told him to take up his bed and walk. And we know that the religious leaders questioned the man, not particularly caring that he was healed, but rather because they were bothered that he was carrying his bedroll which they believed to be a violation of the Sabbath.

Jesus went to the temple and found the man he had healed. Scripture tells us that Jesus knows what is in a man. I think Jesus knew this man was grateful and would show up at the temple with an offering of gratitude. When Jesus saw the man, he joyfully declared: “Look at you! You are well! And then he told the man: sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”

There are things worse than our diseases. There are things worse than our current challenges. The worst thing is going through life disconnected from God and from others. John later tells us that Jesus came to give us full and abundant life. He came to restore us to our intended state of wholeness. And by being restored in our relationship with God, we can experience the joy of right and full relationships with each other.

Understanding our role

In this story, Jesus wanted the religious crowd to see that they were hung up with their own exaggerated interpretations of the Sabbath. They missed that the God of heaven is always working; and that if they were following God, they too would always be doing good for others instead of constantly judging others and demanding that people cower to their rules and interpretations.

Every day there are people nearby who are discouraged and have lost hope. And they often gather somewhere hoping for answers and help but are blinded in some way not realizing that God is always working and wants to step into their situation and bring abundant life. Maybe this story is to remind us to act like Jesus to someone. We cannot solve every person’s problems. But we can help someone today. Maybe our role is to pray for someone and then step into their lives with words and actions that bring them hope. Maybe our role is to introduce them to Jesus. Maybe our role is to simply be a friend and help them see that they are not alone.

Maybe our prayers and our actions might be just the thing that keeps something worse from happening to someone else. Maybe we are the ones that God wants to use to demonstrate to others that the gospel is real and that He is always working.

Father, we know that you are always working. Forgive us when we become overly focused on our problems and forget to look around us at those who need help, encouragement, and healing. Open our eyes that we might see people in need. Open our hearts to care for them. And by the power of your Holy Spirit working in our weaknesses, we ask that you use us to help someone today. In Jesus name, amen.

Your Time with God’s Word
John 5:2-3, 5-17 ESV

Photo by Yoann Boyer on Unsplash
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