Get Up

John 5:1-15

Thirty-eight years is a long time to lie around. Nothing can be accomplished without desire. Jesus asked this crippled man an important question. "Do you want to be healed?" Jesus started with the man's desire.

The difference between a winner and loser is desire. There was a heavy weight champion who had the motto, "Fight One More Round!" It rallied him when his arms were weak and he seemed to tired to lift them up. It brought him out of the corner when every muscle cried out, "Give up!" It kept him going when others would quit. His motto made him into a champion.

This crippled man enjoyed a measure of comfort within his discomfit. I have visted the ruins of the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. I can imagine its past beauty. Where he lay was one of the most attractive pools or health clinic of his day. Bethesda was surrounded by five covered porches. It wasn't an unpleasant place to have to lie around day after day. There was shade from the sun and cover from the storms. He could listen to the sound of the rippling water. Thousands outside of that pool area had to work hard and toil in the heat. I can imagine the merchants pushing their dirty carts. Farmers would be clearing and preparing their fields outside the city. Shepherds probably searched for green pastures for their sheep. It might have been easier to lie down. For this man, suffering ill health may have been easier by lying down. It was his comfort zone in the midst of discomfort.

Casey Stengel is a baseball legend. He led my New York Yankees (Yes you read right, this New Englander is not a Red Sox fan) to five successful league championships and world series victories. How did he do that? Through failure! He failed as a manager in Boston and Brooklyn. There was one season that he was paid in full not to manage. He simply refused to accept failure as final. He did not give up or give in. He pushed on. He stirred up the gifts as a leader and manager within him and out of such desire an amazing string of victories occurred. He got up!

Do you want to be healed? Do you want to be free of whatever it is that is holding you in bondage? Have you become accustomed to lying down?

The crippled man's response is interesting in verse 7. "Sir, I have no one..." That's a favorite alibi of those who lie around. No one seems to want to help me. I've never enjoyed the advantages that others have. The doors closed just before I arrived. I've been neglected my whole life. I have tried, but it never seems to do any good. Self-pity is like a parasite.

Don't look at difficulty. Look at opportunity. The man had a choice to make. There were a multitude of sick and impotent people under those colonades. They were all waiting. He could have chose to look at those problems or he could look to God through Jesus. He exercised his faith on hearing Jesus' words, "Pick up your mat and walk."

Jesus' prescription for healing was simple: (1) desire faith, (2) exercise your faith, and (3) don't do what you have been doing anymore.