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Day Sixteen
In the fifth chapter of John we meet an interesting individual. His interaction with Jesus is brief, but very memorable:
“Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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?’
‘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.’
Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.”—John 5:1-9 (NIV)
If you look up this text in your Bible, unless you’re reading the King James Version you might have noticed that the text skips from verse 3 to verse 5. Most scholars today believe that what was originally considered verse four was actually a later addition to the text that wasn’t written by John, so they remove it from modern translations. If that’s the case, the anonymous writer was adding a bit of commentary to explain the tradition behind the paralyzed man’s cryptic reply to Jesus:
“For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.”
So there’s a tradition about this pool near temple Sheep Gate that gives hope for healing, but this paralyzed man has never been able to receive it. He’s an interesting fellow, because his situation can evoke sympathy, but his words can evoke frustration. Michael Card, in his commentary on John, calls him “The Man of Excuses,” because when Jesus asks him if he wants to be well, instead of answering the question he starts pointing fingers. “See them? It’s really their fault I’m not healed. Nobody helps me into the water when it’s stirred, and because of that, someone always beats me to the pool.”
You can’t blame him for being discouraged, but what is particularly sad is the way his discouragement seems to have become his identity. Not only is his body in need of healing; his soul is as well.
It seems like such a simple question: “Do you want to get well?” You would think after 38 years, this man would be shouting at the top of his voice, “Yes I do! With every fiber of my being I want to be well!” But this man is operating from a theology of scarcity. Rather than understanding what’s being offered to him, he only seems to be able to focus on what he doesn’t have. He stares at the still and distant pool when the one standing right next to him can offer living water for his every need.
As people of the Resurrection, we, too, sometimes forget what Jesus offers to us. We look around in our lives and all we see is what we lack, and that often becomes the basis of our identity. During this season of Eastertide we have an invitation to turn our eyes to the risen Jesus and realize that he is sufficient for our every need, and he offers us more than we can even imagine. He offers us himself. He offers his own living water, able to heal the hurts that have overcome our hearts and spirit and keep us grounded when we were created to soar.
During this week of Song Reflections we are going to focus on stories and songs that feature images of water. Water is a wonderful image to sit with as we seek to draw near to Jesus. Water cleanses, restores, satisfies, refreshes, and comforts. No doubt each of us, especially during this past year, have some built-up frustrations that threaten to define us and keep us from shouting our “Yes!” to the question Jesus asks, the question we must wrestle with if we’re going to embrace the deeper walk he has for us:
“Do you want to get well?”
Unfailing love
Is waiting for us
Come to the water
There's always enough
Unfailing love
Is waiting for us
Here at the water
Read the rest of the lyrics here.
Questions for Reflection
1) Can you identify at all with the way discouragement can become our identity? What discouragement can you bring to Jesus today for healing?
2) In what way do you see a “theology of scarcity” active in your life, where you are willing to settle for less than what God has for you? In what parts of your life do you need to be reminded of God’s provision and sufficiency?
3) What images, themes, or truths come to mind when you think of water in relation to your spiritual walk? Spend some time before God contemplating the spiritual symbolism of water that speaks to your soul today.
4) Read and reflect on this passage of Scripture. Let it lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:
“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’”—John 737-38 (NIV)