Word to the Wise
Tuesday, April 2, 2019 - 4th Week of Lent - Tues
[Ezek 47:1-9, 12 and John 5:1-3a, 5-16]One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be well?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me." Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk." Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked. Now that day was a sabbath. [John]
As with so much of the Gospel According to John, each scene seems like a play with distinct characters and each play is meant to fit into an overall bigger drama that is the entire gospel. Many of the scenes are preparation for a discourse based on what happened. On the one hand we have the encounter of Jesus with the sick person. He's been there thirty-eight years, most likely making his living by begging. There was a legend about the pool, perhaps from pagan days, that when the waters moved, they had healing powers. One can imagine a stampede when that occurred. The response to Jesus' inquiry is not, "Of course I want to be well," but rather an excuse for not getting well. We are not told that the beggar ever shows faith in Jesus! Furthermore, the man gives another excuse to the Jewish authorities for carrying his mat on a sabbath, which would have been work! He blames Jesus for ordering him to pick up his mat and walk! Jesus' healing would also be considered "work" by the Jewish authorities. This sets the scene for a dialogue between Jesus and the authorities on what is meant by Jesus' work, after the scene is over.
Perhaps the scene could challenge us to respond to Jesus' question, "Do you want to be well?" If we think things are pretty good, that may seem a strange question. We might think, "I didn't know I was sick!" Or perhaps we have become comfortable with certain unhealthy patterns of life that we take for granted and never thought we needed to change? Every scene in the Gospel According to John seems, at least to me, to offer a challenge to faith. How would we answer Jesus' question, "Do you want to be well?" AMEN