Series: “Encounters With Christ”
“A Sick Man By the Pool”

Turn to John, chapter 5. Jesus is in Jerusalem for one of the Jewish religious festivals. While there He made His way to a large pool known either as “Bethesda” (House of Mercy) or Bethzatha (House of Olive). When Nancy and I went to the Holy Lands some years ago, we saw excavations at the traditional site of this pool. The pool had become known as a healing place. There were 5 covered walkways by the pool that provided shelter for many sick folk. "In these lay many invalids - blind, lame, and paralyzed" (John 5:3).

Check your Bible. Chances are there is no verse 4 included (actually, the last part of verse 3 and all of verse 4 are omitted from most modern English translations). Some older Bibles include words that are not in the best Greek manuscripts. They are listed as a footnote in my Bible. After verse 3 it continues: "waiting for the stirring of the water; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and stirred up the water; whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was made well from whatever disease that person had.”

Archeologists tell us that there was an underground stream that occasionally bubbled up and disturbed the waters of the pool. People at that time explained it by saying an angel every so often stirred the waters. There was a common belief then that demons and spirits inhabited every tree and river and hill and stream. However we interpret it, people believed that when the water was stirred, the first one to get into the pool would be healed.

One man was there who was ill for 38 years! "When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, 'Do you want to be made well?'" (John 5:6). Look at the man’s answer: "The sick man answered him, 'Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me'" (John 5:7). Jesus wastes no time in responding to this sick man’s need: "Jesus said to him, 'Stand up, take you mat and walk.' At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk" (John 5:8-9a).

We could easily stop here, and it’d be a wonderful story of Jesus healing a man – miraculously! But there are some things going on here – beneath the surface – that are intriguing! For one thing, why does Jesus ask: “Do you want to be made well?" (verse 6).
Why wouldn’t he want to be healed? He had been an invalid for almost 40 years! Why even ask, “Do you want to be made well?" Did Jesus know something about this guy that we don’t know?

You wonder about that, especially as you read on. Jesus disappears for a while, then catches up with the man later: "Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, 'See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.'" (John 5:14). “Don’t sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you!” What in the world does Jesus mean by that? Was there some sin in his past or present that lay at the root cause of his illness? Was his sickness a result of some sinful behavior? Are we dealing with more than just a physical problem here? Was there something else at the root of his ailment?

We are learning today that often we can't treat just a physical problem! Now there are some infirmities that are just physical in nature: we cut our finger… twist our ankle and tear a tendon…hit our head and get a concussion. But other physical ailments can be rooted in emotional or spiritual causes. So if we just go after the physical problem, that’s not enough! For instance, if we just pray for healing from headaches, or high blood pressure, or stomach discomfort, we may be praying for the symptom, rather than the root cause!

We all know that stress, for example, can contribute to high blood pressure or gastro-intestinal problems, or maybe even cancer. When I was single, and dating, I developed a very embarrassing habit. Whenever food was served, I’d feel sick to my stomach. I’d be with a girl and this nice meal was put before me and I’d look at it and feel like barfing! It
was humiliating. Once I married Nancy and became secure in our relationship, the problem disappeared. In fact, after we got married I ate too much, and gained significant weight that first year of marriage!

Sometimes when we seek God’s healing, it’s not enough just to look at the physical problem – but also the emotional and spiritual dysfunction that may be causing the physical illness. The ancient Hebrews were well ahead of their times in this matter. They saw the human personality as a mix of body, mind and spirit. All were intertwined. And what affected one area often spilled over into the others.

Let's look at the man in the story. We can’t be certain what was going on here, but we can guess. How does he answer Jesus' question: Do you want to be healed? He does not say yes! Rather, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me" (verse 7). I can almost hear this man whimpering, “Mister, there’s nobody to help me into the pool…every time I try to get in, somebody butts ahead of me" (sob…sob…poor me…poor me…).

I'd call this self- pity! There are a lot of reasons why we can fall into self-pity. Other people are richer, or better looking, or more out-going, or get all the lucky breaks in life….but not me! Self-pity can be a paralyzing attitude: it keeps us centered on ourselves.
It reflects ingratitude to God, that we are not thankful for what God has given us.

We have a choice when things aren’t going great in life: pity ourselves, or move on. Tony Melendez was born with no arms. If anyone had a right to live a life of self-pity, it is he. But he chose a different outlook. He drives a car. He has a family. In most ways he lives a normal life. And he plays the guitar – with his feet. Tony Melendez is a follower of Jesus, and an inspiration to many. (Show video clip of Tony Melendez).

“Do you want to be healed?” Jesus asks.

Then I think we see in this man by the pool, a tendency to blame others. "It's not my fault that I stay this way! It's the people who refuse to help me!"

Think how many marriages are hurting because the husband and wife are each blaming the other for the marital problems. Think how many parent-child relationships are on edge because the parents are blaming the kids and the kids are blaming mom or dad or both. Think how many churches are in turmoil because the congregation is blaming the pastor or the church leaders, and the pastor and church leaders are blaming everybody in the congregation.

King William of Pottsdam once visited a prison in England. As he talked to the prisoners, every prisoner claimed to be innocent and pleaded for a pardon. All except one man, who admitted his guilt. King William said, “Get this guilty man out of the prison before he corrupts all these innocent people!” The man was released!

This blaming of others is often referred to as “projection” in counseling and therapy circles. We project our own dysfunctional stuff onto others; we imagine it in them, but can't see it in ourselves.

Some time ago I came across a classic example of this. Keith Miller wrote a column in a Christian magazine, to help people with their problems. One man wrote: “Dear Keith Miller: (I’m not going to be friendly enough to call you ‘Keith’ and I don’t respect you enough to call you ‘Mr’). “I can’t stand you and I feel led to let you know. “The main gripe I have is that you claim to have been a born-again Christian for all these years (and I assume that you have the Holy Spirit – although you’re pretty cagey about saying) and you still are not living the victorious life. You write about having problems with relationships and even with faith and total dedication. “Well, I for one want you to know that because of Christ, I DON”T HAVE ANY PROBLEMS. I am so angry with you that I can’t sleep because you are leading people to feel that Christ is not adequate. And I want to repeat that since I have received the Holy Spirit this year I have not had any PROBLEMS. What do you say to that??”
Sleepless with anger,
S.W.A.

Keith’s response? “Dear S.W.A. Well, you seem to have at least one now.”

Blaming others! A lot of us can be healed and a lot of situations can be corrected when we quit blaming others and take responsibility for ourselves.

Then, part of the sickness of this man by the pool could well be an attitude of escapism.
Did this man prefer to be sick rather than face the demands of life? (I mean, you’d think that in 38 years he would have found some way to get into the pool!) Bishop Gerald Kennedy, in a sermon on this text, said this is really “making a career out of your weakness. It was not too bad a life. His friends brought him there in the morning and came for him at night. The city had provided shade from the sun and protection from the rain. Here he met his cronies, and they talked together through the day. They watched other people going about their work and bearing their burdens, which is always a pleasant recreation.” In the film The Shawshank Redemption, there’s a scene where Morgan Freeman’s character has a chance to get paroled from prison after being in there for almost 40 years. He says to one of his friends, “I don’t know if I want that. I’ve been here most of my life. Besides, these prison walls are funny. First, you’re afraid of them. Then you get used to them. After a while you start relying on them. I don’t know if I can make it on the outside.”

I mean, when we’re sick we can get attention. We can be waited on. We may get sympathy. We can be excused from having to do things. A very conscientious man was given a job too big for him. He developed asthma every time he got into a jam and couldn’t handle the situation. It's not that he consciously realized what he was doing – but unconsciously he had to develop a reason for not being able to handle his job). We may scoff at this idea, but think of it: how many children, who don’t want to go to school, complain of a stomach ache…and may actually develop a tummy ache – just to avoid going to class. The "sickness" justifies their wanting to stay home.

When Jesus told the man not to sin or something worse could happen, was He warning
him not to retreat again into escapism or else that attitude could be passed on to his body in the form of a worse illness? Maybe, maybe not.

So Jesus asked the man by the pool, and He asks us: Do you want to be healed? Do you and I want to be healed of our physical problems, even though it means we won’t get the sympathy and attention our illness may bring? Do we want to be healed of our addiction, and give up the pleasure that it may bring (as well as the pain)? Are you and I willing to try to understand the spiritual or emotional dysfunction that may be the real root cause of our physical symptoms? And are we willing to get healthy in our attitudes and spiritual outlook? Do we want to be healed in our relationship with God? To put God and His will first? To turn from any known sin and ask for His forgiveness and strength to live right? We can’t be a very healthy human being without being in a right relationship with God?

The good news is Jesus healed the man by the pool, and He can heal us! When you think about it, I wonder why Jesus healed this man, out of all the sick people there that day? He gave no expression of thanks. He apparently didn’t even bother to get Jesus’ name. He doesn’t seem to be a very likeable person. There's no evidence that he did anything special to deserve it. Yet Jesus healed him. What an act of grace!

Jesus can heal you, too. His ministry involved healing people - making them whole in body, mind and spirit. And this same Jesus, the Healer, is here today – and as the Bible says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

Harry L. Kaufhold, Jr.
Preached at Lititz United Methodist Church
February 17, 2008

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