Today’s scripture: John 5:1-15 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Christen Peters):
The many times I’ve heard this story related, or have read it, I’ve seen it as an example of Jesus throwing out rabbinical translation of law in favor of doing the greater good. And in doing so, Jesus touched off the conflict that would lead to his crucifixion.
I’ve always wondered, though, why Jesus singled out this person. This man has been paralyzed for 38 years, which must have been the vast majority of his life. Because of his handicap, he probably had never married. I can only surmise that it was members of his extended family who delivered him to the pools each day. Once they’d gotten him there, they went about their daily lives. They probably hoped like heck that he’d manage to make it into the pool so that they didn’t have to deal with having such an outcast in their family anymore.
This man has begun to feel so hopeless that when Jesus asks him if he wants to be healed, the man fails to even recognize Jesus’ offer of wholeness. He merely recounts the reason why he hasn’t gotten better already. In spite of it all, Jesus tells him to gather his mat and go — as if he’d been whole all the while and only needed someone to tell him so.
Does this sound even a little familiar?
How many times have you heard of families depositing gay men and women on the doorsteps of religion, hoping that they’ll be “cured”? Have you ever felt like an outcast in your family, school, neighborhood, city, and country? Have you ever cried in the night to be healed of this thing that seems to have separated you from the rest of the world, and from God?
How many times have you failed to recognize that you are already whole — you need only pick up your mat and go!
Don’t let yourself be thrown by verse 14. Doesn’t it seem unreasonable to think that Jesus considered the man to have been paralyzed because of some sin he had committed? I think the sin Jesus is talking about here is more likely a loss of faith, or a failure to see the nearness of God in all things and at all times. We talk often about how people come to Christ all gung-ho, then seem to fade away. I think Jesus is warning this man not to fall away from God again. And I think we would do well to heed the same warning.
Thought for the day: What is keeping me from seeing the nearness of God, and my own wholeness in God?
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to start, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.