Inducing Trouble

Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk." Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day. So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet." (John 5:8-10)

I just noticed a discrepancy in what I have been writing about this story over the past few weeks. The text does not say at all that this man was crippled. I have been assuming that for some reason but this morning as I read it again I noticed that it only says that he had been sick for 38 years, not crippled. I just want to clarify that before I go on.

Today I am again seeing more things that are very instructive for me in this passage. I am seeing the tension that occurs whenever someone encounters Jesus and acts on what He asks them to do in contrast to what those around them, particularly in religion, expect them to do. I believe that this is unavoidable, though it should not have to be that way. But traditions and prejudice and pride have so convoluted our concepts of God that our religions almost always become a major source of tension and conflict as soon as one begins to get serious about listening directly to the voice of God to their soul.

Jesus well knew that what He told this man to do was going to create an uproar with the Jews because He already knew their rules about what they considered proper Sabbath-keeping. He also knew that this man, if he accepted Jesus' offer of healing would be the one who would become the target for upset if he obeyed what Jesus told him to do. Yet He did not seek to protect this man from the consequences of breaking the religious rules and regulations that were strongly enforced on all who belonged to their 'church'. In fact, the passage goes on to say that Jesus slipped away before the man even got a positive ID on Him which left this man to fend for himself.

Now this man found himself the target of the anger of those who felt compelled to make everyone around them conform to the religious expectations of the 'people of God'. Carrying a sleeping pallet around was hardly something that could go unnoticed in a culture where this was clearly prohibited on this holy day. So a man carrying his pallet was like a moving billboard advertising the fact that he was breaking the law. It didn't take long for the 'conformity police' to notice and people began to feel the rising anger that always fills the heart whenever false ideas about God's principles are imposed on a society in a spirit that is foreign to God's Spirit.

These people that were warning this man about his misdeed remind me of the kind of people that I learned about from James Wilder. He calls them 'fear brokers'. These are the people who feel compelled to make everyone around them afraid of the other people who are in control, who dominate the social structure through fear and intimidation. These 'fear brokers' feel the need to make sure everyone else is afraid of the same people they are afraid of so that there is conformity in the group. This is a very common dynamic in nearly all societies. This is a role that needs to be filled in a group that operates like co-dependency. Everyone must have a role and everyone must stay in their role so there will not be upset.

Fear brokers and those who submit to them are not allowed to think very much for themselves. Clear thinking or thinking outside the box is very threatening to the stability of this kind of society. The problem is, when a person begins to come close to God and to obey what God asks him or her to do, they find themselves compelled to think differently that those around them and one of the first things they are going to run into are the fear-brokers that feel very threatened by the presence of anyone who is not submitting to their intimidation tactics. After all, if everyone started thinking for themselves what would society come to? Lawlessness would take over and society as we know it would fall apart. This slippery slope must never be entered so you should just step back into line and not rock the boat. We are here to remind you of your proper place in society and don't you forget it.

Of course, these words may not be used, but the sentiments here are all too familiar to all of us if we stop to really think about it for awhile. The ways of Jesus if obeyed and acted upon are always going to put us at odds with the ways of nearly everyone around us sooner of later – and usually sooner. This lies at the root of all persecution. In fact, Paul made it clear that if we are not encountering opposition of this nature, the kind of reaction that this sick man ran into right off the bat after he was healed, that we are very likely not where God wants us to be.

Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Timothy 3:12)

Does that mean that we should seek to do things that will invite persecution? Absolutely not! That misses the whole point. Just seeking to be different for differences sake does not mean that you are living a godly life. Jesus was not trying to be odd or out of sync with society just to stir up controversy. He came to expose the falsity of our ideas about God and about what is true and real. He came to bring the light of truth about God and what He is like to a world that is highly antagonistic to all knowledge of that truth. Because of this antagonism, anytime this truth begins to leak into the open there is going to be opposition and tension and increasing persecution.

As I go through this story further I know that this theme is going to unfold and show how I am to relate to the opposition and tension that is inevitable whenever I follow the personal instructions of Jesus to me. I may find myself feeling like I am left all alone to face attacks or acusations, but Jesus has not forgotten me and is waiting to encounter me again. But sometimes in the meantime He intends for me to become more aware of my need to know Him better.

But that is part of the story that waits for another day.

Healing or Help?

Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk." Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. (John 5:8-9)

I have observed a very subtle but great danger in our general view of what it means to be a Christian and to experience the power of God in our lives. It is seen quite often in the prayers that we pray so often. It seems to sound good and it is very easy to slip into that mode even after years of awareness about it. What I am talking about is the commonly accepted maxim that 'God helps those who help themselves.'

But as someone pointed out to me some years ago, God is not in the helping business. While it is true that in many ways God does provide help for us in other respects, in the crucial area of belief that leads to radical transformation in the life, we too often become trapped in the thinking that what we need is more help from God instead of making choices of faith that force our hearts to step out into the unknown before we have all the feelings present or enough evidence to satisfy our doubting minds.

I believe that too often we tend to wait improperly for God's help in our lives, but this mindset actually ends up sabotaging our ability to experience the healing and growth that we so need. Waiting for God's help when He may well be waiting for our choice can actually become a counterfeit religion of the kind of experiential relationship of faith that is needed to enter into deeper relationship with Him. While there are many areas of our lives where we genuinely have to depend on God's help for things we cannot do, when it comes to things we secretly do not want to do but don't want to be viewed that way, God is actually handicapped in being able to move us forward in our experience until we make a choice that gives Him permission to do for us what He is so eager and able to do.

This crippled man clearly needed healing. But it was not just his crippled legs and body that was in need of healing. Even more importantly it was his mind and heart, his picture of God that was in need of serious revision and healing. Jesus came to this world to do far more important things than simply to heal people's bodies of the ailments and afflictions that sin has caused. Those people all ended up succumbing to the effects of sin in their bodies sooner or later and all died. But what Jesus was after and still is today, is to alter our fundamental beliefs about who God is and how He wants to relate to us. The healing of people's bodies was in many ways symbolic of what He was seeking to do within their minds and hearts.

I can see this truth in this story in how Jesus related the offer of healing to this crippled man. I sense that there is a very important lesson here for me to grasp when it comes to my own life and experience. The way that Jesus related to this man simply reveals the way God relates to each one of us who find ourselves in similar situations, whether physical or spiritual. All of us are crippled in some way or another and all of us are in desperate need of healing. The real issue to understand is how we can properly relate to the power of God that is available to undo the damage that has been caused in our lives. Do we need help from God or do we much more need the healing of God, both internally and externally?

I must repeatedly ask myself that question in various circumstances. There may be times when I really do need God's help and I need to ask for it in order to receive it. There may be many times when I receive God's help and don't even realize it until looking back on some event or situation in my life. But I am starting to see more clearly that when it comes to the point of choosing to believe in Jesus, believing the real truth about God in the face of other ideas and feelings and insinuations and traditions, waiting for help from God might even be a fatal mistake.

I notice that there is no hint in this story that Jesus did anything to help this poor cripple. Yet in the words of the crippled man it is obvious that this was the main focus of what he believed that he needed most. He was complaining to Jesus in all the reasons he listed why he could not be healed, insisting that the real problem was that he had not received enough help. Implied in his words were an obvious appeal of hope that maybe Jesus might be the one who would feel sorry enough for him to help him into the pool where he hoped his healing might possibly take place.

But Jesus had no use whatsoever for the notions about what the people thought they needed for restoration or healing. It did not matter that everyone around them believed to some extent that healing could be had from jumping into a pool at the stirring of the waters. He did not even give that idea enough credibility to even discuss it with anyone. He had something so much more true, so much more powerful and saving, so much more real that he did not even want to go into that arena of thinking. He had come to reveal the real truth about how God feels about every person in this world and He was offering what this man really needed far more than what he wanted – a splash in a mysterious pool in hopes of inducing a miracle. Jesus was the Source of all life Himself, the real author of all healing, and He was standing before this man waiting for a choice of belief, not offering a hand of help.

The text also has no hint that even after telling the man to get up that Jesus put out His hand to help the man up. He simply spoke the word, letting the man know clearly what choices he had to make if he was willing to believe. Everything depended on this man's willingness to enter into real, saving belief in the invitation of Jesus without any help from God. Everything hinged on whether or not he was willing to exercise his own power to choose. Jesus simply made it clear that the path to wholeness had to pass through the narrow door of making a conscious choice that was outside of what felt normal or even reasonable. It might feel bizarre and weird to choose to try to stand up in response to Jesus' words to him, but if he was willing to make that choice and act on it he would suddenly experience the reality that was waiting to be manifest in his life and his body as a result of joining his will with the will of God for him.

Intense Choices

The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me." Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk." (John 5:7-8)

As I ponder these verse again this morning I see something more coming out here. One of the main differences between the words – the invitation of Jesus – and the content of the answer that this man gave in response reveals the presence of lies and a misunderstanding of the truth about how God viewed him.

Jesus never varied once in His words to this man from the one point which the man needed to grasp. Jesus was able in just a very few words to expose the crippled man's false assumptions, to compel him to face these false assumptions by flushing them into the open and then giving him opportunity to choose to turn away from them to a completely different way of life. Yes, it must be Jesus, the Source of all real life and hope and joy that must be the originator of the words that offer us life. But when that confrontation comes to the soul I must be willing to lay hold on them, trust the heart from which they came and choose to act on them.

The undergirding lies that this man and all of us are so accustomed to believing are many, varied and very 'normal' feeling. Miracles are viewed as unusual and rare precisely because so few people are willing to believe God, to act on His words and to live life in the realm of reality as heaven sees it instead of what everyone around us believes about it. I am no different in this respect from everyone else. I too grapple with even understanding where my own unbelief has roots and what I need to choose to enter into saving belief. But in the meantime I can make choices that will tend to predispose my heart toward making the right choice when the times come when Jesus confronts me directly and asks me to get up and walk too.

To choose to get up and walk along with doing things that to everyone around me is clearly wrong in their eyes is to take huge risks when it comes to my reputation and social status. This man was instructed to do something that was a clear and grievous violation of settled law, doctrine and social norms. Because of that the choice he faced was mingled with confusion if he was concerned about staying out of trouble with the authorities. And yet the desire to enter into new life, to be free to celebrate and thrive and experience many things that had been kept from him for so long was greater than the fear that sought to restrain and confuse him.

The same is true many times today. We are faced with choices that often seem confusing when we compare the invitations of Jesus to our heart with the rigid expectations and norms of religion or social regulations. To live life in joy and celebration and in harmony with heaven is always to find one's self out of sync with nearly everyone around us. And the pressure will immediately come to conform back to the way things were before. The guilt trips will be imposed, the condemnation and religious insinuations will be felt and the questions about the integrity of the Source of our information will be questioned severely.

The lies inside will usually line up conveniently with the expectations on the outside, for it was our surroundings that usually was the source of the inward lies to start with. God is in the business of challenging lie after lie in our hearts and seeking to speak truth into those areas and triggers that harbor fear and distrust and unbelief. The choice comes down to which will govern our choices and our future – the fears of what others may say about us or do to us, or the desire to obey God and move into a radical new life of freedom, joy and companionship with heaven.

Why It's Impossible

When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, "Do you wish to get well?" The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me." (John 5:6-7)

This man had not only been physically crippled and sick for a very long time but had also been emotionally handicapped as well. Jesus was drawn to him I believe partially because He knew that this man was ripe for healing in more ways than one. This is a very significant lesson for me to grasp. Not everyone is at the point in their life where they are ready to embrace the healing that God is able and eager to impart to them. There is a time and then there are times that are not on time.

What I notice in this passage is the view of healing, the perception that this man had about how any healing might come about for him. As far as he could perceive there were only two ways in which he might have any hope of being healed. He had subscribed to the popular view of those around him that the power for his healing could only come from the mysterious 'stirring of the waters' in this pool. It was strongly rumored among those who were sick and desperate that whenever the waters suddenly showed signs of movement, that an 'angel of healing' had suddenly passed by and the first person who could jump into the water would experience exclusive restoration. But only the first person in would enjoy those benefits; no one else would be allowed to be healed until the next 'moving of the waters'.

I suspect that all of these superstitions were viewed with some amusement and even disdain by the healthy people around that area. People who have been sick for some time often develop their own social networks and sometimes tend to distance themselves in certain ways from others whom they believe cannot really understand their circumstances. So they turn to rumors and folklore and anything that promises hope in an attempt to sort out for themselves what might really benefit them. They feel that the rest of 'normal' society might either be overlooking or may even be deliberately withholding valuable information from them – which in fact may be the case at times.

So from this man's perspective he had embraced the popular belief circulating among the many sick in Jerusalem that the stirring of the waters in this pool truly might have supernatural powers to bring healing and wholeness to anyone who could push themselves to the front and be the first to take hold of the arbitrary opportunity brought about by some unseen and capricious angel of healing. But what do these superstitions tell us about the picture of God held in the hearts of all those who believed in these rumors? How much did these stories and beliefs influence the mind and distort the truth about how God really felt about each of these people? There is a lot of implications that would be well to consider and that infect even our own ideas about how God feels about us in our day.

What seems to be clear from this man's answer to Jesus' question to him was that he clung tenaciously to the belief that this was likely the only hope he might ever have for receiving healing for his crippled condition. If there were any other possibilities he had given up on them some time before because there simply was not enough evidence to believe that help could arrive from any other source, including God Himself. If God were in the healing business He must have arranged to only offer it through this strange arrangement of sending an unseen angel at random times to a pool of water, and it would only be available to those who were quick enough and strong enough to help themselves into the pool. It truly enforced the adage still so popular yet today, “God helps those who help themselves.”

Based on this belief among the sick around that pool, this man's answer to Jesus demonstrated that he believed there were only two possibilities left if he were ever to enjoy the healing favor of God and escape his broken condition. And given the two near impossibilities of ever achieving the feat of getting into the water ahead of anyone else, it seemed rather clear to him that he was simply to far beyond the reach of God's grace to ever expect to experience a life much different than what he currently knew. He had resigned himself to the fate that seemed unavoidable; he would just have to be content that God did not care enough to make healing more accessible to people such as himself. Only those with enough strength left or enough clout with others who were strong to help them in might provide him the advantages needed in order to access the power to change his life significantly.

From his viewpoint, there were only two ways he might ever experience any hope of being healed. Either someone else had to take enough interest in his condition and care enough about him to organize a plunge party for him to out-maneuver everyone else into the healing pool first – which was pretty much out of the realm of possibility given his lack of interested and capable friends, or he would have to muster up enough self-will, self-discipline and physical prowess to accomplish this for himself against all other competitors, many of whom were in much better condition already than he was in. Given those immense odds stacked against him, like an exhausted, depleted poor man completely out of money giving up on buying another ticket for the lottery, the man had finally given up and just accepted his fate and planned to live out his miserable existence watching others spring into the pool and come out apparently refreshed and claiming to be healed.

I suppose it was better than sitting at home without anything to pass the time but to stare at bare walls and count the minutes passing by. It was not all bad, laying here by the pool and swapping stories of various encounters others had had splashing into the pool or watching the crowds pass by day after day. At least he had the opportunity to feel somewhat connected to society if only vicariously by listening to all the chatter and commotion of what was going on in the city. Since he had to be awake and aware anyway, why not spend his remaining time in life watching life go by for others more fortunate than him. I suppose he may have not been that much different than many today who find themselves parked in front of a TV watching the rest of the world entertain them and awe them with the stories of the rich and famous. Sitting around this pool was like an ancient version of living the life of a couch potato. It beat laying in bed at home with even less to do.

This kind of life, whether in the days of Jesus or now in our day, is a life of disconnectedness and disattachment. It is a life that draws millions into its spell and mesmerizes them into thinking this is almost as good as it gets. If we cannot strike it rich or indulge ourselves in all the pleasures that others enjoy, at least we can watch them indulging themselves and vicariously experience many of their emotions that way. It beats thinking about our own messed up lives and sense of futility. The more we can escape reality into the world of entertainment the easier it is to cope with the inner sense of hopelessness that seems to haunt our sleepless nights and affects so many of our stressful relationships with those around us.

When Jesus suddenly spoke these most unusual words of invitation to step into a radical new life of wholeness and healing, they sounded so outrageous and impossible that this man simply could not at first wrap his mind around the reality of them. He immediately felt compelled to translate them into more logical scenarios in his mind and then responded from his own assumptions about reality and what was actually possible. Since he had already thought this through for many years and believed that he had explored every possibility there must be, he felt compelled to explain to Jesus why Jesus simply didn't understand his predicament. This stranger was evidently not aware of the insurmountable difficulties the sick man faced and needed to be informed of the obstacles that were so obvious to everyone else. Now if Jesus were to offer to help this man to the front of the line and help throw him into the pool whole holding everyone else back all around the perimeter of the pool, then maybe he might consider that Jesus could be useful to him. But other than that His question about desiring to be healed sounded almost impertinent.

“There is no man to help me into the pool. No one really cares about me. Everyone here is only looking out for themselves and doesn't really care about people as messed up as I am. Sick people are generally focused pretty much on themselves and finding relief for themselves and anyone else who might be able to make a difference is too busy and indifferent to care. And as far as God is concerned it is quite obvious that the arrangements He has set up for healing are too narrow and difficult for me to acquire.

“The only other possibility is that I have to get strong enough myself to get myself into the healing pool while competing with many others much more agile than I. Since that is an obvious disadvantage of enormous proportions that too is out of the question even more than the first option. And since these are the only two options anyone knows of around here for healing, then that is just the way it is. I am resigned to my fate and I appreciate your interest. Now, what were you saying?”