From brokenness to health

Jesus promises to make us whole and healthy; but we have a part to play in becoming healthy, too. Jesus' encounter with the invalid at the pool of Bethesda is a model for us.

“Do you want to get well?” (John 5:1-9) It seems like an odd question for Jesus to ask the man sitting by the pool at Bethesda. After all, that man has been sitting there for 38 years waiting for a chance to dip his body into the waters of healing! Why would Jesus ask him such a question? It seems like the answer would be obvious! “Jesus, I’ve been sitting here for more than half my life! What do you think?”

But there is more to Jesus’ question than meets the eye. In the original Greek, Jesus asked the invalid, “Do you want to be made healthy?” Being made “healthy” is a little bit different than “getting well.” We can be “well” without being “healthy” – and, quite frankly, many of us fall into that category at one time or another. We all know people who are “well,” but who aren’t healthy at all! Maybe they are constantly tense from the stress of their job. Maybe they suffer from an eating disorder. Maybe they can’t sleep at nights because they lie awake worrying. All of these folks are “well,” but they certainly aren’t healthy! Real health is being whole and complete, with body, mind, and spirit all working together the way that God made them to work. It’s what the word shalom means: completeness, tranquility, and peace; and it’s what God wants for all of us. We can’t get to that kind of health all by ourselves. We need to ask Jesus for help with it. If we break a leg, we don’t expect it to heal properly without help from a medical professional; and if we suffer from a mental disorder, we turn to a psychologist or a therapist. In the very same way, Jesus is ready to help us get our lives to that state of shalom where God intended us to be, and for which we yearn so deeply.

We have a part, too, in being made healthy. After Jesus encountered the invalid at the pool of Bethesda, he told him, “Take up your mat and walk.” I’ve always wondered why Jesus told him to take up his mat. After all, that invalid wouldn’t be needing his mat any longer; his days of sitting helplessly by the pool were over! Why did Jesus tell him to “take it up”? We turn again to a Greek word for insight: the word that Jesus used when he told the invalid to “take up” his mat. The original Greek word is a specific kind of “taking up;” it’s a “taking up” in preparation for discarding! Jesus’ instructions to “take up” the mat are actually the first step in the process of throwing that mat away. It’s just like Mom telling Junior to “take up” the nightly garbage. Junior isn’t supposed to “take up” the garbage and keep it in his closet; he’s supposed to “take up” the garbage in preparation for throwing it away in the garbage can!

That puts a new spin on this story, doesn’t it? The very first step in regaining health is to throw something away. Does that make sense to you? It does to me. I have all kinds of things in my life that I need to throw away in order to be healthy. I need to abandon some old resentments that are dragging me down, to discard some old ways of thinking that are no longer useful to me, and to get rid of some worries over which I have absolutely no control. They aren’t doing me any good at all!

What do you need to throw away? Is it your compulsion to say “yes” to every single thing that you’re asked to do? You need some rest; and that compulsion is keeping you from being as healthy as you could be. Get rid of it! Maybe you should throw away your fear of doing something new. That something new might have great benefit in your life, but whenever you even consider it, you feel like a deer in the headlights. Get rid of that fear! And I know quite a few people who are convinced that God could not possibly forgive them because of what they have done (or because of what they haven’t done). Get rid of that belief! “Take up” all the things in your life that are keeping you from being as healthy as you could be, and throw them out the window!

“Take up your mat and walk.” That’s what Jesus said to the invalid sitting by the pool of Bethesda; and he is saying the very same thing to us. Whatever it is that is holding you to your old, unhealthy way of life, get rid of it! Jesus is ready to make you healthy! Maybe you can’t throw it away all by yourself. Jesus can help you do that, too! Just being willing to be made whole is enough – and that’s exactly what Jesus asked the invalid at the pool: “Do you want to be made healthy?” Today, I invite you to be willing to get rid of whatever is keeping you from being whole and healthy. Jesus is ready to heal you!