By Pastor Greg
One of my favorite actors
committed suicide back in 2014. Like
many of you, I was saddened to hear that Robin Williams had taken his own
life. According to a Time magazine article
from August of that year, Williams had been battling depression. Although he appeared to be one of the
happiest people alive, there was “A bottomless well of grief” deep
within his soul. Like the 39,000 other
Americans who take their life each year, Robin Williams “concluded that the
only way to annihilate a terrible despair was to annihilate the self”.[1] If only these people trusted Jesus rather
than their own strength, a lesson one crippled man needed to learn as Jesus
approached him one day.
(John 5:1-9) 1 After these things
there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem
by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five
porticoes. 3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick,
blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters; 4 for
an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up
the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in
was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.] * 5 A
man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 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?” 7 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.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up,
pick up your pallet and walk.” 9 Immediately
the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.
What a terrible way to exist. For 38 years, this man had been crippled by
his illness. We don’t know how many
years he had been coming to the Pool, but it is evident
he had been trying to find healing long enough to become discouraged. Did you hear the hopelessness in this man’s
voice? “Someone always gets there first.” Did
you notice his loneliness? “I have no
one.”
Why didn’t this man simply say yes? Why the list of excuses? I think it’s because he had been looking to
solve this problem on his own for a long time; even though he lacked the
physical capabilities to make this happen.
Sure, it might sound like he was whining about his disability, but I
believe he was ashamed of his inability to take care of this problem on his
own.
Do you want to know something
interesting? As Jesus was making His way
to Jerusalem, He comes to this Pool, which is located on the northeast corner
of the Old City – just outside the walls of the Temple. Why do you suppose He wandered into this
building? Maybe he was thirsty, I don’t
know, but it seems unusual that out of the multitude that lay there, Jesus
focuses on this one particular man. It’s
almost as if Jesus knew. It appears that the Lord knew this man had lost
all hope. That’s when the Lord told Him
to stand up and walk.
Think of how absurd the Lord’s
command must have seemed to this man. He
could have mocked Jesus by saying, “Seriously? Get up and walk? Don’t you think
if I could, I would have done that already”?
Instead, this man rises to his feet. Instead of sneering at the simplicity of the
Lord’s command, the man surrenders his problem to the Lord.
This man’s 38-year problem is our
problem as well. He had been trying to fix this issue
through his own effort and strength of will.
We are just like him. Although we
may not be dealing with a physical illness like
his, we carry around the same emotional and relational problems. For how many years have you been searching
for acceptance and love? For how many
years have you been longing to be valued as a person? For how many years have you allowed cruel and
hurtful words to cripple you? From the outside,
you look healthy, but on the inside, you are crippled; your heart and soul lay
on a mat looking for some “thing” or some “one” to help you find healing. “No one cares” you whisper to yourself. “No one sympathizes with my pain.” You
lay there in your illness day after day, coping with a hurt you cannot possibly
heal. You lay there in hopelessness and
helplessness. However, let me remind you
that Jesus sees you, and He knows all about your problems.
Now if Jesus sees you and knows
about all your problems, then let me ask you this; if He were to approach you
about removing your burden or solving your life-long struggle, what would you
say? Many of us think we would say, “You bet I want to get well,” yet, just as
this man at the pool, I believe we would make excuses why we have not been able
to solve this problem on our own. You
see, this self-serving, self-reliant world has created within us an attitude of
independence; meaning that we have learned to depend on no one. We’ve been taught to believe that if we reach
down inside of ourselves, we can find one last ounce of strength to overcome
the thing that has disabled us. Yeah,
like that’s worked. Even our own efforts
seem to fail us over and over again.
When, oh when, will we learn to trust Jesus with our problems?
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest”, says the Lord. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and
My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). In Jesus you will not only find forgiveness
for sin but also the ability to forgive those who have sinned against you. In Jesus you will find peace and joy. He is not criticizing your inability to heal
yourself. He is offering to heal you.
Just as He asked this crippled
man, the Lord asks you, “Do you wish to get well?” And I know, trust me, I know what you’re
thinking. You’re so ashamed of
yourself. You look at the Lord and
mutter something about why you’ve never been able to solve this on your
own. But you can’t. You can’t fix this because the very thing
that has crippled you is keeping you from fixing yourself. That’s why you need God’s grace; why you need
to trust in Jesus.
As the hymn says, if you are weak
and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care, Jesus offers to lift that load
from your shoulders. In His arms He’ll
take and shield you. In His arms you
will find the comfort, relief, and support you have been trying to find on your
own. “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he
cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7).
[1] http://time.com/3107468/robin-williams-dead-suicide-psychology/
*The end of verse 3 and all
of verse 4 are not contained in early manuscripts of John’s gospel. It appears that they were inserted at a later
time to explain why the pool was stirred.
No Greek manuscript prior to 400 A.D. contains these words.
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