 |
 |
|||||
A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 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.” (NASB) John 5:5-7 The man had been in this condition for 38 years. When Jesus finally stood next to him, the man was asked if he would like to get well. Jesus’ question was a strange one. Of course, the man wanted to get well. He had been waiting there at the pool for a long time with the goal of getting well. So why did Jesus word His question the way He did? Why did Jesus ask him if he wanted to get well?
The man’s reply to Jesus gives us the answer to our question. The man explained that every time the water was “stirred up,” he was not able to get into the water in time. Each time there was a race to be the first one into the pool. It was one person against another. Each time it had been a race, and each time he had lost. He must have been very discouraged, and by now he was very determined to be the next one in.
If you had lost each time, what would you be doing if you had been that man? Would you be looking around? Would you be talking with others or reading? Or, would you have had your eyes fixed on the pool and looking for the next time it stirred? If I had been that man, I would have been watching the pool all the time and as soon as the water was “stirred up” I would have tried to be the first one in the water. I would have also been as close as I could be to the pool. I think that is exactly what this man was doing. He was as close as he could be to the pool. His eyes were fixed on the water; Jesus was standing there, but the man did not realize that the one who could heal him was asking him a question. It appears that the question was asked to get the man’s attention off of the pool and onto Jesus.
The lame man was so busy focusing on his own problem that He missed Jesus - the one who could help him. Most of us, including the author, are just like this man. We become so focused on our problem and our own approach to solving the problem that we get our eyes off of God. We might pray, but God is really our back-up plan. In our pursuit to solve our situation, Jesus sometimes becomes our second option, our security blanket. In these situations, our eyes can become focused on the “pool” while we ignore the One who is standing next to us, until we hear the words, “Do you wish to get well?”
For some of us “pool of water” is problems at home and we focus on them. So we look to Ann Landers, Dr. Laura Schlesinger, or some secular book, or to psychologists for advice and we miss the Words of Life (the Bible) written by the Counselor of counselors. For some of us the “pool of water” is a problem with church leaders or with a pastor and we have forgotten that the Shepherd of shepherds is standing there offering guidance. It is easy to complain about a job situation and forget that God is our ultimate employer. It is He who gave us the job. It is He who really gives us the promotion. It is He who really gives us the pay increase. And it is easy to fix our attention on doctors and become demanding that they heal us, and we sometimes miss the fact that the Healer of healers will select us out of the multitude who are by the pool and will walk up to us when He is ready and ask, “Do you wish to get well?” All God wants is our focus to be on Him and not the pool. |
||||||
|
||||||
| Life & Heart of Jesus | ||||||
