Heart Issues and the Healing at Bethesda – Taking Up Our Mats

John 5:1-13
Jesus Heals a Lame Man

The man in this passage of John was an invalid and had been for 38 years. We are told that the man was unable to walk and was thus lying on a mat just outside of a pool believed to have healing properties. A great number of people were gathered around this pool and whenever the water would get stirred up, the people would go down into the water in hopes of getting cured of their sicknesses and diseases. Can you imagine the mix of desperation, hope and expectation that must have been in the air around that pool?

And it is in the midst of this desperation, hope and expectation that Jesus singles this one man out. He walks up to him and asks him something very interesting. He asks him, “do you want to get well?”

Now, I don't want to seem cynical. But, think about this - why would the man need to be asked a question with such an obvious answer? Of course he wanted to get well. Right? Wouldn't anyone? And yet, Jesus still asked. What he asks him just stirs something in my spirit.

“Do you want to get well?”

And here is the man's reply - “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

It's interesting to me that the man does not respond with a resounding yes. He instead justifies why he has not yet been healed. He rationalizes and offers Jesus... an excuse.

Admittedly, we can't possibly tell from this text exactly what the man was thinking, but is it that far a stretch to imagine that after 38 years as an invalid the man had grown accustomed to his condition and was a bit apprehensive about the possibility of living a life free from his bondage? Think about the significant changes that awaited him post healing.

You can bet that if he lived that many years, in that condition, someone or a lot of someones were taking care of him. Being healed and able bodied, was sure to bring him a whole new set of challenges – he would have to learn to do things for himself and unlearn dependence on others for his basic needs. He'd have to take on the responsibility for his life. He'd be held accountable. Think about what would become of him once his long term infirmity was no longer a hindrance. Can you imagine how much work that must have been for him? Now we know that he must have wanted to be made well more than he feared the outcome of that healing... after all he listened to Jesus. He took up his mat and walked.

But, I still find it interesting that he did not immediately exclaim, “YES, I sooo want to get well!!!!”

I can personally draw a spiritual application from this physical healing. Those of us that struggle with and remain stuck in heart issues that run contrary to the light of Christ and the fruit of the spirit... are all in someway sitting on our mats just outside the healing waters. And as we sit there wrestling with feelings like anger, bitterness, discontentment, depression, fear, anxiety, worry, jealousy, unforgiveness, lust, pride, self-pity, dishonesty, guilt, etc... we fail to walk in the abundant life we are called to in Christ.

Just the other day, as I read this passage, Jesus' question hit me... hard.

“Do you want to get well?”

It was as if Jesus himself was standing right next to me, waiting for my answer. Do you want to get well - REALLY want to get well? And I began to wonder - have I grown accustomed to and resigned myself to some of the heart issues that keep me “stuck on my mat”. On some level, is it working for me? Have these struggles become an excuse for not doing the hard work of submitting to the changes a life in Christ brings?

And then I wondered how true is this of so many other believers? How many of us are sitting on our mats just outside that pool and saying about the healing of our hearts - “I can't... every time I try... it hurts or it's just too hard... etc.”? And as we sit there, the living God is standing right next to us telling us that He's already healed us... telling us that all we have to do is get up off our mats and walk.

What are we waiting for? Jesus heals, we walk... simple as that.


Taking up my mat,