July 1, 2007
Blessings & Ingratitude
John 5:1-15
The movie Fourth Of July tells the true story of Ron Kovic
played by Tom Cruise. Kovic is a patriotic, All-American small town athlete who
surprises his family by enlisting with the Marines to fight in the Vietnam War.
However, once he is in Viet Nam the glory of war and heroism fades quickly. His
enthusiasm turns to horror and confusion when he accidentally kills one of his
own men in a firefight. Later, he is paralyzed from the chest down from a
bullet wound. When he returns home, he is admitted into a veteran’s hospital
which turns out to be a nightmarish experience. He becomes depressed and
increasingly disillusioned, which leads him into a downward spiral and
ultimately leaves him drunk and dissolute in Mexico. Eventually, he begins to
turn himself around and he pulls his life together.
I cannot imagine what it would be like to be paralyzed.
Christian artist and author, Joni Earikson Tada, tells of what it is like to
have to have someone have to get you out of bed, brush your teeth, wipe you,
bathe you, and feed you. She says that after 30 years of doing this, you would
think she would be used to it by now, but she is not. Every morning she prays
for God to help her through one more day. The feeling of being totally helpless
and dependent on others would be enough to send most of us into deep
depression.
But imagine what it would be like before wheelchairs, motorized
chairs, rehab, braces, hospitals, special devices, etc. That was the case with
the man in our story today — paralyzed with no benefits that we in the modern
world have. He was lying beside a pool with other sick people. They were drawn
to the pool by a superstitious tale that an angel would come and stir the waters
of the pool, and the first one to get in would be healed. This myth promoted
the false idea that God plays games with people, or that he treats them on a
“first come, first served” basis. The notion was fostered by the fact that the
pool was spring fed, and when the spring periodically flowed into the pool, the
water in the pool was stirred.
But this man could not get into the pool, even if the myth was
true. He can do nothing on his own. All he can do is lay there. He is totally
at the mercy of other people. He does not eat unless someone brings him food.
He does not drink unless someone brings him water. He does not move unless
someone carries him. And he has been this way for thirty-eight years. He
watches other people walk and go about with their normal lives, and he is
tempted to despair and become bitter.
But his condition is about to change. Jesus sees the man lying
there and inquires about him. He learns that this man has been like this for a
long time. Jesus turns to him and asks the most important question of his life:
“Do you want to be well?” At first, the question seems absurd. Why would he
not want to be well? Why would he be lying next to this pool with its
rumors of angels and healing if he did not want to get well? But what is
interesting in the story is that the man never answers Jesus’ question. He only
blames others for not helping him. He complains that no one will put him into
the pool, and someone else always beats him to the punch. He is full of
discouragement, and self-pity oozes fro m his pores.
Actually, there are a lot of reasons why he might not want to get
well. He has learned over the years to be dependent on other people. Other
people make his life work, so he does not have to. He has learned the art of
begging, and if he were healed he would have to work. He would have to be
responsible for his life. He could no longer blame other people. He could no
longer get sympathy from other people. There are many people who live by being
dependent on other people. They want to be irresponsible and still have someone
else make their life work. There are many people who are genuinely in need and
find themselves in a temporary bind, but there are some who make it a
lifestyle. The question of whether people really want to be well is still
relevant today.
But then Jesus asks the man to do something, and his healing is
dependent upon whether he will do what Jesus asks. He says to the man, “Get
up! Pick up your mat and walk.” Even if the man were not paralyzed, laying on
a mat for thirty-eight years would have atrophied his muscles and made it
impossible to get up and walk. But the man feels life surging through his
formally paralyzed body. He obeys the word of Jesus and picks up his mat and
walks. Whether he is thirty-eight years old and has never walked, or he is
older and has been paralyzed from an accident for thirty-eight years, we do not
know. What we do know is that he is immediately cured. Jesus does not correct
his bad theology or his superstitious thinking, he simply says to him, “Get up
and walk.”
What is amazing is what we do not find in the story. There is no
indication of faith on the part of this man. He never asks to be healed, and
furthermore, there is no expression of appreciation when he is healed. In other
accounts of healing, people express their thanks to Jesus and even fall at his
feet in worship. But there is not a word from this man. No word of gratitude.
No worship.
When Jesus healed the leper, the Bible says, “When he saw he was
healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’
feet and thanked him — and he was a Samaritan” (Luke 17:15-16). When the blind
man was healed, it says, “Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus,
praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God” (Luke 18:43).
In one account in the book of Acts, Peter sees a man begging from people in the
temple courts who was lame from birth. Here is how the Scripture tells the
story: “Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate
called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the
temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for
money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, ‘Look at
us!’ So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
Then Peter said, ‘Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.’ Taking him by the right hand, he
helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped
to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts,
walking and jumping, and praising God” (Acts 3:2-8). That’s what we would
expect from the paralytic in our story, but there is no gladness, praise for God
or expression of thanks recorded.
The account tells us that the healing took place on the Sabbath.
Now it was against Jewish law to carry anything on the Sabbath, and the man was
carrying his mat, so the legalistic religious leaders rebuked him for breaking
the Sabbath. The man’s reaction was to blame Jesus. He said, “The man who made
me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” Then they want to know who the
man was: “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” And the
Scripture says, “The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had
slipped away into the crowd that was there.” Now what is surprising is that the
man has made no attempt to follow Jesus or find out who he is. Wouldn’t your
reaction be to find the man who healed you? Wouldn’t you want to know who could
do something so wonderful for you? After 38 years of paralysis, wouldn’t you
want to thank him?
But it is Jesus who has to come back to him. He said to him,
“See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”
Jesus is concerned for the man’s spiritual condition as well as his physical
condition. He makes it a point to find him and speak to him about his spiritual
need. But still, there are no words of gratefulness. No gladness about how
Jesus has helped him. The next words in the story are, “The man went away and
told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.” This man who made no
attempt to find Jesus now goes to find the Pharisees to tell on Jesus. He turns
him in to the authorities, knowing what would happen. And then the Bible says,
“So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted
him.”
It almost makes you wonder why Jesus would heal a man like this.
There were many lying about the pool with various disabilities and diseases; why
didn’t he heal any of them? This was not a place that normal, healthy people
came near, out of fear of defiling themselves and disqualifying them for temple
worship. But this is a place where Jesus purposely goes. It is an amazing act
of grace on the part of Jesus. It is interesting that the pool is named
Bethesda: “House of Mercy.” He heals him knowing what kind of person he is. He
heals him in spite of the fact that he will get into trouble for this. In fact,
the Bible says that the Pharisees tried all the harder to kill him (5:18).
But this is not just the story of a single paralytic in Bible
times, this is the story of all of us. We are the paralyzed one, dead in our
trespasses and sins, paralyzed and in bondage by our own rebellion. Jesus has
come to us and forgiven and healed us. And what is our reaction? Are we truly
grateful? Do we seek Jesus out and follow him? Do we fall at his feet and
worship? Do we live with grateful hearts? All of us have been healed. A
simple cold could take us out if it were not for God healing us. Some of us
have even had more serious illnesses from which we have recovered. God healed
you. All of us have been affected by the disease of sin. All of us were
helpless in our lost spiritual condition. But Jesus has come with unexpected
and undeserved grace and favor, forgiving and healing us.
The question is whether we will take responsibility for our lives
and live for Christ in gratefulness, faithfulness and joy. I’ll tell you what
I’m like. I get impatient waiting in line at a “fast food” restaurant, while
people in other parts of the world have nothing to eat. I get aggravated with
my computer, when other people live on less in one year than the cost of my
computer. I get upset when I have to make another home repair, even though
there are others have no home. I see red when I look at the price of gas, and
yet others have to walk everywhere they go and carry cargo on their backs. I
complain when my grass is turning brown, when in other parts of the world people
have endured years of famine. I take heat, air-conditioning, and running water
for granted, while other people live under a piece of tin. I express
displeasure about the food in an expensive restaurant, when there are others
will never in their lives enjoy a single meal like the one I have in front of
me. I gripe about my aches and pains, while others are wrestling with
life-threatening illnesses. I get frustrated with slow drivers, when others
cannot walk. One of the prayers in the liturgy of the church says, “Most
merciful God we confess that we have sinned against you and our neighbor. We
have taken great benefits with little thanks and we have been more ready to
insist upon our rights than to see the needs of others. Have mercy and forgive
us, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Andrew Carnegie, the multimillionaire, left $1 million to one of
his relatives, who in return actually cursed Carnegie because he had left $365
million to public charities and had cut him off with just one measly million.
It is sort of like the young boy who was walking down the street with his
mother. They met a neighbor on the street, returning home with a bag of
groceries. The neighbor gave the boy an orange, and the mother said to her son:
“And what do you say to the nice man?” Looking at the man, he held out the
orange and said: “Peel it!” But the boy is no different from us who take great
benefits from God with little thanks.
The good news is that Jesus comes to us with mercy and grace and
does not see as we are, but what we could be. He blesses us and is gracious
toward us when we recognize his goodness — and when we do not. The Bible says,
“He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our
iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his
love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he
removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are
formed, he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:10-14).
Rodney J. Buchanan
July 1, 2007
Mulberry St. UMC
Mount Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
Mulberry
Street United Methodist Church