John 5:1-9
“When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition (he could not move himself), He said to him, “do you wish to get well?”
Why are there a multitude of sick, blind, lame and withered persons? Is it because God foreordains it? Is it because a person or their parents have sinned? Is it because these were the unlucky ones in a world where disaster randomly claims its victims? How does your belief system lead you to answer this question?
It is truly amazing how adaptable humans are. Like proverbial frogs in a kettle we seem to adapt to environments (and ideas), no matter how lethal they may be; especially if the conditions grow worse in manageable increments. Even after we are in dangerously hot water, we often opt to stay there just because we have become familiar with that environment. (Think of men and women who remain in abusive relationships.)
Jesus might have well asked, “Do you wish to get well – or – would you prefer to remain here in this familiar place as a disabled victim with these familiar faces, sounds and smells?” After explaining his own limited understanding of his circumstances, Jesus simply said to him, “Arise, take up your pallet, and walk” and he did. This frog was delivered from his fate as he traded the familiar for the impossible.
As humans we live in the midst of the greatest battle ever fought. If this is not a part of our consciousness, we are already half-boiled. The conflict is between light and darkness; truth and lies. I mentioned above that we can adapt to ideas (and theologies) that are lethal. We can become so familiar with them that we would prefer them to reality even when they are costing us dearly.
Let’s return to my original question. “Why are there a multitude of sick, blind, lame and withered persons?” Is it because God in His sovereignty ordains it? As painful as it was to acknowledge it, my theology three years ago would have demanded a “yes” response from me. I was concluding that if it had happened it must have been God’s will. It is interesting that at the same time I was embracing that theology, I also viewed my identity as just a sinner save by grace. I spent a great deal of time in an introspective repentance where “my sin was ever before me“. Not surprisingly, from this place I also was struggling with receiving and enjoying God’s love. And, as I reasoned further from insecurity it seemed, if I were to ever know righteousness, as depraved as I was, that discipline and judgement would be God’s best option for me. In retrospect, I believe I had grown comfortable with ideas about God and myself that were based on half-truths, also known as lies.
In my story, events transpired that led me to reconsider my essential identity. Eventually, after God did some gracious things in my heart, I was able to see that I was more than just a sinner saved by grace. I was a saint. On top of that, I was also a son and a friend of God’s. From this place it became easier to acknowledge and receive God’s love. That is a BIG DEAL! Since that time a great deal of shame and guilt have been edited out of my thought process. I feel as though God plucked this frog out of the pan and began helping me to renew my mind so that I might prove what the will of God is, that which is good, acceptable and perfect.
It was as if Jesus had come to me and said, “Rob, do you wish to get well or do you prefer to remain a prisoner to familiar half-truths (such as your identity as just a sinner)?” The Lord had to pose this question because he knew I had developed a theology that had become familiar to me. My theology explained my reality. My reality is the foundation of all my reasoning. To have our reality – our explanations of why things are the way they are, altered is the equivalent of a psychic earthquake. So, the question became would I trade the familiar for the impossible yet scripturally true idea that I was truly a new creation in Christ, a temple of the Holy Spirit and a son in whom the King of the Universe delights.
In the context of the larger battle, I could imagine the enemy delighting in any theology that he could sell to saints that would discount how they saw themselves. What a brilliant master stroke to limit the saints involvement in the battle by entrapping them in some theology that would breed insecurity and passivity.
One day, when all the enemy’s half-truths that we have embraced and even celebrated are exposed and we see the kingdom of God more clearly, I see the Church becoming agents of healing. Through an enlightened Body of Christ who has grasped her identity and assumed the authority Christ gave her, the sick, lame, blind and withered will be set free. That is what I believe, at least in part, what it will look like when God’s will is being done on earth as it is in heaven.
Father, strengthen our hearts. Help us to be bold and courageous in our faith. Lead us to the place in our belief where we anticipate, in all arenas of the battle, to see you doing good exceedingly above and beyond our understanding and expectation. Please show us where we may be bound and constricted by any half-truths, however comfortable we have become with them. May our beliefs grow to be in-sync with the God to whom nothing is impossible. Amen.