“Unbidden”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Tuesday, January 23, 2024

John 5: 1-18 (Forward, p. 86) CEV p. 1105

It is somewhat surprising—and both unfortunate and inappropriate—that many Christians over the centuries have nursed an animosity, and even a hatred at times, towards those of the Jewish faith. This is surprising and inappropriate in that both Jesus and His earliest disciples were all Jews and were diligent and exacting in their observance of its festivals and practices.

Here, in today’s account, we find Jesus heading up to Jerusalem for one of the high festivals of the Jewish faith. Now, whether it was the Festival of Tabernacles/ Booths (Sukkot in Hebrew) or Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) we cannot be sure. But we do know that it was the Sabbath when this particular event took place, a detail that we will later learn was most significant.

In the course of His visit to the city, Jesus has meandered over to one of the ancient water sources of Jerusalem, one called variously Bethzatha—'bubbling over place’, or Bethesda—‘place of poured waters’, and there he becomes aware of a most piteous sight. There is a pale, dishevelled, forlorn invalid, a paralytic, perched near the pool, but not close enough to make use of it. You see, this pool was fed by underground springs which bubbled up on occasion, making its surface dance and spin. The tradition, or belief, had grown up that an angel was the cause of the water surface’s fleeting turbulence and that whoever managed to get into the water first after its disturbance would be healed.

Seeing this piteous wreck of a man there, Jesus’ heart was filled with pity and so, entirely unbidden, He approached the man. “Do you want to be healed?’ He asked him. This may seem like a perfectly illogical, and even insulting thing to say, but Jesus had His reasons. There are people who ‘glory’ in their infirmities, to take delight in them, and simply wallow in the attention and pity that they receive. And, then too, there are some who are so accustomed to their miserable state of affairs—after all, this man had suffered from this affliction for some 38 years—that they know no other existence and cannot imagine anything else!

Now, it is noteworthy to consider what his response was. He doesn’t answer yes or no, but simply plays the victim card and cries out: “Lord, I don’t have anyone to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up. I try to get in, but someone else always gets there first” (verse 7). He is indulging in what was perhaps a well-practiced ‘pity party’, unaware that this man standing in front of him, this Jesus, could actually make a difference—without even getting him into the water.

So, ignoring this outcry, Jesus, totally unbidden, simply tells him to pick up his mat, his bed, and walk. Would he believe, would he obey? It is entirely up in the air for the moment. But, if he did so, if he obeyed, and he was indeed healed, then everything would have changed. No more would he have a life of indulgent misery; no longer would he be the recipient of bystander pity and benevolence. He would now have to be responsible for his own self—and perhaps even work for a living, a first after all these long years. All of this was ‘up in the air’. Anyway, he chose to say yes, to obey, and he was indeed healed—something that he hadn’t even asked for!

I like to think that this totally unbidden miracle shines a light on God’s attitude towards human life--and toward suffering in general. They are, to my thinking, things that God deeply cares about, and so He was unwilling to wait even another day to alleviate it. It was the Sabbath, when such miracles were ‘officially’ forbidden, and so Jesus could easily have held off the healing to another day. (After all, the festival was probably seven days’ long, and so He would still be around). But Jesus, as illustrated elsewhere (see Mark 3:1-6 and Luke 13:11-17), was unwilling to wait in the face of human suffering, and so, unbidden, acted to deal with it. And so it is with us, even before we ask, Jesus is aware of our situations and needs and wants to respond to them. But then, like our paralyzed man, we need to be willing to do as He says—to take up our own mats, whatever they might be, and exercise our faith and trust in Him.

Forward notes: “One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’” (verses 5-6).

“A mentor of mine once said that sometimes the greatest threat to our progress lies between our ears. Those words were a revelation to me!

“For years, I wanted to share my writing but came up with every excuse about how it was not good enough. I wanted to speak publicly but was crippled by my own limitations. ‘Why would anyone want to hear what I have to say?’ I wanted to be healthy and joyful when I was depressed but felt I was in too deep of a hole to pull myself out.

“That’s why I love this story from John. Jesus asks the man a simple question, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ and the ill man responds with a waterfall of excuses. Jesus then tells him, ‘Stand up…and walk.’ Simple, Concise. Unencumbered. And the man does!

“Is the transformation in his legs or his mind? Seven books, countless speaking engagements, and an abundant, joyful life later, I know the power of a mental transformation.”

Moving Forward: “Do you need a mental transformation? Pray for healing.”