Lent - Day Twenty Six - A Deadly Cure

Gospel	John 5:1-3,5-16 ©

The healing at the pool of Bethesda

There was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now at the Sheep Pool in Jerusalem, there is a building, called Bethzatha in Hebrew, consisting of five porticos; and under these were crowds of sick people – blind, lame, paralyzed – waiting for the water to move. One man there had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years, and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in this condition for a long time, he said, ‘Do you want to be well again?’ ‘Sir,’ replied the sick man ‘I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets there before me.’ Jesus said, ‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk.’ The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and walked away.

  Now that day happened to be the Sabbath, so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the Sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.’ He replied, ‘But the man who cured me told me, “Pick up your mat and walk.”’ They asked, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Pick up your mat and walk”?’ The man had no idea who it was since Jesus had disappeared into the crowd that filled the place. After a while, Jesus met him in the Temple and said, ‘Now you are well again, be sure not to sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.’ The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him. It was because he did things like this on the sabbath that the Jews began to persecute Jesus.

We have spent Sunday and Monday at this oasis and the Master does not seem to want to leave today either.  I for one am glad we are getting a few days of rest. Jerusalem grows ever closer and the Master's feet seem to be dragging. 

 I have spent a lot of time in the pool of water here in the oasis where the chill of the spring seems to be taking the pains of my aging body away.  Of course, the effect is temporary. But even temporary relief is good.  I remember in my youth, it seems so long ago now, then I would go into the drugstore and coming out with a shopping bag that contained a large bottle of Bacardi light rum, some Okeydoke popcorn and some Coca Cola.   My buddy and I would order pizza and do what we could do to empty the bottle of rum!  By contrast, today, I go into the drugstore and come out with, capsules, nostrums, and remedies designed to keep this ancient body moving.  So, I could sympathize with the poor guy at the pool of Bethesda. He was there but had no one to shove him into the water once it was disturbed and ready to dispense its healing powers. So, he would always be the bridesmaid and never be the bride as he saw one of his fellow patients collect the cure from the pool.  I felt sorry for the man.  

The Master filled us in on the background of the story.  It seems that when Jesus entered the enclosure where the pool was that He had left the Jewish world and entered the world of the Greeks.  All over the Greek world were pools that were said to have curative properties.  The Greeks believed that the pools were inhabited by spirits that once in a while, when the mood struck them, that they would churn the water up and the first person into the pool would be cured of whatever ailed them.  So, when Jesus entered the area of the pool he was leaving Jewish thought behind and entering the world of Greek superstition.  In doing so and by affecting the cure Jesus was showing that He was the living water and not some spirit that lived in a pool.  It was a challenge to the Greeks and then to top it all off he told the patient to pick up his mat and go home.  When the man did so, the Pharisees caught sight of this man "doing work" on the Sabbath by carrying his mat and they confronted him.  He told them that the person who had healed him had told him to pick up the mat and go home.  They asked him who was the one that cured on the Sabbath?  The former patient did not know because Jesus had slipped away before the man could thank him.  As he was walking, I guess still carrying his mat, he happened upon Jesus and he took a moment to thank Him and asked Him His name.  He then returned to the Pharisees and told them that a man named Jesus of Nazareth had cured them and they began to take notice of this Jesus and the stirrings of a plot against Him began.   

The Master said that when you challenge the culture you are living in just as Jesus challenged the Greek traditions of spirits in the pools you are bound to make enemies.  He pointed out how the  Pro-Life people who prefer life over death and protest the murder of innocent children in the womb are held in special contempt by the people who fight to make it law that the blood of babies can be shed with impunity. These people with the blood of the innocent on their hands are sponsored by the devil who is the author of death and lies.  

Master pointed out that the guilt of the Pro Murder people in the state of New York was greater because of the law that was recently passed that now allows innocent blood to be spilled up until the very moment of birth. Even Hitler and his cronies would not do this. He mentioned how the Catholic governor of the state who was giddy with joy as he signed this bill into law.  

The Master said that He would imagine that the patience of the Father was growing thinner by the day. He said that America was once the crucible of what was good and proper and good has fallen on hard times where the love of truth has been exchanged for New Age practices and thought is good only because that tickles the ears of the people. Justice was becoming something for the rich and the powerful who have lost sight of just who they are and have begun assuming the power of God, taking control of life and death into their hands even though they cannot restore life nor do they understand death and what the shedding of innocent blood is doing to their souls. The fate of these people, unless they repent, will be horrible on the last day.  

He told us no matter what, always side with the right even though it appears that evil has the might. The right will eventually win out over evil because God is righteous and His victory is assured.  Besides, it only took one man, who was sent and empowered by God to Ninevah and by the call of Jonah the great city put on sackcloth and drenched itself in ashes and withered themselves with fasting so that the hand of God would be stayed and the righteous punishment so richly deserved would not come crashing down upon them.   

One voice joined to another and another will eventually be heard. Link hands and form a living bridge against the raging waters of the advocates of death and destruction.  Raise your voice against their plans and  Be not afraid of what you are to say, because what He did for the Prophet Jonah the Spirit will do for you.  You will be given what to say and so the Holy Spirit will speak for you and your voice will be heard. 

Lent = Healing and Being Healed

There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate
a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.
In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,
"Do you want to be well?"
The sick man answered him,
"Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up;
while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me."
Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk."
Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.

Once again, I am showing my age.  When I was a youth in beautiful Brighton Park on the Southwest Side of Chicago, you were hard pressed to find any stores open on Sunday. The National Tea grocery store was open so you could buy some things but the liquor was not for sale on Sunday and because the butchers, who had a very strong union back then, neither were the meats that they packaged.  Most stores were closed back in the early 1960's on Sunday. Taverns were not permitted to open until noon on Sunday.  People, by law, were kind of forced to keep the sabbath.   

Back in the time of Jesus, the Bethesda pool was a place that every so often, not on a regular schedule, an angel was said to appear and "stir up the waters" and the first one in the pool would be cured of whatever was wrong with him.  The man in our story had two strikes against him.  First, it appears he could not walk.  And secondly, he did not have a friend ready and willing to pick him and toss him into the pool when the angel stirred up the waters.  Those with more able bodies would surely get into the pool before him.  For him, however, there was the slimmest of chances that he could be first so he went every day and took up his place.  One day, Jesus appeared at the pool and took pity on the cripple.  Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be cured.  I could imagine what I, being a wiseass, and not a too bright one at that, would have said. "No I just come here every day to sit here and visit with my friends."  The man, showing more brains than I have, simply told his story.  He told Jesus, that he wanted to be cured but he had a problem because he could never be the first into the pool.  Jesus solved the problem and cured the man and told him to take up his mat and go home.   

Now, this took place on the sabbath.  The Jews were very strict about following the sabbath.  The man was accosted as he moved towards his home and was told he could not carry his mat on the sabbath.  Well, since he was at the pool already, he must have carried it there on the sabbath.  But he told the Pharisees that were on his case that the man who cured him told him to get up and walk.  They asked who told him to do this.  The man was not sure and Jesus had wandered off, out of sight.  Later the man caught sight of Jesus and went to the Pharisees and pointed Him out.  From that moment on they began to plot against Jesus. 

Once again, we see Jesus doing something charitable and curing a person.  He brought hope where there was no hope.  The man who was cured had no chance of being the first in the pool. There were others, stronger than he, who would push him out of the way in their attempt to get into the water and be cured.  Jesus took the initiative and cured the man.  He could have told the cripple to come back the next day after the sabbath was over, and he would cure him. But, Jesus knew that the sabbath was made for man and not the other way around. He technically worked on the sabbath and cured the cripple. 

A work of charity has no day or time when it is not appropriate.  Jesus saw a need and he filled it.  Why did Jesus cure this man?  There were probably dozens of people at the pool, why didn't he just wave his arm and cure everyone at one fell swoop?  It was well within his power to do.  Instead, he took care of one man who had no one else who cared.  

For us too, we need to watch for opportunities to help.  We need to take the risk that others may scorn or laugh at us for tilting at windmills.  But if we love Christ, we love all of His people and are called to serve. 

Christmas Wish

Tony stirred restlessly in his bed. He glanced to the right and looked out of the window in his room.  The snow was still coming down, this was surely going to be a white Christmas. His brothers all had sent letters to Santa, although they knew that Santa was the man known as Dad.  Tony did not submit a list this year.  He longed for peace, he longed for quiet, he longed for rest. He wanted to go home for Christmas. None of these things could be delivered by Santa or even that most powerful man in his life, Dad.  

He stared out the window and found joy in the white snowflakes that were hitting his window. Tomorrow was Christmas day.  He remembered last year. He had joined the other kids in presenting a Christmas Play, he proudly played Joseph. He smiled as he remembered how he had spent hours mastering the dialogue.  How he recited it for Mom and Dad over and over again until he had it perfect.  He was nervous that night but Dad came over and put his hand on his shoulder and told him that he knew he could pull this off. And he did! Ms. McMahn, his teacher, told him that he was the best Joseph she had ever had in her Christmas play. The crowd applauded all of the players but when he was introduced the audience got to their feet and gave him a standing ovation. There was no way he could bow since he was confined to a wheel chair but he bowed his head in humble acceptance of the crowds acclimation of his performance.  A tear formed in the corner of his eye as he remembered that most happy of his life. He wiped the tear away and once again turned his attention to the window.

The snow was hitting the window and the lights from the street were changing the water drops into a colorful display of red, green, orange, and white.  He closed his eyes and with thought of the beautiful display of colors on the window he fell into a deep, deep sleep,  Not long after he closed his eyes he saw a beautiful vision, a land filled with light and colors. He slowly looked around and he knew the people that were standing in front of him even though he had never seen them before. They were all smiling. Young people, old people, boys and girls, all had a look of joy and peace on their face. He began walking forward, yes walking, the wheel chair was left behind.  As he got closer he saw everyone was smiling at him and then a great noise thundered as all of the people applauded for him.  A cheer rang out.  He began running toward the people and a very gentle looking man stepped in front of the crowd and Tony did the only thing he could think of, he leaped into the man's arms.  The man held him in his strong but gentle arms and whispered to him, "My name is Jesus, welcome home."  Tony was home for Christmas.

I felt compelled to write this short story, call it an inspiration but I believe someone out there needs to read this story which is designed to bring comfort.  God bless all of you this day.  Please remember to pray for all those who are going home to heaven this day. Pray that they feel the warm embrace of the Lord and that they are not afraid.  And for those who are losing a beloved mother, father or son, or daughter, remember we are made for heaven and those that we love will greet us there someday.