Be Healed

BE HEALED

a prayer to open

Here I am, Lord. Quiet my mind. Open my heart.

Give me ears to hear your invitation and the faith to respond.

Inside [Jerusalem], near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”

“I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up.” . . .

Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”

Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”

But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

“Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded.

The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.

Imagine lying by a pool for years, waiting to be healed but feeling edged out each time. Now imagine that a man arrives, speaks a few words—and suddenly you can walk for the first time in thirty-eight years. What’s fascinating is that Jesus suggests the man’s sin was the cause of his illness and the man had a role to play in staying healthy after being healed. In other words, Jesus issued a two-part invitation: receive healing and turn away from sin. We shouldn’t interpret this to mean that every physical ailment is a result of sin (Jesus debunked that theory in John 9:1-3); however, Jesus is inviting us to receive the healing he offers and turn from destructive behaviors and attitudes.

• Why do you think Jesus asked the man whether he wanted to get well?
• Read today’s passage again slowly. What invitation related to receiving healing do you sense Jesus extending to you? What is Jesus inviting you to turn away from?
• Who in your life is addicted to something destructive (a substance, a behavior, a relationship)? Seek God’s guidance as to how you might be able to invite that person to receive the healing Jesus offers.

Loving God, thank you for the invitation to be healed. Please continue to heal my hurts and bind up my wounds. Show me my part to play to remain healthy, inside and out, and to be transformed by your love. And help me remember that others are hurting too. May I be gentle in my interactions so your healing may be known in me and through me. Amen.