One of the things that is most attractive about Jesus is that he is quick witted. He seems to be able to size up people and situations with alacrity and dexterity. I heard a story recently about a man who also possessed a quick wit.
This is one of the funniest in the whole Bible. Of course, it is also one of the most insightful for you and me.
Jesus is walking along and it is not only the Sabbath, but a feast day, although probably a minor one. He spots a man and the scripture says he knew he had been there a long time. John tells us, 38 years. Now some may think this is an example of Jesus miraculous powers but I don’t. I think Jesus was a good judge of people and I think he quickly sized up the situation and decided that he would give this man a visit. And I think he smiled to himself when he picked him.
How did he know he’d been there for a long time? Have you ever been to the office of someone who has been in the job a long time, say, 38 years? What do you see?
Well, there’s certificate from the company picnic from 1992. Why is that there? Because the certificate is for winning a three legged race. And the three-legged race was with the occupant of the office and his secretary, the lovely Gillian, whom he (the occupant) had been secretly crazy about ever since he inherited her from Joe Caruthers but he’d never had the guts to try anything because he didn’t want to get fired. But since there was this three legged race and they had to tie their legs together and all. And in fact they won, partly because he was trying to prove how athletic he still was and partly because she wanted to have the ordeal over with just as soon as possible… and just after that she quit to go marry her Swedish boyfriend, but he’d kept the certificate anyway, because once in a while he’d look at it and think of those few moments after they both fell down after they’d crossed the finish line. And he wondered what would have happened if she’d actually fallen in love with him and they’d moved to Sweden… but it didn’t happen that way.
And there, on the credenza, was a baseball. That he got a Yankee stadium in the upper deck when Al Kaline of the Detroit Tigers hit a foul ball right up where he was sitting and some kid went for it with his baseball glove and for a moment the kid had it and then dropped it, and it just sat there in the concrete floor spinning and he reached down and picked it up and ignored how disappointed the kid looked and so there it was, on his credenza. It all happened a long time ago, and he wasn’t sure why he kept the ball because he often thought he would have felt a lot better if only he’d given the ball to the kid instead of keeping for himself.
And to tell you the truth, both items actually made him a little bit sad.
And as you look around the office there is not only the faded certificate and slightly scuffed baseball, but total quality awards, an employee of the month brass plaque that he got for the stunning advertising slogan "you’ve got to be kidding" which lasted about a month until the CEO decided he didn’t like it. And there’s the old desk, and the even older, squeaky chair, and there’s the occupant of the office himself, who just looks like he’s been there for 38 long years.
And so it must have been that day with Jesus. The man looked settled. All around his was his stuff. Have you ever noticed how much stuff we have around us? Go on a three hour plane ride and at the end of it, you can hardly get all the stuff you’ve put in your space together before it’s time to leave – the phone, the magazine, the book, the blackberry, the ad you tore out of the sky magazine, the phone number of the person you were sitting next to, your water, your shoes your ear phones. Stuff. And this man had stuff. His pot for donations, his blanket, his little pallet, on which he sat, his pillow, his small purse, a little tent thing for the sun. It was all there around him. And just like the man in the office, you could tell – and Jesus could – that he’d been there a long time.
He was joking with other invalids nearby. He was browned by the sun. But most of all, he looked like he belonged there. There was the air about him of a lifer. So Jesus sees him, watches him for a moment, and then comes up to him.
Now the man doesn’t know who Jesus is. He just comes up and stands over him. The first the man is aware of Jesus is when he blocks the sun. The man looks up.
And Jesus stands there for a moment, silent. And then Jesus asks him what is one of the funniest questions in the Bible. "Do you want to be made well?" Now you can just see the guy looking up at him appraisingly. And he must have thought to himself. What? I’ve been sitting in this spot for 38 years because I can’t walk and you ask me whether I want to be healed. What are you, some kind of wise guy?
But Jesus just stands there and lets the question – the only thing he says for the next few minutes -- hang in the air. Do you want to be made well?
So the man, uncomfortable with the silence, starts to tell Jesus his story. People always want to tell you their story.
You see, he says, the waters get troubled and when they get troubled you have to be the first one in and if you’re the first one in, then you’ve got a chance. But if you don’t make it in time, then you can’t be healed. And when the waters are troubled I try, believe me I really, really try to get down there but with these bum legs and all it isn’t easy I can tell you but I try like mad to get down there but every time I do, well there is someone quicker – some of these people can walk, you see – and they step in front of me and they get the benefit of the waters and I don’t. I mean if only I could be a little quicker I would have been well already.
In fact, years ago I was just getting to my spot here and I was passing the pool, right down there, on the step there and the waters were troubled and I went to let myself in because I was right there! And then, wouldn’t you know it, a blind man must have heard the waters a second before I did because just before I gave the final push with my arms he dives, I’m telling you he practically, dives into the water.
Now if only I had someone to help me down there, then I would be there in time and I’d be okay. I’d be better than okay, I’d be happy. So sure I want to be well, but you don’t seem to understand about the pool and how I have no one to help me and besides the waters aren’t troubled at the moment so even if you were going to help me, it isn’t the right time so it’s not really a very good question under the circumstances is it?
And Jesus just gazes at the man. Notice that Jesus does not engage the man in any conversation about the pool or about the troubled waters, or about his difficulty. Why? Would it not seem the compassionate thing to do to talk to the man about his circumstance, about his difficulty over the years? Wouldn’t it have been more Christian of Jesus, if you will, to sympathize with the man? Why does Jesus seem so hard here? Why won’t he talk to him about the pool? For 38 years the man’s life has been centered on the pool. Why won’t Jesus talk to him about the pool?
Because Jesus knew, it wasn’t about the pool.
Do you remember in the Old Testament when the children of Israel came out of Egypt and they were on the way to the Promised Land? Do you recall what happened? They got a bad case of the if onlys. I mean when they were in Egypt, they said, if only we weren’t here in slavery, we would be free and we would be happy. And so they go through the red sea and then they begin again. If only it wasn’t so hard in this wilderness. And at one point they say,
If only we were back in Egypt. And then they say, if only we had something to eat.
So God sends manna. But then after a little while they say, if only we didn’t have just this manna to eat. So God sends quails. Lots and lots of quails. Pretty soon, you guessed it. If only we didn’t have to eat quail all the time and so it went until they discovered that there were people in the Promised Land who quite naturally didn’t want them to come in and take over. And then, full of quail, they said if only it weren’t so coming into the Promised Land. And they were in the wilderness for 40 years because they couldn’t stop saying if only and because they were afraid.
And so it is with us. It starts early. If only Santa would bring me a pony, I’d be happy. If only I were older. If only I were younger. This is one of my favorites: if only I had different parents. If only I could date her. And this is my daughter’s current favorite, if only I had a car, really, really nice car. For free, then I’d be happy. If only I could get into college. If only I could get into that college. If only I could get a job with that firm. Or in my case, if only I could get a job. For some, if only I were married. And later, if only I weren’t married.
And there are some people who miss their own lives because they spend their whole life thinking, if only. They spend half their time looking back, saying if only that hadn’t happened, and they spend the other half looking forward and saying if only that would happen. And they never are happy, only vaguely disappointed.
A friend of mine, who works with people in trying to find happiness, recently shared with me an e-mail that someone sent him. I want you to know that I have the writer’s permission to quote from his note.
"I have had a very tough life. My father is a bad alcoholic who never really showed me any kind of happiness. I was a very angry teenager and it lasted into my early to mid twenties until the best thing that ever happened to me happened. I developed an anxiety disorder and started having panic attacks and was a very obsessive thinker. Well, that was a life-changing event. It forced me to change the way I was thinking and reacting to everything around me. I do not know why I got an anxiety disorder and even though it was a curse at first it turned out to be a blessing. I have to work on my thinking and try to always see the good. I am so much more sensitive about things that matter now and it has made me a better man and a much better husband and father. I still have many fears and I will keep working on letting them go because you are correct that fear is the opposite of happiness."
What this man came to see that he had to embrace the present and not be bound by the if onlys of the past and the if onlys of the future. Those if onlys can rob us of any chance of being happy, and joyful, and understanding that this is the day that the lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Isn’t that why the Bible is always talking about today? Today is the day of salvation. Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Give us today our daily bread.
If only we had had more bread before. If only we could get more bread in the future, we cry. But the Bible says, give us today our daily bread.
And so it is with this man. His if only is the pool. If only he could get in the pool. And Jesus hears him. But Jesus doesn’t say anything except for the one question: do you want to be made well? For Jesus knew it would be a mistake to talk about the pool. Why?
Because it wasn’t about the pool. It was never about the pool. It was about the man. For thirty-eight years he’d been right next to the pool. And for thirty-eight years he’d been telling himself that if he could get to the pool he’d be happy. If only he could get to the pool he could walk and he’d be happy, he’d be well. But since it never happened, not once in 38 years, you might conclude that the man did not want to be made well. If he were healed, he’d have to give up his spot. If he were healed, he’d have to work instead of beg. If he were healed, what would become of his friends at the pool, his routine, and the self-indulgence of feeling sorry for himself which was like a warm blanket of perverse comfort? That’s why Jesus didn’t talk about the pool but asked, do you want to be made well?
You see, we sometimes say we want something from God. We want to be better, we want to be less angry, we want to be less self-pitying, we want the church to grow, and we want to be happy. But when it doesn’t happen we point to the pool. Or to our spouse, or to our income, or to our children, or to our boss, or to our parents. All of them pools. And do you what?
It’s not about the pool.
It’s about you. Do you want to be healed? Do you want to be different? Do you want to be happy? Really? That’s the question Jesus asks us and the question he asked this man.
And for the first time in his long sad life, maybe because for the first time someone didn’t feel sorry for him or engage him in conversation about the pool. For the first time, he realized it wasn’t about the pool it was about him.
*For the first time in his life, he had to face the fact, the awful heart wrenching truth: the reason he’d been there for 38 years was because he chose to be. And crushed by the realization of what he’d chosen and what he’d done, he came to the point where he really did want to be well.
And sensing this, Jesus said, take up your bed and walk. And he took up his bed and walked.
Jesus asks us if we want to be made well just about every day. He can heal us. He can give us new life. He can cause us to examine ours, if only, our excuses, our habits, and our entrenched way of life that is ultimately holding us back. He can make us walk in places we’ve never been to before, if we’re willing to leave the pool that we have chosen. But he wants us to answer the question first. Do you want to be made well? He asks. And there we sit, and we begin to explain to him about our pool.
But it’s not about the pool. It never was about the pool. It’s about you.
