A Story of Healing

AM Psalm 107:33-43, 108:1-6(7-13) • PM Psalm 33
Judges 16:1-14 • Acts 7:30-43 • John 5:1-18

In the Gospel story today Jesus asks someone who could not get up on their own:

“Do you want to be made well?”

The answer Jesus gets is:

“I have no one…”

Which is a very interesting answer. An especially interesting answer to give to Jesus.

This is a story of healing that occurs in a place of healing—people went to this place to get healed. There was a pool of water and when the water got “stirred up” it could make you well! If you got into it, you got better. Arkansas has several towns that were built around healing springs of water. We’re told that folks traveled great distances to come and visit these springs and get in the water and get better.

But in this story we have a sick person who is near a source of healing but doesn’t actually get into it because, as he puts it, “I have no one to help me.” He also points out that someone else is always stepping ahead and getting healed.

So when he meets the One who Heals and is asked:

“Do you want to be made well?”

…why isn’t the answer, “Yes, I do! I want to be well again!”

We don’t know why. Some of us, if asked this same question today might not be able to say, “Yes, I want to be well again,” or “No, I want to stay just like this.” We might have lots of reasons and excuses for not being straightforward about our own wellness.

But today’s story is a story of healing. We know that the one who is lying on a mat, unable to get up, is going to be made well. Otherwise we wouldn’t be reading this story today.

But this is not like the healing story of the blind one who cried out, “Have mercy on me! Let me see again. ”

Or the bleeding one who thought, “If I just touch his robe, I will be healed.”

Or the sick and ostracized one who said, “If you are willing, I will be clean!”

This one, lying down on a mat, in a place of healing doesn’t answer “Yes,” or “No.”

This one just says:

“I have no one to help me.”

So, in this story of healing, without getting a direct answer, the Healer goes to work, while others are resting and waiting and watching and judging. The “doctor’s orders” are:

“Stand up, take your mat and walk.”

And the one who had been ill for thirty-eight years did exactly that and was made well again.

It stirred some people up.

May this story of healing stir us up, too.

Written by Troy Schremmer

Troy works with preschool age children as an enrichment teacher in music and movement. He also sings songs at our public library and volunteers as a teacher-helper in Children’s Sunday School.