Pick up your mat

Posted by Jeffrey Smith April 29th, 2016 2,020 Views 0 Comments

John 5:4 ?

Look up John 5:4. I will wait...There is no John 5:4 and yet there is a notation below in your bible or bible app that tells us that some manuscripts have the word paralyzed in there with and explanation of what would happen at the pool of Bethsaida. Periodically the Angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one in would be healed completely. This meant that if you were competitive by nature or had a helper to get you in the pool, you walked out of there healed and whole. If you did not however, you sat there growing bitter, angry, and hopeless. Staring off while someone else received what you helplessly could never reach. 

Along comes Jesus and He asks the all-important question, "do you want to get well?" (John 5:6).  Jesus does not help the man into the pool. He does not wait for the Angel of the Lord to stir up the water. He tells the man to pick up his mat and walk. 

So the man is instantly cured. 

Sometimes when we are paralyzed in fear, or decision, or in anything in life, the first question we have to ask is simply, do we want to be well? If the answer is yes, then instead of waiting for someone to help you in the natural, or to compete with others for the same prize, we must know deep in our hearts that we want to be well, and be willing to stand up and follow what Jesus tells us to do. Even if it is not customary or normal, or the only way we see it come to pass.

If we want to be healed then we first have to know that we want to be well, and not covet our own understanding of how that looks. 

This man only saw the pool and getting into that pool as a means to be healed.  And he saw so many others day in and day out get in before him. He had to think, like so many of us when we go through a paralysis of thought, why can’t I get in there? When is it my turn? Why will nobody help me?

This guy didn't know Jesus from the next person, but the wonderful thing about Jesus is that He has compassion. He saw this man sitting there and yet His question sticks in my head. Do you want to be well? That desire for the outcome is what Jesus was after. He was making the man truly look at what he wanted verses the pool and his inability to get in there. 

We may not see a way because the way we see may never be the end result of our desire. This guy thought he wanted to be in the pool and lost track of why he wanted to be in the pool. If we desire something in our heart but cannot see a way then we will come up with excuses as to why we are not at the place we want to be in life. With Jesus, He just cuts through all the garbage, and eliminates the how. He just wants us to know what we want and walk away healed.

Father, lead us all today. We surrender ourselves to You today. We want to be well, make us well today. We thank You that You need nothing from us to heal us, and Your ways are above our ways. We thank You for cutting through all the worldly ways that we can think of, so that we can set our eyes on You. Father, we thank You for Jesus, and His unending love for us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.