John 5:1-9

“How Deep is Your Well?" Rev. Meagan M. Boozer

There’s a problem with the hood of my car. A stone must have hit it hard enough to break the paint – and now I have a little rust circle on the hood of my nice car. Many times since I noticed this little circle, I have wanted to fix it. Briefly I have thought about getting some dark gray paint and painting the circle so it doesn’t look so bad. But, I know that wouldn’t fix the problem. I know that the area must be sanded down, primed, and painted. Otherwise, the rust will continue to spread. Putting a little paint on the area alone will only cover up the problem. It won’t fix it.

I have another little problem. Clutter drives me crazy. I like things to be where they are supposed to be. Now, don’t get me wrong – I don’t like a house that has to be so clean it’s nearly sterile. I just like things to be put away, not piled up. I love throwing stuff away. Just this past week as I was walking from one end of this building to the other, I got a big thrill picking up old newsletters, sermons, some old copies of the Faith magazine, and other odds and ends that needed to be pitched. I don’t like clutter. My problem comes at my house, however, when there’s clutter that can’t be thrown away. What is a person to do? My solution is to stick stuff out of sight. It helps me. It might not help you, but it helps me. Closets, drawers, under beds… Once it’s out of sight, I feel better – that is until I need something in the closet and I have to open the door. Then the truth becomes obvious: I didn’t get rid of the clutter – I just stuffed it out of sight.

When we began the basement project, we were only going to put new flooring down. But once we got started, it became obvious we needed to dry things out as best as we could. That’s when we pulled the wallboard off the block walls and found more mildew and crud than one should find outside of New Orleans. It was pretty disgusting. Once upon a time many years ago, some folks decided that putting wallboard up would make things look nice down there. Well, it did look nice – but it covered up a very big problem that only got worse when hidden from sight.

We’re here today to listen to what God has to say to us about healing. We’re here to pray for each other to be healed. The most obvious healing is always the physical healing from disease & infirmity – we know about it, and we can see it like a circle of rust, like clutter, and like mold & mildew. We’re going to pray for physical healing – and we know that God hears us when we pray. But that’s the obvious healing. It’s not a secret. Someone is sick, and so we pray.

But what about the hidden sickness? What about the sickness that’s been effectively covered up over the years? The disappointment, frustrations, bitterness, hopelessness, and depression that is slowly spreading under the surface like rust on a car hood? What about all the clutter from all the broken relationships, all the hurtful words, all the broken promises, the apparent failures, and missed opportunities that you have stuffed into some cavity hoping you’ll never have to open that door again? What about all the hurt, the worry, the grief, and the fear that you have bravely tried to cover up so no one would know? What about all that? Can we – will we pray for healing from all that, too? You bet. For God desires that we be healed both in the inside and on the outside. Jesus proves God’s desire for the fullness of our healing in his interaction with the man at the pool. Let’s take a look at John 5:1-9.

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Jesus came to the man lying by the pool in Bethzatha. Jesus knew how long the man had been there not because he stopped and asked someone. Jesus knew how long he had been there because Jesus knew him – just like he knows you and me. He knows us. He knows how long we’ve been stuck in a place of sickness of soul, sickness of body, and sickness of mind. He knows how long we have been paralyzed by indecision, by fear of rejection, by self-pity. Jesus knows. Listen to this Scripture from John 2:23, 24, “When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.” He knows about you. He knows about me. He knows not just about the rust on my car, he knows what eats away at me inside. He knows not just about the clutter in my closets, he knows about the clutter that keeps me away from freely receiving God’s gift of a true housecleaning of my soul and my mind. He knows how deep my well really goes. He knows when I say, “I’m doing well,” whether that well is only surface deep or whether that well goes down fully into the core of who I am. He knew it about the man in Bethzatha – and he knows it about us, too.

Do you want to be made well?

Do you want to drink from the living water?

Jesus said to the woman at the well in Samaria, (John 4:14) “The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”

He gives us the living, healing water.

But we have to choose to drink.

We have to choose for living lightly under Jesus’ yoke, not living under the heaviness of the yokes we have chosen to carry. We have to choose for healing. We have to choose to risk loving, and we have to choose to risk being loved. We have to choose for honesty. We have to choose for doing things God’s way. To choose against these things is to live in sin, because God has called us to be Christ-magnifiers - examples of the peace-filled and purposeful life that Jesus showed us. We can’t fulfill this calling if we choose to live under self-magnifying burdens. (See James 4:17)

But know this: Though the purifying process may be painful, the result is wholeness and healing. The result is a well that goes deep, that runs freely, and that continually washes away all the dirt that used to get stuck and cause a backup or a downright clog in your walk with your Lord.

Jesus asked the man a question, then he let the man speak. “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” Jesus let the rust, the clutter, and the mildew be exposed. “Sir, if everyone else would be nice to me, I’d be well.” And Jesus replied, “Oh poor dear. It must be terrible for you. Do you want me to go speak to the pool manager? Do you want me to go get you some Ben Gay?” Nope. Jesus was much more compassionate for the long-haul:

“Stand up,” he said. In other words, take some action. Make a choice. Stop blaming other people, past experiences, circumstances that surround you for your lack of wholeness. Jesus says, “You, stand up. Take responsibility for your healing, and choose life.”

Then he said, “Pick up your mat.” In other words, the thing(s) that enabled you to get comfortable with your affliction – deal with it. (Blame can be a mat. You might say that you have every right to be sick in your soul because of what someone else has done or is doing. And so you lie down on blame and become fairly comfortable with your anger, your unforgiveness, and your pain.) Or, if you are someone who lives in fear of what might happen to you, or to someone you care about, it’s important that you let the Lord show you how it is you’ve gotten so comfortable with this fear. Have you decided in your heart that it’s entirely reasonable to live in fear considering the kind of world in which we live? Have you let the condition of the world become the mat for your fear? Jesus says, “Pick it up. Look at it. Deal with it based on a choice to be well. Deal with it based on God’s truth.” The Scripture tells us that fear is not from God. The Scripture tells us that perfect love, (God’s love) casts out fear. What has allowed you to get comfortable with your pain?

Jesus wants you to be healed, and being healed isn’t just about a physical condition. Jesus is always going more deeply to the well-being of your soul – a wellness that endures even in times of suffering.

Then finally Jesus says, “Walk.”

Get going. Move. Don’t stay in the same place. Get to a new place. Be well. Be whole. Be healed. Don’t go back to old comfortable places and patterns. Be active in taking care of your physical, your emotional, and your spiritual health. “Stand up. Take up your mat. Walk.”

I’ll tell you something: I really feel sorry for Dallas Cowboy wide receiver Terrell Owens. I do. The guy is obviously big-time sick. He has everything he thought he ever wanted, and all he can do is complain and point fingers at everyone else. So much talent – so much potential – and he’s going down in history right now as a big, big loser in life. I feel sorry for him. I’ve started praying for him – because I figure if he could let God bring healing to his brokenness, if he could get well all the way down to the core of his being – he could be an awesome witness for Jesus Christ. Just think if his passion was channeled in a heavenward direction!

But here’s one thing about T.O. that’s helpful: At least you know he’s not well. Maybe he thinks he’s covering it up through enacting his tirades about things that are happening or not happening on the football field, but we can all see that the guy is full of the poisons of anger and bitterness that have come from deep, deep hurts in his life. He’s dangerous to himself and to others - but we are too if we are covering up things that are eating away at us and keeping us from receiving the healing gush of living water in our lives.

“Stand up. Take up your mat. Walk.”

Get up today. Write your area of sickness on the yellow card. Pick up your card and move forward to the front of the church for prayer. Whether you need physical, emotional, or spiritual healing – come. We will pray for you. The congregation will pray for you as you come. We pray a simple prayer:

Please Lord, may this person be made well in their body, mind, and spirit. May you refresh them and heal them from the inside out – and may streams of living water gush forth to eternal life.

It’s a simple prayer to pray to a God who loves us so much that he sent his beloved Son to give his life in exchange for yours.

Jesus says, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Amen.

Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

10-15-06

John 5:1-9

“How Deep is Your Well?" Rev. Meagan M. Boozer