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The Rev. Linda McCloud
“When Jesus saw him lying there
Where Does it Hurt the Worst? Did you hang up your clothes? Did you brush your teeth – all of them? Did you comb your hair? Did you do your homework? Do you want to be made well? Yes or no. Just answer the question. Is Jesus starting to sound like your mother? My mother’s all-time favorite question was (sounding very sympathetic): “Where does it hurt the worst?” In other words, “Stop whining and name the problem. That’s the only way we are going to get a solution and move on with our lives.” My mother did not have time for whiners because she had five children and a household to manage while also serving as the bookkeeper for Dad’s business. The man at the pool of Beth-zatha was whining. I would probably whine too if I had been in his place. Jesus asked him a direct question and the man started beating about the bush. It was as if he had just been waiting for Jesus to come along so that he could complain. Did he register this same complaint with everyone who came by? “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.” What question did he think Jesus was asking? This man apparently answered the question that other people had been asking him. Or maybe he had been asking it of himself. Maybe he thought Jesus was saying, “Are you still here? Have you sincerely tried to get well on your own?” I wonder how many times Jesus had seen this same man at this same pool. Jesus went to the temple frequently and this man was one of its fixtures. He had been at the pool for thirty-eight years. That means when Jesus came to the temple when he was twelve years old and got left behind by his parents, this man had already been lying there for seventeen years. At this time Jesus was about thirty-three years old, and this man was still there. No wonder Jesus’ question is so direct and pointed: Do you want to be made well? This person had been sick so long that his illness had become a way of life for him. Jesus knew that at some point he had desired to be well or he would not have stuck around the pool for so long a time. But around the pool he had developed a social order. Sickness had become a comfort zone for him. It defined him like a reverse badge of honor—“Oh you know, that guy who has been there the longest—the senior sick guy at the pool.” Who could give up such a distinction? What was the hesitation of this man? Was he afraid to be different from the people around him? Did he wonder what would happen to him if he was made well? How would his life change? How would his identity in the community change? He would have to get a job now, or relearn the trade he knew as a youngster. He would have to take his place as a productive member of society. He would have to go to temple and have fellowship with other Jewish men. It was an agonizing decision as to whether to be made well. It’s easier to blame others for our condition than it is to take the responsibility. No wonder he hedged the question that had cut to the heart of the matter. A yes or no response was required and he could not bring himself to give it. Maybe he had not learned to love himself. Jesus would give him a sense of self-love and self-respect that would connect him to God who is love. When you get home, please read the remainder of this chapter of John’s Gospel. You will find that the man was immediately thrown into a conflict because he had been made well. He went to temple to worship and just happened to be carrying his mat. Jesus had healed him on a Sabbath. By carrying his mat on the Sabbath the man became complicit in Jesus’ offense, but he was so free that this was the least of his worries. For a moment let’s compare our lives to that of the man who was healed. How would our lives change if we were to be made well of some old wound? How close are we to that healing in our own lives? How often do we have a near-life experience and then shrink back from it? Would we prefer to wallow in our misery and blame others for our condition? What if you could take back the harsh words you said to someone you loved and whom you drove away years ago? Have you carried that wound all this time? Do you want to be made well? Our mothers could not heal the hurt we suffered on our journeys to adulthood. In fact, they probably inflicted some of those wounds. You might consider forgiving your mother for this. You can do this regardless of whether your mother is alive. Such forgiveness would have a healing and freeing effect on your life. But it is required of us that we answer the question: Do you want to be made well? Since the man at the pool did not or maybe could not, give Jesus a direct answer, Jesus behaved like a compassionate mother. Jesus healed the man without further ado. When your child is sick, you would heal him or her if you could. And you surely know that your loving touch goes a long way toward healing your children and keeping them well, both mentally and physically. What is your deepest hurt? The one you have carried around for thirty-eight years? Do you want to be made well? Think hard about this, because if your answer is yes, your life will have to change. Maybe you will need to forgive someone who hurt you. Maybe you will have to ask forgiveness of some whom you hurt. Maybe you will have to forgive yourself. Whatever it is, I beg you to do it and get on with your life. The freedom is worth whatever agony you have endured so far. Think hard about this: Where does it hurt the worst? Like the man at the pool, we can’t get well on our own. We all need the healing touch of Jesus. He will use our woundedness to make us mindful of the needs of others, so we can have a healing affect on all whom we meet. Holy Communion has a healing effect, to which I can personally attest. We can wallow in our misery or we can receive the healing touch of Jesus Christ. But we have to decide: Do we want to be made well? Our appropriate response to the invitation of the Gospel is Holy Baptism, which is full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ’s body the Church. The man at the pool of Beth – Zatha was so close to the life-giving water and yet so far away. He could never get to be first. Today Sophia and Alex have someone to put them into the pool while the water is stirred up. Fr. Frank will bless the water and stir it up by tracing a cross in it. He won’t put them into the pool, but he will pour some of the pool on them. And it won’t matter who goes first. Alex and Sophia will be baptized and they will never be able to whine that no one took care of that for them. They might whine about other things, but not about their parents’ neglect of their baptism. In holy baptism, Jesus sets us free to live a new and unending life in him. Amen.
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