John 5:3-11
Struggles of the Lame Man at Sheep Gate
3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
7"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
11But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "
Romans 7:18-23
Struggles with Sin
18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
When I first read the this about the crippled man and heard Jesus ask the question, "Do you want to get well?", I did not put to much thought into His question...Jesus could have ask the lame man, what is wrong with you or what is your illness...Instead He asks something completely different...My very first reaction was, of course, everyone wants to get well...Jesus takes us beyond His question...Of all the disabled people, Jesus chose one to heal at Sheep Gate...Jesus chose an invalid, who could not make it to the pool and needed help...After thirty eight years of illness, he was helpless and weak...Jesus might have been attracted to the length of time the invalid was sick, and his helplessness and weakness...For thirty eight years this man had lay on his mat and had to be waited on by others...This lame man would now assume all the responsibilities of life, as the others who could walk and work would have...Has he thought about that?...
We do have a sinful nature that lives in us...Of course, we want to get well, or do we?...When something is with us for thirty eight years, it becomes a part of us...Do we even see the problem after thirty eight years?...It is hard to change something, even an illness after thirty eight years...The invalid thought he wanted healed, but Jesus wanted him (and us) to think about things that have been with us for many, many years...There is somehow some "sort of comfort" in something that has been with us for so long...It is like our brains have been wired after a long period (like the thirty eight years) and need to be rewired...Things that have been with us for thirty eight years are now us...We are so familiar and accustomed and used to those things in our lives for thirty eight years...Do you want to get well means change for the invalid, big change...The invalid would have to work and provide for himself, after thirty eight years of being ill...He would be accountable for so many things, after he gets healed...I know now (years after my first reading of the Bible) Jesus does not ask trivial or foolish questions...He wants us to think about His questions...After a lengthy illness, this is just the way we feel, it is just the way we are...We have an excuse, for being the way we are...One of our greatest roadblocks in a long illness, is sometimes our very self...
Paul felt and saw his troubles and problems with sin...When Paul talks about his struggles with sin, I now relate it to the lame one at the Sheep Gate...It was a paradox for the crippled one...When we realize sin has been around with us and in us for years, we want to get rid of it...The man tells Jesus that he can't make it to the pool (without His help)...Paul could not make it to his sinless pool, without Jesus either...Every time the crippled one tried to get to the water that was stirred, someone with stronger legs (or better health) beats him to the pool...He tells Jesus, when I try to get to the stirred waters, someone for the past many years cuts me off and beats me to the holy water...I will not be able to be the first in the angel stirred waters without help...He needed help...
Paul, also had a problem, that needed Someone's assistance...Paul talks about His struggles with sin...Paul wanted to do good, but evil is right there...He needed help...Both Paul and the invalid needed Jesus...Without His help, we cannot make it where we need to go...We need His help to get to the Father...Sometimes the biggest roadblock in our faith, is ourselves...When we finally believe in Jesus our excuse and excuses to sin become without excuse...Regardless, we need His help with our troubles in our lives, and we need Him daily with our struggles with sin...