Jesus, we need you. LORD, we want to be well.
Or do we?
Have we been ill for so long that we are used to it?
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
Do you want to be well?
We should just say yes. But instead we dwell on the sickness. We dwell on the familiar series of hopes and disappointments, the years stretching back and back.
Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up;
while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me
Jesus, we can't let ourselves want to be dwell. We can't allow ourselves to desire healing. Our ability to hope is beat down and wounded by the circumstances of life. We defend ourselves from further disappointment by refusing to hope again.
But you see us, LORD. You understand the condition of our hearts. You know our past.
When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been ill for a long time
And you ask us, "Do you want to be well?" The question itself reminds us that we once hoped for that. The question itself leads to a thrill of hope in our hearts that we has been thus far need not be always.
We don't need the pool of Bethesda, LORD. We might not be able to make it to that pool before the rest of the world gets there first. Your healing power is not dependent on any conditions. It is not offered on a first come first served basis. It is not just for those special individuals who can make it to the pool. Nor are those of us who can't quite make it to the pool denied your touch.
Rise, take up your mat, and walk.
Your living water pours over us. You yourself are the true source of living water which heals and gives life.
Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,
and there shall be abundant fish,
for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.
Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;
their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.
Every month they shall bear fresh fruit,
for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.
Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.
You are no stagnant fountain. You are the river of living water. You give us life and allow us to multiply. Our hearts were once fresh and living but circumstances have worn away at them. You alone are the fresh water which makes the lifeless sea of our hearts fresh rather than being contaminated. You are the source of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which never fail or fade. You are the source of the true medicine our souls need.
There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God
You are the stream, LORD. In you the city of our lives shall not be disturbed because we know that you are in our midst. You will help us at the break of dawn. We hear you say, "Do you want to be well?" Finally, trusting in you, we cry out, 'Yes, Jesus, make me well!'
God is our refuge and our strength,
an ever-present help in distress.
Therefore we fear not, though the earth be shaken
and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.
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