Lord,
help me to focus, hear your truth, and write a message that allows people to
encounter you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
John 5
Later,
Jesus went to Jerusalem for a special feast.
In Jerusalem, there is a pool with 5 covered porches, which is called
Bethesda in the Hebrew language. This pool is near the Sheep Gate. Many sick people were lying on the porches
beside the pool. Some were blind, some were crippled and some were paralyzed. A
man was lying there who had been sick for 38 years. When Jesus saw the man and
knew that he had been sick for such a long time, Jesus asked him, “Do you want
to be well?”
The
sick man answered, “Sir, there is no one to get me into the pool when the water
starts moving. While I’m coming to the
water, someone always gets in before me.” Then Jesus said, “Stand up, pick up
your mat, and walk.” And immediately the
man was well; he picked up his mat and began to walk.
This
man had a dream, “If I could get in the water first, then I would be made
well.” For 38 years he had been
sick. The scripture doesn’t tell us what
kind of sick, it tells us others are blind and paralyzed, and simply that this
man was sick. And in that day and time
that would have meant he was marginalized and outcast. As someone who was sick,
he would have been ritually unclean and as someone who was unclean, he would
not have been welcome in people’s homes. They wouldn’t have wanted to have
contact with him for fear of being unclean themselves. He wouldn’t have been able to work, maybe
because of his illness and maybe simply because he was unclean. So instead he
would have had to beg for something to eat. And he likely longed for
healing. For 38 years he was sick. For
38 years he suffered physically, emotionally, relationally, and probably
spiritually. And because of all that, he
had a dream: to be made well.
I
imagine that as he dreamed he didn’t just think, oh I hope to be made well. No,
I imagine he played it out in his mind.
I think he imagined himself waking up and feeling great, not struggling
with pain or nausea or headaches. He
probably imagined himself going to work with the other men in town, invited to
join people for meals and festivals and celebrations. He probably imagined
friends and family laughing together, enjoying life. He probably imagined certain events in their
fullness and himself healthy and well in the midst of it all. He had a dream to be made well. And in seeking after his dream he saw one way
to get there, to get in the pool of Bethesda immediately after it was
stirred. If he got in first, then he
would be healed and his dream would become a reality. It may not seem like a big dream, it doesn’t sound
fancy or grand, but when you struggle with your health day in and day out for
38 years, being well would be miraculous. And, being well in a culture of clean
and unclean would totally change your life. It would change your relationships.
It would change your social status. It would change your privilege. It would
change where you could eat, where you could live, where you could relax. Being
made well would change everything.
How
many of you have ever dreamed of winning the lottery? Regardless of whether we buy a ticket or not,
most of us have imagined what it would be like to win millions. I have. I started young. I can remember
dreaming of the ways I would spend my millions from elementary school on. (And in my house my parents weren’t big
gamblers, so it was only “worth” buying a ticket if the pot got over
$100,000,000) So, if we won the lottery,
what kind of things would we do?
·
Buy a house
·
Pay off our debt
·
Buy a new car
·
Go on a vacation
·
Help our parents with their expenses
·
Help our children or our grandchildren go
to college
·
Buy some new clothes
·
What else?
I
don’t know about you, but in doing that math, I rarely even got to a million
dollars in expenses….most of the time it was closer to $500,000 when I it was
all said and done. $500,000 of my $100,000,000
million and I had a long way to go to spend all my money. So I started dreaming
of helping other people. I wanted to renovate an old apartment building and
help the homeless. I wanted to pay for
wells for clean water. I wanted to build schools and educate others. I wanted
to grant scholarships for people to go to college. I could dream up a lot of fun ways to spend
the money and none of it had anything to do with me. I had dreams of having a few nice things, but
beyond that, my biggest dream was to bless other people and make a real and
lasting difference in their lives.
Many
of us would say our dream is to win the lottery, but really, our dream is to do
our list, because with or without the lottery, our list is still there. If we could actualize our dream without the
lottery, would we still want the car? Or
the house? Or the new wardrobe? Or to help our family? Or to change the world? Of course!
We all have dreams, and many don’t require a million dollars.
I
imagine our dreams sound a little more like this:
·
If I were thin, then I would love my
body.
·
If I could pray like Michelle, then I
would pray out loud for other people.
·
If our bills were paid, then we would
take that trip to Europe.
·
If I could make sense of the Bible
stories, then I would have strong faith.
·
If life weren’t so hectic, then we would
try and adopt.
·
If I didn’t have to work, then I would
take the time to build my motorcycle.
·
I’m sure there are hundreds more….at
least one, if not two or three, for each person in this room.
We
all have dreams. Every single one of us
has a dream of doing something or being something or going somewhere IF only
our circumstances were different in one way or another. So, I want you to take a minute, pull out
your bulletin, or the notepad on your phone, or your Bible and I want you to
write your dream. IF
__________________________ THEN ________________________________. IF (this changed) THEN (I would live my
dream).
(share
around)?
We
all have a dream. Your dream is actually
the part that follows your “then”. The “if”
is what needs to change or happen in order to actualize your dream. For the man at Bethesda, his dream was to be
made well, his IF was getting in the pool first. IF I could get in the pool first, THEN I
could live my dream of being well.
Alright,
so focusing back on the scripture and the scene before us, Jesus enters the
scene. He comes to the pool at Bethesda
and sees the man there and KNOWS he’s been sick for a long time and so Jesus
approaches the man and asks, “Do you want to be made well?” And the man says, “I try to be made well. I
try to get to the pool first, but I’m never able to make it in time.” And Jesus says, “Get up, pick up your mat and
walk.” Do you hear the tension that’s
there? The man was focusing on the
contingency. He was focusing on his IF, not his dream. And Jesus said, “no, focus on your dream,
make it your reality. Get up and be well. Get up and live your dream.”
Like
the man, many of us have our dream. We imagine it. We see it in our mind’s
eye. We garner hope from our dream. But our energy and our effort is focused on
our contingency. We put our time,
energy, and money into our “IF” and then we never live our dream. In essence, our IF, our contingency, becomes
a barrier to realizing our dreams. The
IF consumes us. It gets the best of what we have to offer. And our dream gets
none of us. For the man, the healing
power of the pool became his focus. He
spent his days waiting for it to be stirred, clamoring for a chance at healing,
focusing on the limits of his illness, but never daring to live his dream
before them. But the truth is, God
doesn’t want us spending our lives battling our obstacles. God wants us living
our dreams.
Now
of course that’s easier said than done.
Remember, living his dream of being well would dump that man’s world on
its head. To be well would mean not
being at the pool every day. It would mean different friends, he wouldn’t be
with those who were at the pool, he would be with others at work, or sitting
around a table, or sharing in the temple.
To live his dream would change everything in his life: his habits, his
expectations, and his norms. Living his
dream would mean a complete upheaval of his life. Let’s not minimize that truth. But, it’s his
dream, so it’s worth it. Right?
Now,
what about your dream? Do you really
want your dream? Do you want to pray
without reservation? Or enjoy financial freedom? Or love your body? Or build
that motorcycle? Or have a better marriage?
Or spend your time in missions?
Because God wants you to live your dreams. BUT, living your dreams will
change everything. Your habits will have to change, your expectations will be
different, and you will have a new normal.
But it will be worth it. Won’t
it? Aren’t your dreams worth it? Stop
focusing on your “IF”, stop putting your time and energy into the barriers and
obstacles that are standing in the way of your dream. Start living your dream.
Stand up, go out, and live your dream.
