Hi
So after yesterday’s nougat, I found myself thinking about another who did thirty-eight years. Did you?
Here’s today’s Holy Nougat
“One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?””John 5:5-6 NLT
There he lay, at the edge of the healing waters. He had lived with his condition for a while, and nothing had changed. Yet, there he was once again awaiting the troubling of the waters; hoping against hope that this day would be different, that this day would be the One. Little did he know what was truly going to happen to him that day.
And then Jesus turned up.
It is interesting to note that the man had been afflicted for 38 years. For we note that yesterday’s nougat spoke of the 38 years of wandering around in the desert of Kadeshbarnea. We might even recall that the name signified consecration. And here was the lame man, lying beside a pool that was consecrated whenever the healing angel passed by. He was Close to the consecrated water; but not In it. He existed On the fringes, invisible to many, seemingly forgotten.
By castigating the lame man, like I have several reflections in the past, we might have missed an important point – he had NO idea about Jesus’ identity. Jesus was simply a man asking whether he desired to be healed. In the man’s world, Jesus could simply have been offering to help him get into the water in time. Or passing judgement on him for being in that state without getting healed.
We only hear of the man being by the pool waiting and hoping. There’s no mention of doctors (as was the case for the woman with the hemorrhaging problem). Could it be that the pool was the last rather than a first resort? Was it reserved for the poor, filthy rich, or men only? Who left him there? When? How long ago? Why? We do not know.
Nevertheless, Jesus saw him. And Jesus saw his need. And Jesus responded with compassion. He was no longer invisible. Obviously, no one factored Jesus in the man’s equation. Well, the man hadn’t. As well he should not. Jesus had not passed his way before. At least not to his knowledge! And Jesus’ presence made a lifetime of difference. Especially when Jesus asked the obvious question, ‘Would you like to be healed?’
He did.
Interestingly, unlike the children of Israel who wandered on the outskirts of Zered before their release; Jesus Asked the lame man IF he wanted to be healed. Perhaps it is that sometimes we have to desire the purging, the consecration. Or maybe Jesus was simply getting the man’s attention and asking permission to do for him what the man could not do for himself. And, unknown to the man, Jesus question represented the turning point in his life. For his response would determine whether he remained In Kadeshbarnea or moved past Zered into the land of God’s promise – life in fullness!
How about us? Are we still wandering around in Kadeshbarnea, wondering whether we will ever ‘get a break’? Are we on the fringes, left to fend for ourselves at the pool when and if the angel troubles the waters?
Jesus sees us. And Jesus can do more than trouble the water. As with the man, Jesus invites us to make a choice. Pause. Ponder. Pray. Our response could signify a transformation in our lives … How shall we respond?
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
