Choose Healing
The words of Eleanor Roosevelt ring true: One's philosophy is not best expressed in words. It is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.

Like so many things, you can’t comprehend it unless you see it with your own eyes.
In central California, on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range, grows a kind of tree that is one of the wonders of God’s creation:
Trees that look like skyscrapers, trees so big around that if one were growing right here it would reach from me to the back door, giant sequoia and redwood trees.
And in most of the parks where those trees are protected, rangers can show you a cross section of one of those trees and show you how the rings of the tree tell the story of that tree’s life, year by year.

o Here’s a thin ring, a year when the tree hardly grew at all because of a drought.
o Here’s a couple thick rings, reflecting healthy years, when the tree grew by leaps and bounds.
o Here’s where the tree was struck by lightning.
o Here’s a year of damage and disease.
o Here’s a normal year of growth.

“And that’s the way it is with us,” says Dr. David Seamands, in his book, Healing for Damaged Emotions. “Just . . . beneath the protective bark, the concealing, protective mask, are the recorded rings of our lives.”

There are scars of ancient, painful hurts . . .
There are wounds that never properly healed . . .
There are more recent injuries, something someone said, something someone did, something someone neglected to do.
Some go so deep that they shape who you are today, and some are so incredibly sore that it just takes a word or a look to open the wound and create fresh hurt on top of hurt--the hurts you don’t deserve.

You see, many of us are intent on launching a new, distinctive, and dynamic church here in Chipley.
And yet there are things to be done,
things that--if we are wise--we will take care of before we proceed very far in that process.
And so, just as a dentist cleans out all the decay from a cavity before filling it, just as a housepainter scrapes off all the flaking paint from the house before applying a new coat, so we want to begin this venture by asking God’s help in cleaning out any debris and deadwood that may be in our hearts and souls so that we can start this new venture with whole hearts, clear minds, and clean hands.

So let me ask you to turn in your Bibles to the Book of John.
John 5:1-9 (KJV) 1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

But that’s not what I’m going to ask you to concentrate on tonight. Rather, there are three things I’ll ask you to notice about what took place at that Pool of Bethesda that day, and the first is:

1. What did Jesus See? v.6

If you’ll look at verse 1, you’ll see that John describes Jesus going up to Jerusalem for one of the many feasts in the Jewish calendar. As William Barclay says, John always shows Jesus attending the feasts for [he] did not disregard the obligations of Jewish worship.

And in verse 2, John tells us about the pool of Bethesda, a pool whose existence was questioned for years by many influential so-called Bible scholars. . . until, that is, a construction project near the Church of St. Anne in 1888 uncovered traces of a pool with five colonnades exactly where John said it was.

It was there at the Pool of Bethesda that Jesus encountered a man, as verse 5 says, who had been an invalid for 38 years--which means this man had needed healing since before Jesus was born!

But it’s the first part of verse 6 I want to draw your attention to. Look at that verse, where it tells us what Jesus saw:
John 5:6 (KJV) “When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case,”
Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time. . .

Now keep in mind, John has just told us, in v. 3:
“In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered,”

This hurting man was surrounded by “a great number” of people . . . and yet

Jesus saw him lying there. . .

And I want to take just a minute here to encourage you with the Word of God, because I fully believe that what was true, beside the Pool of Bethesda, is true today here in the House.

I want to say to anyone here, in person or online, who is hurting, first:
1. You’re not alone on this journey. It’s not just you.
There is “a great number” of hurting people all around you right now. If you were to take a good look around this room, you would see “a great number of hurting, wounded people,” people who don’t have it all together, people with scars, people with wounds so deep and some so incredibly sore that it just takes a word
or a look to open the wound and create fresh hurt on top of hurt.
But remember, I asked you to notice what Jesus saw. What was it? Jesus saw him lying there. . .

The second thing I would point out to you is:

2. Jesus sees. He is not unaware of your grief, your pain, or your needs.
Just as he saw that man and learned--whether through human or divine means, we don’t know—but he learned that he’d been there a long time, and he knows just how long, how much, how deeply you’ve been hurting, too.

You see, a lot of us Christians fail to do what Jesus did by the Pool of Bethesda; we fail to recognize the reality of people’s hurts.
We avoid the subject because it makes us uncomfortable. Maybe it reminds us of past pains?
Or we communicate to people, “You’re not supposed to hurt, it’s been a long enough time. If you were a real Christian, if you were truly spiritual, you wouldn’t feel this way.”
Or we offer surface answers to deep hurts, saying, “You’ll be alright, just pray. Have more faith. Let go and let God.”
REALLY!

Jesus didn’t do that. Jesus saw him lying there. . .

That’s an important line. Don’t miss it. Jesus saw the man’s hurt and knew that it was real, and it had been real for a long time.

But you may ask, “What about all those other people at the pool? The Bible says there were a “great number” of them. “Did Jesus pass them by?” I have no idea.
Maybe not. Maybe he healed all the others whose stories have not been shared with us--after all, John himself writes, 15 chapters later in his book:
John 20:30 (KJV) And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
But then again, maybe he did pass by the others. We do not know!
Maybe He knew they weren’t ready to be HEAL.
Maybe he knew somehow that this man was ready for the next thing I want to point out to you, and that is:

2. What did Jesus Ask V. 6
John 5:6 (KJV) When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? Now that is not a stupid question.

A lot of people don’t really want to be healed; they don’t really want to be made whole.

Does that sound crazy? It’s not, because saying “yes” to Jesus’ question "Do you want to be healed?" means two things. It means, first:

1. Admitting your hurt.
Some of us, if Jesus were to walk up to us right now and ask, "Do you want to be healed?"
would say,
“What do you mean, Lord? I’m fine, really.
“Don’t worry about me; go help Cathy Sims, she’s the one with problems.”

But "Do you want to be healed?"
If you do, it’s gonna mean admitting your hurt. . . to yourself, to God, maybe even to a few trusted friends.

But that’s not all. Saying “yes” to Jesus’ question also means:

2. Choosing healing.

When Jesus asked, "Do you want to be healed?" it was not a rhetorical question, nor was he being dismissive.

William Barclay observes that “Invalidism is not [always] unpleasant. Someone else does all the working and worrying.”

And another Bible scholar points out that An Eastern beggar often loses a good living by being cured.

So, you see, some of those people by the Pool of Bethesda may not have chosen healing over hurt, if healing meant losing their income, leaving their friends, or no longer being able to lean on others.

And likewise, some of us choose to hold onto our hurts, because we would rather complain, we’re not done raging in anger at those who hurt us, because we know it’ll take WORK to get better, and besides, we rather like the sympathy we get, or the attention, or the feeling of playing the martyr.

But Jesus asks, "Do you want to be healed?"
If you do, then it’s going to mean making a choice and changing your life-style and that sometimes Hurts more than healing.

But there’s just one more treasure I have to point out to you from this short passage

3. What Jesus Said v.7

After Jesus asked the crippled man by the pool, v.6 "Do you want to be healed?":

V. 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."

Now, let me stop there and just say a few things. There’s reason to believe that after John wrote his Gospel, later copyists thought it necessary to explain what the man is talking about. That’s why, in modern versions of the Bible, there is no verse 4, because that verse doesn’t appear in the earliest manuscripts available to us. It was probably a later addition that was trying to explain that the water in the pool would occasionally be stirred, like a hot spring, and that it was believed that the first person into the pool would receive the maximum benefit of the water’s healing powers.
So that’s what the man meant when said, "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."

Do you see what he’s saying about the depth of his hurt? He’s saying, “I’m not only crippled, but:
#1, “I’m friendless: I have no one to help me.”
#2, “I’m floundering: While I am trying to get in...” I’m straining and struggling and thrashing, and it’s not doing any good.
#3, “I’m frustrated: someone else goes down ahead of me."
Does any of that ring a bell with you?
Doesn’t that sound like so many of us, in our hurts . . . friendless, floundering, frustrated?

But it’s what happens next that I most want to direct your attention to. Look at verses 8 and 9:
John 5:8-9 (KJV) Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. (9) And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

Now, please notice that Jesus apparently didn’t TOUCH the man, or even point to him . . .

He said, "Get up! Pick up your bed and walk."

John doesn’t tell us how it happened we just know that He healed the man.

But it’s clear: Jesus had the power to heal him. Just like He has the power to Heal us.
But notice something else that I believe is operating here: Jesus told a man who couldn’t even drag himself into the pool TO GET UP! And the man did!

Why? How? I believe it’s because, for some reason, the man believed Jesus could heal him.
And I believe also that there are hurting people here who need to believe Jesus can heal you.

The Bible says, “He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3). And Isaiah 57:15 (KJV) For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
God is able and willing to heal your hurts, and I believe he is saying to you now, “I am with you. I want to revive your spirit and restore your heart.”

But don’t miss the fact that Jesus said to the man by the Pool of Bethesda,
"Get up! Pick up your bed and walk."

In other words, “It’s time for you to leave your hurt behind. Pick up your bed and walk.”

I think God is also saying to us here tonight and online, “It’s time to leave your hurt behind. Pick up your bed and walk. Choose healing. Take the first step.”

• Will you do that right now?
• Will you believe in God, who wants to Heal you?
• Will you believe that he wants to revive your body, Soul and Spirit?
• Will you admit your hurt?
• Will you choose healing?
• Will you pick up your bed and walk?
• Do Not look back. Stay focused on the ONE that can work a miracle in your life.

One other thing before we close.
I believe the Church has a BIG part to do with our Families, Neighborhoods, Communities, & World, Being Healed, by recognizing our roll in the Healing process.