Get Up!

 

Season two and episode four of The Chosen imaginatively follows the Biblical story of the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda. Here is what the Scriptures tell us happened:

“A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. (John 5:5-9)

The writers add additional conversation between Jesus and Jesse – the name they gave to the paralytic. I’m so glad they added that dialogue because that dialogue lends itself to a close and important analogy.

If you remember the episode, Jesus asked Jesse, “Do you want to be healed?” The man responded, “Will you take me to the water?”

When Jesus shakes His head, Jesse sighs in resignation and tells Him, “I’m having a really bad day.”

In other words, “Sir, please leave me alone. I’ve been trying to be healed for 38 years, but no one will take me to the water when it is stirred up. And even when I get close to the pool, others jump in ahead of me. I’m tired of the false hope.”

The writers have Jesus patiently wait until Jesse finishes his tragic tale. And then the Lord answers:

“I’m not asking who’s helping you, or who’s not helping you, or who’s getting in your way. I’m asking about YOU.”

Jesse begins to weep: “I’ve tried.”

Jesus responds, “This pool has nothing for you, and you know that. Yet, you are still here. Why?”

Jesse, still weeping, shakes his head. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t need this pool.” Jesus tells him. “You only need Me. So, do you want to be healed?”

Oh! There is such wisdom in that writing. Such promise in that writing. Such truth in that writing.

“You only need Me.”

Oh, please listen! That’s exactly what the Lord Jesus says to everyone paralyzed – not physically so much as spiritually – paralyzed by sin. Paralyzed by addiction to drugs, to alcohol, to pornography, to ‘whatever.’ It’s what Jesus says to those paralyzed by regrets. By past failures. By fear of death. By fear of Judgment. Paralyzed by hopelessness. Paralyzed by fear of not being able to find forgiveness with God.

Yes, that’s exactly what the Lord Jesus says to everyone spiritually and morally paralyzed. He tells us our self-help books are not what we need. The ‘feel-good’ sermons we like to listen to are not what we need. He looks at us eye to eye and promises, “You only need Me.”

Reader, if any of this applies to you, then please hear me: It’s time to stop with the excuses: “I’m too old to change.”  “My friends will leave me.”  “God will never forgive me. You don’t know what terrible things I’ve done.”

Yet His question to you remains and is repeated: “Do you WANT to be healed?

If so, then HE is all you need. Trust Him. Believe that His love for you is immeasurable. Believe that He DOES want to set you free.

Will you look to Him with faith?  If so, then get up. Stand up. And walk obediently with Him for the rest of your life.