We’ve been considering the account in the first fifteen verses of John chapter five regarding the man at the Pool of Bethesda. Remember, this was a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years – not really dying, but not really living either. Then, just like He does for each of us, Jesus showed up with an invitation for him to trade his brokenness for wholeness. But, He said the restoration process would require three things of the sick man. First, He told him, “rise,” then, “take up your bed,” and after that, “walk.”
And now, having previously looked at the first two, let’s take a close look at this last one and what it means for anyone who wants to receive Christ’s gift of wholeness and begin to truly LIVE.
There are a couple of things I’d like to focus on. To start with, Jesus was inviting the man to choose to step forward into the rest of his life – the life he was made for.
But why would he even have to say this?
Because it doesn’t come naturally. Although the passage doesn’t say so explicitly, it clearly implies that this man had never walked before. And we’ve already talked about the human tendency to prefer a known past to an unknown future. So, let’s not miss the point that living whole is a moment-by-moment CHOICE to do the IMPOSSIBLE, to defy gravity in the power of our Savior. Like the man at the pool, it’s not something any of us has ever done before. And we simply don’t know how.
But, Jesus is making it clear that it’s just like walking – putting one foot in front of the other – taking one step at time. It’s not about arriving somewhere. It’s about starting a journey, one that involves discovery, development, and delight with every footfall. And we cannot afford to skip even one of them. Even when the route isn’t a straight line, we don’t have to figure out where it leads. All we have to do is keep our eyes on Jesus and WALK. He can be trusted with everything else.
But there’s another thing.
As the man from the pool began to move forward in his healing, he was immediately confronted by the Jewish leaders telling him he was breaking their religious law by carrying his bed on the Sabbath. And that’s exactly the kind of thing that happens to everyone who chooses to step across the threshold from brokenness to wholeness. Our healing WILL be challenged and FEROCIOUSLY, because the Devil cannot afford to have God’s people actually living in freedom. It poses such a threat to his strategies that he is always quick and loud with his opposition.
Should that make us afraid? Heck, no! The Bible says that the battle is the Lord’s not mine, and He’s already won it. So even when the enemy roars at us with his temptations, condemnations, and accusations, all we need to do is WALK – walk right past him one step after another into the glorious life Christ is releasing us into.
And I love the fact that as the formerly-sick-but-now-healed man shouldered his way past his accusers choosing to obey his healer rather than surrender to their threats, he ran right into Jesus who was there to meet him in the temple on the other side of that opposition.
And dear one, I believe that will be true for you too. No matter what may challenge your wholeness today, just take one step at a time and walk right by, through, or over it. You’ll find that Jesus is on the other side.