A Stubborn 38-year Illness (John 5:1-15)
by Rev. Jeremiah Cheung
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What is a stubborn illness? Stubborn means obstinate, hard-headed. Illness refers to disease. Stubborn illness refers to disease that is difficult to cure. These are diseases that show no signs of improvement even after many years of treatments; sometimes, they may seem to get better but then they recur. Coping with such illnesses is difficult. Some people face it courageously, but their quality of life maybe affected – they become bound in their homes, unable to go out or enjoy life; in the end, even their dispositions change – once optimistic people become gloomy and some who loved to talk turn into quiet recluses.
A stubborn illness refers not only to physical illness but also to spiritual and emotional illnesses. For example, problems in marriage – unresolved conflicts may persist even after 20-30 years of marriage such as personality differences, or one partner being hot-tempered all throughout the marriage years; or spiritual problems – a believer of many decades continue to live with little spiritual progress. All these are stubborn illnesses. And the more frightening is – the longer the situation drags on, the lesser people would tend to care.
The Chinese say: There are no filial children to one who lies on his sickbed very long. A person who remains 10-20 years on a sick bed finds less and less visitors. Moreover, the person begins to be identified by his problem – people will start referring to a person as the one with the heart problem, the one who is bed-ridden, the one with kidney trouble…people use your illness to identify you – the one with marriage problems, the one who has a spiritual problem…how do we face a stubborn illness?
Today, we find one who has been sick for 38 years. How many 38-years are there in one lifetime – at most, only two and a half. This man was sick for 38 years of his life, but Jesus healed him and he actually stood up. If Jesus was the doctor, then, the 38-year invalid was the patient. It takes both the doctor and the patient’s cooperation to cure any disease. It is not unusual for doctors to make mistakes in treating patients’ diseases. It is also a common thing when patients to refuse to obey their doctor’s instructions. Even with a good doctor, a cure can be hard to achieve if the patient refuses to cooperate. Today, let us observe how Jesus, the world’s greatest physician and a 38- year invalid cooperated and found healing.
I. Jesus – the Physician
1. The Lord Took the Initiative to Enter the Man’s Life
When Jesus came to the Bethesda Pool, he saw many sick people. The Lord specifically noticed this man who lay there, sick for 38 years long. Jesus saw him, yet when the man saw Jesus, he did not open his mouth to ask for healing, why?
a. He wasn’t willing to speak up and ask for help – Sometimes, when we have problems, we are unwilling to tell others, whether it is a physical, family or personal problem. Sometimes, we feel embarrassed to tell others our problems. Men specially find it difficult to ask for help; often, the women or the wives, are the ones who cry for help.
b. He had been rejected before, so he refused to ask again – He may have asked for help before. He may have asked people to carry him to the water, but nobody paid attention to him; for that is how humans are, every man looks after his own interests. He may have asked again and again, but then, he might have been rejected again and again. And so he lost hope. He therefore refused to ask for help again.
c. He really felt hopeless already. Thirty-eight year long – the man must have already accepted the situation. In his heart, he no longer had any hope, it was just a habit of his to come and sit at that place. In his heart, he was a man who no longer had any hope.
It was at this moment that Jesus came. Notice that, in verse 6, Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time. The Lord asked him, “Do you want to get well?” In this verse, there are three action words (verbs): 1. Saw 2. Learned 3. Asked. All these refer to actions taken by the Lord. We mustn’t only feel pity or care within our hearts, we must do something. Jesus took the initiative and entered into this 38-year invalid’s life. I remember when I was still in theological seminary, I lived within the school compound. Once, when I was sick and in bed, I felt a hand touch my forehead, I heard the voice of the seminary president ask me, “How are you feeling now?” Tears welled up in my eyes, I was deeply touched when he showed love and concern for me.
2. The Lord Wanted Him to Face His Problem Squarely
The Lord asked him, “Do you want to get well?” The Lord Jesus asked him a question and it was so that the man would face his problem squarely. In verse 7, the man narrated his story – in those 38 years, he did want to be healed, but whenever he tried to get in, someone else goes down ahead of him. Jesus listened to his story.
In counselling, the basic principle needed is listening. If you are someone who loves to talk, you may not be a good counsellor, because others have no chance at all to speak. “Do you want to get well?” When Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman that is also how he related to her. The Lord said, “Go call your husband.” When she replied, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” Jesus meant that the man was someone else’s husband. This woman stole another’s husband! Couldn’t Jesus be a little polite? This sounded like he didn’t respect the woman. But I believe Jesus wanted the woman to face her problem squarely. The best doctor would be useless if one refuses to admit one is ill and refuses to take medicine. We must face our problems courageously. The Alcoholics Anonymous has twelve rules that everyone who joins the group must accept and rule number one says that the participant must admit helplessness, or else he will not succeed in the program.
3. The Lord Told Him Pointblank What He Needed to Do
Verse 8 “Then Jesus said to him, `Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’”
There are three imperative verbs in this statement:
a. Get up
b. Pick up your mat
c. Walk.
a. Get up – How can a man who has lay in bed for 38 years get up? Even if you had not been invalid for 38 years, but only lay in bed for 38 years, you cannot get up just like that. We know from experience and common sense that if we fail to use any part of our body, the muscles will slowly atrophy. A bed-ridden person’s legs shrinks as a result of not being used, in the end, only skin and bones would remain. On the contrary, if we often use them, our muscles grow stronger. Because I often play ball, my right arm is bigger than my left arm. How can this 38-year invalid stand up? But the Lord’s word is not without power. When the Lord spoke, the man’s legs immediately became strong and he was able to stand up quickly.
b. Pick up your mat – He had lain on his mat for 38 years. We do not know how long he had been using that mat, but he must have developed some affinity to the mat such that the mere sight of it, out of habit, made him lie down on it. The Lord told him to lie there no more, and pick up the mat and walk, to no longer look back to the past, instead, to live in the present.
c. Walk – Do not remain there, walk! Verse 9 “At once, the man picked up his mat and walked.” He followed Jesus’ instructions and walked. I suddenly was struck by a realization – one modern counselling principle says that we can’t tell the counselee what to do, we can only listen to his problems, at most we can only inform him of possible choices he can take, but the counsellor must leave it to the counselee to make the final decision. This is called the modern method of counselling – counsellors do not have absolute authority and cannot tell the counselees absolute truth, but I realized from Jesus’ example here, that we must tell them for God’s Word is the authority, it is the absolute truth.
4. Jesus Followed Him Up and Instructed Him
A good doctor will not only treat the illness, he will follow up the patient’s condition. The Chinese have a saying: `The doctor has a heart like a parent’s’. Verse 14 “Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, `See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.’” Jesus met him at the temple. He hadn’t been able to worship the Lord for 38 long years. After 38 years, the first thing the man did was go to the temple. I believe he also went to give thanks. Indeed, we must treasure the opportunity we have to worship the Lord every Sunday. Do not think that we will always have the opportunity to come and worship, we must treasure these opportunities to worship the Lord. Jesus told him, “You are now well again, stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” We know that not every person’s illness is due to sin. But Jesus lets us know that this person fell sick as a result of sin. We must be warned. We must not be careless and sin recklessly. Sin has consequences. Although we do not know what sin this man committed, but his 38 year illness was a result of his sin. I believe he must have been remorseful for 38 years. The Lord Jesus followed him up and instructed him, just like a doctor telling a patient who has recovered to abstain from certain food or certain activities.
II. The 38-year Invalid – the Patient
1. Face Your Illness Bravely
A man must bravely face it when he falls ill, for if not, this will affect his spiritual life. Some patients fail to face the illness for the reason that he wants to continue being a patient. Why? `I am a patient. You must take care of me.’ As long as he remains sick, he feels he does not need to carry any responsibility. In the end, they play the victim, and never stand back up again, forever depending on others to take care of them. `I am a patient, I am a victim, help me.’ But I also have seen courageous ones and how they face their illness bravely. We must bravely face any illness, for if not, it will swallow you up, and people will attach you to your illness. In the end your illness becomes you, your name – the one with the heart disease, the diabetic, the one with kidney problem, the cancer patient…
2. Meet the Lord of Life
In this passage, we saw two people meet, the Lord Jesus, perfect God and perfect man; then there was the 38 year invalid, whose illness was due to sin, he was a true picture of imperfect man. Now, a perfect man and an imperfect man met, and the imperfect man’s life is changed as a result. When we fall ill, we, of course, would go see a doctor; but we must understand, it is not enough to go see a doctor. We must go see the perfect man, the perfect God – our Lord Jesus Christ. Seeing a doctor will at most get your physical body cured, but when you see the Lord Jesus, not only will your physical body be healed, your spiritual life will also experience healing. This patient had lived in sin for 38 years, when he met the Lord, he ceased sinning; and the first thing he did when he found healing was go to the temple, his whole life had been transformed.
3. With Thanksgiving, Testify of the Lord
Verse 15 “The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.” He told the people publicly that the Lord Jesus made him well. He gave the glory to the Lord. Of course a man who was willing to testify publicly cannot return to his old life. Jesus told the man to stop sinning and the man really did. When we find healing, our life must change. Actually this is a very simple principle, after a patient recovers from illness, he must change his old diet, he cannot turn back to his old ways, he must be careful of his dietary habits, right?