Like A Mother’s Love – John 5:1-9 – May 13, 2007

I recently visited my 86 year old mother who lives in Florida. She is recovering from hip surgery she had about two months ago. In January she was having tremendous pain in her legs and she could hardly walk. My mother has a history of very good health but she was having so much pain she decided to see her doctor. He told her that normally he wouldn’t do hip surgery on someone her age, but since she had good health and longevity runs in her family, he thought she could handle it. My mother didn’t give it a second thought. She agreed to the surgery but she had to wait two weeks for it to be scheduled. I was surprised that my father, who is also 86, wanted her to go ahead with the surgery too. My mother had her surgery without any complications and is now walking again.

When I first heard that my mother was facing hip surgery I immediately thought of my grandmother, who died of a broken hip. Although medicine has advanced considerably since the 70’s, I thought that my mother might refuse it. But, she didn’t hesitate. Perhaps she was in so much pain that she was ready to do anything. On the other hand, my mother is a person with a deep faith and she trusted her doctor (who is a member of her church). Fortunately my mother accepted the challenge and now she is walking again.

Just as my mother’s doctor told her she could walk again, Jesus challenged the man at Bethzatha to “stand up, take his mat and walk.” “At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.” Unlike my mother, who had to wait only two weeks for her surgery, this man waited for thirty-eight years before he could walk. During that time he was just a few yards away from the healing waters of the pool by the Sheep Gate. However, he never made it to the pool.

Since Jesus asked the question, “Do you want to be made well?” the implication is that the man may have been apprehensive. He seemed also to make excuses. “No one would help me,” he said, and “Someone always steps in front of me.” The man was playing the role of victim.

The man beside the pool at Bethzatha was not willing to try. He lay helplessly near the pool that could give him new life. If he reached the swirling waters of the pool he would have the potential to be made well. So why didn’t he try? If he did it meant he would have to change. He could no longer wallow in self pity, having others feeling sorry for him. He was stuck, miserably stuck. No wonder Jesus asked if he wanted to be healed.

Why is it that we fail to try something that can help us? Why is it so hard to quit smoking or change our diets? Why do we refrain from exercise when we know it will make us feel better? Why do we ignore opportunities for travel and relaxation when we know it will refresh us? Why do so many people skip worship when they have found nourishment for the soul in the past?

Perhaps it is the fear of change. Perhaps it is just plain stubbornness. The man in our story saw only obstacles. He was defeated before he even tried. It was not until Jesus confronted him with the question, "Do you want to be healed?" that the man finally gave in.

I believe that Jesus wants the best for all of us. Sometimes we have to be confronted or challenged in order to be made well. Notice that Jesus didn’t touch the man or lay hands on him. He didn’t say he needed faith to be made well. There was no prayer, no magic. He simply told him to “walk.”

One time there were two warring tribes in the Andes, one that lived in the lowland and the other high in the mountains. The mountain people invaded the lowlanders one day, and as part of their plundering of the people, they kidnapped a baby of one of the lowlander’s families and took the infant with them back up into the mountains. The lowlanders didn’t know how to climb the mountains. They didn’t know any of the trails that the mountain people used, and they didn’t know where to find the mountain people or how to track them in the steep terrain. Even so, they sent out their best party of fighting men to climb the mountain and bring the baby home.

The men tried first one method of climbing and then another. They tried one trail and then another. After several days of effort, however, they had climbed only a couple of hundred feet. Feeling hopeless and helpless, the lowlander men decided that the cause was lost, and they prepared to return to their village below. As they were packing their gear for the descent, they saw the baby’s mother walking toward them. They realized that she was coming down the mountain that they hadn’t been able to climb. And, they saw that she had the baby strapped to her back. How could this be?

One man greeted her and said, “We couldn’t climb this mountain. How did you do this when we, the strongest and most able men in the village, couldn’t do it?” She shrugged her shoulders and said, “It wasn’t your baby.” (Jim Stovall, Bits and Pieces)

What saved the baby was a mother’s love. What enabled the man to walk was Jesus’ love. When something is important to us we are willing and able to make the walk. Do you want to be made well? Do you want to pursue a life-long dream? Do you want to make an improvement in your life? Do you want your faith to be stronger? Rise, take up your mat and walk!

Everyone is like the man by the pool at BethZatha in some way. Some act as victims, playing the “Woe is me” game. Others, are waiting for someone else to do it for them. And others are simply procrastinating. Which are you?

We all procrastinate at times and I’m no different. I didn’t enter the ministry until I was 32 years old. I felt the call at least twice earlier in my life but I was too busy or preoccupied with my career. Finally, I relented and made the “walk.” When I told my mother about the change I was making in my life she said, “I knew that when you were just a child you would someday enter the ministry. But I couldn’t tell you, you had to make that decision for yourself.”

Mothers are simply amazing. I had to make the walk, because no one could do it for me. Perhaps Jesus is confronting you with a walk you need to make. You can put it off until a later time. You can hope that someone else will step in and do it for you or you can play the victim game and never get up. Thank God for the love of Jesus and the love of mothers who believe in us and encourage us to make the walk.

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio