John 5 

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”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.”8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

There is no greater defeat than believing in the wrong thing for an extended period of time. This is the situation we find the invalid in John 5. This man had been sitting by the sheep gate (the gate where the sheep all entered the city) for what we can assume is an extended period of time. His disability, though, began thirty eight long years prior.

Last summer was the first time I played golf regularly since my last year of collegiate golf. One thing I noticed almost immediately was that my body could not move the way it once could. We know who to blame for that (looking at you Chester the Cheetah). It was difficult time in my golf game. My swing had to change. I had to change my style of play. Now, imagine thirty eight years of living with a disability. I am not equating my golf challenges to a disability at all. I am equating the feeling of helplessness when your body begins to break down.

I found hope in various swing styles. I convinced myself that I don’t need to hit it 300 regularly as I used to. I convinced myself that my clubs were too old. In my mind the solution was right in front of me. We see the same type of rationale with the invalid. Every morning with the help of others he made his way to the pool. Every morning he hoped that the waters would “stir” with a healing spirit. He poured his hope into the pool. He had nothing left except the pool. Day after day he was let down.

But then this funky, Galilean teacher came by and in just moments Jesus had healed the man. Sometimes we put our hope in the wrong places. I don’t blame the man. Two thousand years later we are still putting our hope in the wrong places.

Covid-19 has provided many moments for spiritual growth. Today’s might be the most important. It will be tempting to put all our hope into a social distancing plan or a scientific study. But the man today reminds us that our number 1 hope should ALWAYS be Jesus.

Pastor Mat