Pick up your mat!

John 5:1-18

8 Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Immediately the man was well, and he picked up his mat and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.10 The Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It’s the Sabbath; you aren’t allowed to carry your mat.”

11 He answered, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

12 They inquired, “Who is this man who said to you, ‘Pick it up and walk’?”13 The man who had been cured didn’t know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away from the crowd gathered there.
14 Later Jesus found him in the temple and said, “See! You have been made well. Don’t sin anymore in case something worse happens to you.” 15 The man went and proclaimed to the Jewish leaders that Jesus was the man who had made him well.16 As a result, the Jewish leaders were harassing Jesus, since he had done these things on the Sabbath. 17 Jesus replied, “My Father is still working, and I am working too.”

Interestingly, John goes into a lot of explanation about the location of this miracle.  The number of colonnades, the size of the crowd, even the myths surrounding the location. It was a pagan temple and some translations of the Bible include this explanation in the 4th verse: “They waited for the moving of the waters. From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease he had.” 

Most translations omit this fourth verse because not enough of the ancient biblical manuscripts include it.  So while it may not be truth, it was true that the myth existed.  And that was enough to convince the guy in this story that he was an outsider.  Born lame, the guy had never been given a fair shake in life.  When the story opens, he is 38 years old.  We don’t know how long he’s been laying on a mat at the pool, or how he got there.  We don’t know if he has a home to go to at night or if someone brings him food.  We only know the desperation of his situation—he hangs out among the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed and among this crowd, he is singled out by Jesus as “one who had been in this condition a long time.”

See the contrast that John is making here.  The pool is beautiful, so beautiful in fact that it has inspired myths of supernatural healings, so beautiful that even the ugliest people can’t stay away.  And that is who they are.  Regardless of the compassion you and I may want to extend to them, in their day in their condition, they are the ugly.  And if you’ve been told every day for 38 years that you are ugly, you believe it.  So here in this most beautiful of places are the most degraded of society.  “The place spoke of the possibility of miraculous healing, of the remote chance of divine healing; but it was at best spasmodic, and at worst an idle dream.” (Tom Wright, John for Everyone)

But if we are really going to picture this scene with the eyes of our hearts, we must visit our pools. Your pool.  Your last ditch effort.  One more opinion.  One more counseling session.  One more pill.  One more lottery ticket.  One more drink.  One more attempt to fix you with your effort.  Hope stirs. Hope lifts.  Hope disappoints.

Hope. Lost.

Then the hope of the world walks onto the scene. The pool still reflects your distorted visage, but another kinder, gentler face appears just over your shoulder.  “In a flash, he does what the pool stood for but what it hadn't been doing very successfully.  And just like the official’s son, and the storm, a word is all it takes.  A command.”  The command to get up is the same word that means resurrection.  One by one, Jesus is resurrecting the cosmos. (Tom Wright, John for Everyone)

Today, the lame get up and walk.  Don’t miss the sign.

And don’t miss the signs all around us.  Beautiful sanctuaries, distorted souls. We are the blind, lame, and paralyzed.  Jesus, his Holy Spirit, is asking each of us a very important question today:

Do you want to be made well? 

Bill Myers supposes the following about miracle working: “But on more than one occasion he discovered people really didn’t want to be healed. Oh sure, they said they wanted help, but those were merely words. In reality, their crippledness had become their identity, the trademark of who they were. And for those afraid of losing their identity, who in their heart of hearts really didn’t want to be changed, the infirmity won’t leave.”  Even if the physical is healed, the physical breaks again because the soul is still sick. (Fire of Heaven)

Now we may each have a physical infirmity that we want God to heal.  And He may yet, for he is able.  But my concern as I type this is the condition of our souls, for Jesus warned, do not fear those who can kill the body, but fear that one who can kill both body and soul.  Our flesh will fail.  But if we have placed our life in Christ, we will live, body and soul.  So, it is important, says the sign of the miracle at Bethesda, that we allow Jesus to heal the inner brokenness, or as he said, “something worse may happen to you.” Maybe what Jesus is asking is, “Will you walk away from your bitterness, your resentment, your hurt?”

And that may hurt our feelings.  It may seem like Jesus is testing us.  Or it may seem like Jesus doesn't want to heal our physical problems.  Maybe this doesn't fit our notion of what God ought to be doing for us.  This action from God typically upsets religious folks like us.  The religious leaders in the book of John are mad because Jesus healed on the Sabbath (a questionable violation..is commanding healing work?) and then the man walked with his mat (a clear violation of the Sabbath code).  To which Jesus simply explains, “My Father is always at work.”  Jesus wasn't acting the way they thought a proper Jew (never mind Messiah) ought to be acting. 

That doesn’t seem to bother Jesus.  Jesus explains that he can’t be worried about their incredulities and insistence upon the letters of the law.  He has work to do. 

Could it be that the reason God created space for us to rest, that is Sabbath, was so that he could come to us and heal us and put us on the path to whole living.  Are there times, even as we sit in our sanctuary and hear the Holy Spirit speak to us, that we leave choosing to do nothing about it because…(it would be a lot of work). 

So here's my own little thought.  Jesus tells the guy to pick up his mat.  And it gets him a lot of trouble.  After all, mat-picking-up-and-walking offends sensitive religious sensibilities.   So, it must have been important for the guy to pick up the mat.  Maybe the importance of removing the mat was to solidify for the guy (and anyone else paying attention) that he wasn't coming back to the pool.

But what about us?  How many mats have left lying at our pools of desperation?  We plead, we beg, we cry, we vow.  We may even get up.  But we return to the mat because it possesses our identity.

Laura heard Jesus calling her to pick up her mat this week.  This is what she wrote to me:

I wanted you to know that I am doing better, that I am trying to stop negative thoughts / fears / anxiety from nesting.  I am trying to put everything at His feet, even though I really have no clue on how to do this... I have done the other way for so long... Try to explain why I am still at the pool, why I cannot get healed - like it was something I had tried but failed at.  I understand, between your sermon and Hunter's last week, that all I must do is ask for healing and forgiveness.  I cannot do anything to make me "deserve" it; it is a gift.  I believe that God has healed/forgiven me - maybe a long time ago when I first asked, or maybe that day in your office, when I really felt that some of my burden was lifted.  But regardless, I have been healed/forgiven.  I should get up and walk.  I should pick up my mat and head to the cross.  But I don't know how.  I am scared.  I wonder if the lame man was scared, or if he hesitated.  He didn't know how to walk, so do you think that Jesus gave him faith at the same time?  

I am ready to be healed, and I am ready to participate in a total renovation :)
I am picking up my mat, because I don't ever want to come back to this place...

Yes, Laura.  That's what healing is.  Being able to walk is temporary.  Faith to pick up your mat is eternal.  And that's what Jesus is up to.  That's the motivation behind the smile you see on his face in the reflection at your pool of desperation.  Jesus loves you and he has made your healing possible.  By grace, he is giving you faith.  

In the name of Jesus, get up.  Pick up your mat.  Don't come back to the pool.

(Thank you Laura for allowing me to use our correspondence.  I see the powerful transforming work that Jesus is doing in you.  You are radiant.)

What I've Learned at Buddy Walk

This weekend we will walk in our 6^th Buddy Walk, an awareness event for Down Syndrome.  Buddy Walks are held across the country this time of year to raise public awareness about Trisomy 21 and the community it affects.  But for me, Buddy Walk has become a classroom.  Here are some things I have learned at our annual Buddy Walks.

1. 1. Everyone can walk.  Our first year walking, we were invited to walk with another team.  The family we joined had been walking for five or six years, they had successfully pulled together teams of walkers, and had been instrumental in coordinating this huge community event.  I was so thankful that they adopted us in and let us experience Buddy Walk as members of the community and not as spectators.  I think that defines what I really want for my child.  I want him to live life, to contribute all of his beautiful gifts to his community.  I don’t want him to be a spectator in life, I want him to be a team player. At the time of his first walk, my little guy should have been taking his first steps.  It would be another year before that actually happened.  Fortunately, we had a great team of therapists who were undeterred: Joel would walk.  Unfortunately, we’ve already encountered  other situations where the immediate assumption is that he will ever only be a spectator.  People immediately want to define what he can’t do.  In reality, a “you can’t” attitude isn’t just applied to kids sporting extra chromosomes.  All of us have been told at some point, “you can’t.”  Which is why we all need cheerleaders, encouragers who say, “oh yes you can.”  Everyone walks at Buddy Walk.  Or rides or runs.  Little ones are in strollers, wagons, and on daddies’ shoulders.  Kids and pets run laps around walkers.  But eventually there is a single movement forward, and everyone is included.
   
   
   
   
   2. No one has to walk alone. For two years our family joined this other precious family.  Not just at the Buddy Walk.  In the walk of life.  The scariest moment in any of our lives is to think we have to face our struggles alone.  But nothing could be more false.  We were created for relationship.  And there is a family that has been created for each of us.  Some people are not born into great families, and they have to find a forever family.  Some people are blessed to find family everywhere they go.  Most of us experience a little of both.  The worst thing we can do to ourselves is hide in our fear and isolate ourselves.  Find a buddy.  The most amazing thing happens when you choose to walk beside someone: you look beside you and find someone walking with you.
   
   
   
   
   3. Long walks are better with friends.  Our third year we decided to venture to the Buddy Walk on our own.  Joel was in preschool and we invited his whole class to participate.  They made a banner for him and put their little hand prints on it.  Then we found out that a little friend in his class wanted to walk with us.  This little boy was a typical child, and was developing at an amazing rate.  He had a huge vocabulary and great athleticism, even at age 2.  Joel was walking pretty well at this point, but not talking yet.  He signed most of what he needed to communicate.  His speech therapist was trying to locate things in his world that he wanted to talk about.  Asking him to indentify random pictures just wasn’t working.  At this point he needed objects that produced “hard guttural stops” to talk about, words that start with K, hard G, or hard C.  And so we started talking about our new buddy Cole.  Every skill Joel develops is a hard won effort.  We’ve learned that these long roads of mastery are best mastered one small step at a time.  What a joy it is to find friends along the way that make the time pass, that give us joyful things to talk about, that celebrate not just the end, but every step along the way.
   
   
   
   
   4. Learn to walk your walk.  Two years ago the location of our Walk changed.  We went from making several laps around a track to one lap around a field.  I had no idea that the change would be noticed little baby Joel.  But while thousands of walkers stopped their stride to find easy rest under shade trees and tents, Joel kept walking.  He made another complete lap completely by himself, then content that his walk was now over, rested with his team.  While we need and celebrate all of the support around us, each of us has to find the personal courage to walk our own walk.  I can only be me.  Joel can only be Joel.  We’ll be miserable if we are trying to be someone we are not.  But if we learn to embrace who we are, to embrace our own stride, our own footprint, even our own meandering paths, we will discover the great strength our Creator has given us to be just who we are.
   
   
   
   
   5. Learn to appreciate another person’s walk.  Last year I again made the attempt to invite lots of people from our community to join our little team.   I was so honored that several families joined “Joel’s Heroes”, but I was most blessed to walk beside Carla.  Carla had already been to a walk that morning, a walk to “Make Strides Against Breast Cancer.”  It was pretty amazing that she would participate in two walks in one day.  It was absolutely inspiring to realize that the first walk was for her.  Carla had been fighting cancer in one form or another for most of her life.  She lost her leg during her childhood and walked with a prosthesis.  She lost her hair during the most recent battle with cancer and sported a gorgeous blonde wig.  Carla’s body had been ravaged by the disease and its treatment.  Her gait was wobbly and slow as she moved along with the Buddy crowd.  But, whose wasn’t?  Everyone on Joel’s team was so inspired by her walk with us.  I would learn over the next few months just how inspiring of a woman she was.  Carla’s physical body lost its battle to cancer this past spring.  Carla’s spirit was triumphant against cancer as people came from near and far to celebrate her life and marvel at this little woman and her strength and poise until the end.  I suspect we will have many more years of Buddy walks and I will appreciate every member of the team.  But I will never forget the year that we walked beside Carla.
   
   
   We are almost ready for our Buddy Walk this year.  We’ve had family come join us from across the country.  I’m not sure if Joel knows that all of this is for him or not.  But I believe he knows that we are for him.  And he has a team.  And each of us walks a stronger walk for being a member of team Joel.