“When I understood this teaching, I cried my eyes out.”
There is a text in the Bible that made me cry for months.
The text is The Paralytic of Bethesda (John 5:1–18).
The story tells of Jesus passing by a pool full of sick people.
The people are waiting for an angel who comes by occasionally and heals the first one who comes to the water.
There is a guy who has been sick there for 38 years. And Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be healed?”.
And the guy, instead of answering “Yes,” makes a drama out of it by saying, “Lord, I’m sick, and I have no one to help me get to the pool when the Angel comes. And someone else always arrives before me.”
Jesus did not ask him why he was there.
What he asked him was if he wanted to be healthy. But the guy insists that he is sick and that others always make it to the pool before him, and that is why he is not cured.
The sick man is ultimately saved because Jesus says, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”
Let us analyze the elements of the story
The Angel’s pool
The pool is a place full of people waiting for a miracle.
People who spend their lives waiting for someone to help them. People who spend their lives waiting for luck to smile on them. People who forget their power. People who delegate all responsibility to fate.
Moreover, from time to time, the Angel passes by, and the first one to reach the waters is cured; people tell about it and make a call effect.
That is why we see that where there is one little complainer, there are always four or five more nearby.
Life has been like that since the time of Jesus 🙂
The sick man
Why is a paralytic guy who has been sick for 38 years still there trying to get well when it is evident that no one will help him get to the water first when the Angel comes down?
There are several reasons.
- Misery is always looking for company. A victimizer always feels at ease surrounded by people who are also self-pitying.
- Because he has been sick for so long, his illness (his problem) has become his identity.
- Because he needs to come last every time the Angel comes down to reaffirm his role in the world: the loser.
Jesus and his question
That is why Jesus, who always respects people’s free will, asks him, “Do you want to be saved?”
He does not say to him, as in other passages of the Bible, “If he has faith…” or something like that, only if he WANTS to be cured.
Because to will is to be able.
But the sick person does not say “Yes.” — Faithful to his victimizing nature, he tells him all his existential drama first.
Jesus ignores his excuses and orders him, “Get up, take up your bed and walk.”
These are three orders with a significant meaning.
- Get up: Take the first step out of your comfort zone.
- Take up your bed: Take charge of your problem (whatever it is).
- Walk: Set out again on your life’s path, free from the limitations of your past identity.
The revelation
When I understood this teaching, I cried my eyes out.
I cried because I realized that I had been lying on the ground for more than 30 years.
I cried because I realized that even though I knew that no one would come to help me, I was still waiting for someone to help me rebuild my life.
I cried because I realized that whenever someone tried to open my eyes and told me, “Do you want to be healthy?” I only told them my sad story so they would pity me.
I cried because I realized that I always thought my situation was the fault of the universe that rewarded others with the opportunities I needed to get out of my problems.
I cried because I realized that I was too comfortable in my role as a victim, and I didn’t want to heal.
I wanted to stay down, self-pitying and blaming others.
I cried because I hadn’t realized that the only thing I had to do was to get up, get out of my victimhood, face my problems, and get on with life.
It was a challenging but necessary lesson.
If I hadn’t learned it, I would still feel sorry for myself, begging for sympathy.
And I don’t want that to happen to you.
I’ve written this article to help you take charge of your life and stop waiting for someone else to help you get to the pond first.
You don’t need the pond; you don’t need the Angel. As Jesus said, you need to want to be healthy.
So, whatever your problem is, get up, deal with it, and keep walking.
A virtual hug
AG
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