Monday Moment: November 21, 2005

By Dr. Michael A. Halleen
Nov 21, 2005, 14:46

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Mike Halleen

Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool . . . called Bethesda. . . . Here a great number of disabled people used to lie. (John 5:2, 3)

John chose to tell the story of this pool and of what happened there one day when Jesus walked by because he was struck by the name-Bethesda. It means "house of mercy." He thought it ironic-and disturbing-that the place where people came to be made whole had so little effect on so many. The House of Mercy was full of disabled souls.

The people who gathered around that ancient pool believed that when the water was stirred, the first person in would be healed. An angel, they thought, had been sent by God as a sign that God was ready to do a miracle. Trouble was, it seldom happened. So they lay there day after day, a great company of dysfunction . . . waiting . . . hoping for a bolt from the blue.

What John saw was that the Church is much like that pool. It has a wonderful name and purpose-the place of healing, the place where those with something wrong in life can be changed. But there people sit, year after year, waiting for someone from on high to stir the waters. Maybe there will be a campaign or a conference, maybe a retreat or a reformation. Maybe it will touch me, they think. Maybe then my life will be different.

John went on to tell of Jesus seeing a man there who had lain in the House of Mercy for thirty-eight years without ever being made well. The man complained that no one had helped him into the pool when the water was stirred. (The conference helped others, but I got nothing from it. The retreat made a difference for my friend, but not for me.) So there he was still-invalid, ineffective, apparently content to be out of action for half a lifetime.

The question hit like a hammer: "Do you want to get well?" The man found the will to say yes, and he heard, "Then get up! Pick up your mat and walk!" This man was responsible for his own wellness. God is active in making us whole persons, but God does not stimulate wholeness through events beyond our reach-a stirring of the waters-but rather through faith, courage and the will within us. The door to the House of Mercy-to that place where health happens-is my own heart.

You Are Rich, a collection of sixty Monday Moments, is now available as a book. Send $12.00 for each book ordered to Monday Moments, P.O. Box 641, Excelsior, MN 55331. Make checks payable to Monday Moments. (Minnesota residents add 6.5% sales tax.)

Monday Moments are written by Dr. Michael A. Halleen. You can contact Mike at mhalleen@att.net to be added to or removed from the distribution list.

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