7. “Wants and Needs”
Readings: Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17:5-10, Acts 4:5-12, John 5:1-18
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, November 17, 2024
Jesus heals a crippled man He finds lying by a healing pool called Beth-zatha. John 5:6. “Jesus saw the man lying there, and He knew the man had been there for such a long time, so He asked him, “Do you want to get well?””
It seems like an odd question to ask a man who has been crippled for 38 years. 'Do you want to get well? Do you want to be healed?' This is a man who had spent most of life lying on a bed by a pool, waiting in vain for his turn to be immersed into healing waters. Every time it looks like it could be his turn, he claims somebody gets there before him. It seems a pitiful case. Jesus expresses no sympathy. He asks this strange question, 'Do you want to be made whole?'
Plainly the man would only get worse if there was not a change in his circumstances. He needed to be healed. But did he want to be? Sometimes we find it hard to discern between our wants, and our needs. One can only speculate as to what the man’s problem with becoming whole again might be.
Maybe he had become dependent on those around him to such an extent that he could not envisage a change in his circumstances. Presumably somebody took him to the pool every day. Presumably somebody took care of feeding him and clothing him and seeing to his everyday needs. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to spend every day at the pool, hanging out with people you knew and having all your needs taken care of.
Maybe he realized that in his current situation he was an object of people’s concern and sympathy. Maybe it felt good to know you were cared for and be at the center of the picture and the prospect of losing that worried him in some way.
Maybe he had simply become so used to his predicament, to his routine and his dependency, that he simply could not imagine how life could be any different or that any change was possible in his situation. Possibly he was just resigned to his fate and his status. He was a cripple. He was waiting for the moment when his chance came to participate in the lottery of the Beth-zatha pool.
A change in his situation would bring unknown challenges. How would he make his living? Presumably he had not had the opportunity to learn a trade or participate in any kind of career. What did he know about interacting with the everyday world? How would it change his relationships with other people? To move away from the pool would be a radical step to take and there were many unknown factors he would have to deal with.
So, Jesus asks him to think about it. “Do you want to made well again?” As the story progresses, we see other factors. In verse 14, after he has been healed, Jesus catches up with the man and tells him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you!” (John 5:14)
What has this man been doing that had somehow been sinful? We are never told. But was he staying at the poolside because there were things about his life he just did not want to confront or deal with? 'Go and sin no more!' is a loaded statement! He obviously needed help. Yet confronting the reasons for his predicament was not something he wanted to do. He seems content to make excuses. 'I haven't got anyone to put me in the pool. Everybody is ahead of me. I try, but I just never get there' (verse 7).
Jesus challenges the world with the good news of the gospel. Our world desperately needs the kinds of changes that the Kingdom He proclaimed suggested. Forgiveness. Love. Hope. Everybody needs those qualities. But not everybody wants them if it means they must make radical changes to the way they are currently doing things.
A guy said to his wife, “I don't want to go to church this morning... they talk so much, and they'll make me sing, and they'll hand that plate around and ask for money and I'm tired and I may drop off during the prayers, and I'm not in the mood for meeting people who are going to ask me how I'm doing.” And my wife said, “Adrian. Hold on. You are not retired yet. You have to go to church a couple more times. Right now you're still the pastor.”
People say they need community. People believe in spirituality. Yet suggest that maybe commitment to a local church might be a great place to generate such things and they look at you like you are from another planet. People have this vague idea that prayer might help but suggest having a regular prayer time as being part of their daily schedule and you are in danger of being branded a religious nutcase! 'That's not we ‘want’, that doesn't fit in with our lifestyle or how we ‘want’ things to be.'
The world is too much with us. Life moves along smoothly without anything that jolts us out of the ruts we have made for ourselves. God becomes dim and shadowy. Prayer seems unnecessary. Yet sometimes God has a way of awakening us. Trouble comes, or we face some stinging moral failure. We see a chasm opening where before the ground has seemed solid. Sometimes God can take these disasters and turn them into golden opportunities.
Jesus came to our world with that question 'Do you want to be healed?' We have our networks. We have our dependencies. We have our ways of dealing with things, we have our comfort zones! We have our list of excuses as to why radical discipleship isn't for us. If you think about it, we all create our own ways of declaring 'There is nobody to put us in the pool!' 'We can't envisage the kinds of changes you are asking us to make' 'If we change this, how will we manage to do that?'
Can we see here Christ's challenge to all of us? That as we truly open our hearts and lives to Him, then we are embracing something new, we are invited to live as part of a new kingdom, under a new Lord and subject to a new set of values. We are set free to make mistakes and learn from them, to make decisions and live with the outcome.
For to receive His healing, to accept the wholeness He offers, is to know that He loves us and wants us. The more of Him and the ways of His kingdom we accept, the more we realize our need. Maybe the bottom line is 'We believe in Jesus Christ'. For that faith to mean something it needs to be expressed in visible, tangible ways. Faith is something that needs exercising before it has any meaning or value.
We must learn to know the difference between our wants and our needs. There are a lot of things in life that we may want. But the one and only thing that will truly satisfy is a genuine faith relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. You’ll never find satisfaction without Jesus. He is the real need of every woman, man and child, and our hearts remain restless till they find their peace in Him.
That goes for churches as well. As you seek for new pastoral leadership, I’m sure every attender and member has an opinion as to what kind of pastoral leadership they want. Everybody has a favorite imaginary or former pastor or a time in their churches life which was special to them. And they think… that’s what we want!
But ahead of us are uncharted seas. The world as it was, is not the world as it is. And right now, the question to ask for a number of churches on the East End and beyond, is not, “What do we want?” but “What do we need?” And I pray that as you seek to discern with each other and with the Presbytery and most of all with God, seeking the direction of His Holy Spirit, that you will keep that question “What do we need?” (not “What do we want? but “What do we need?”) as a phrase that guides your discernment.
Now hear the challenge of Jesus ringing across the centuries ;
• Do we want be healed?
• Do we want to be made whole?
• Then let us take up our bed and walk!
• Let us seek, not what we want, but what we need.
May God help us all to rise to the challenges that are before us. Amen.
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.