Pre-Camp Reflections

John chapter 5 opens on a scene in Jerusalem... a pool. Near what was called the Sheep Gate of the city, and the pool was called Bethesda. The characters? A wide array of what the Scripture refers to in the text as "invalids." These included the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. {Note: at the time, these people believed that every so often at this pool, an angel of the Lord would come down and stir the waters, and whoever entered the waters first after they were stirred would be healed.}  

We zoom in and notice the man Jesus noticed; a man who had been an invalid and unable to walk for THIRTY EIGHT YEARS. Oh that's a long time. Perhaps 38 years of laying down. Having to constantly rely on others for help. 38 years that was likely accompanied by, as many chronic physical illnesses are, emotional depression and even despair at times. 

Jesus asks him the obvious in verse 6, "Do you want to me healed?" Sometimes I wonder why Jesus asked him that. I mean, if I was crippled for 38 years I think a desire for healing would go without saying. But I actually love that Jesus asked him this. The man's answer was not a simple "YES," however. When asked if he wanted to be healed he went on to explain and describe all the reasons he hadn't been healed before...

1) He had no one to put him into the pool when the water was stirred up; and 

2) Every time he was about to get into the waters, someone went in before him. 

I can understand his frustration. His opportunities for healing, according to his understanding, came and went each time someone else - someone quicker, more able-bodied, perhaps someone with more people willing to help them - beat him to the pool. He was helpless. Or so he thought. 

Jesus' reply? "Get up, take up your bed, and walk" {verse 8}. 

"And AT ONCE the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked" {verse 9}. 

Tomorrow we leave for our annual high school camp. Can't believe that week is here AGAIN. Feels like the year in between last summer's camp and tomorrow just flew by. We're going to load up four buses tomorrow with a bunch of high schoolers, and take them to the middle of nowhere for six days, KNOWING we're gonna have a ton of fun, and KNOWING we serve a God who loves them each and is so hoping to capture, re-capture, or sustain their attention on him. There will be many who are spiritual "invalids," in a sense. Those who don't yet know Jesus as their personal Savior; those who claim to walk with Christ but whose lives, according to the evidence, aren't being lived for Jesus; and others who want to know and follow God, but who have been so deeply wounded in their lives that their own hurt is the biggest obstacle to understanding the HOPE they have in a loving Savior.

The blind. 

The ones whose eyes have been blinded by the enemy thus far (2 Corinthians 4:4), but who are about to become gloriously wide-eyed as the grace of Jesus becomes real in their lives!

The lame. 

Those who have allowed their passion, resolve, and obedience in daily decisions to be debilitated by the seemingly more alluring influences and pressures of the world we live in. 

The paralyzed

Those who are so deeply wounded by others, by themselves, by evil, that every relationship/ emotion in their life is clouded and stunted by the hurts that they carry. The hurts they're trying to heal in so many ways. 

Like the man who had been an invalid for 38 years, the invalid life is all that some of our students know. Maybe they've even gotten comfortable being dissatisfied, unloved, disobedient. 

Some students have sought "healing," and wholeness in their lives in so many different ways. Popularity, success, recognition, drugs, alcohol, self-afflicted wounds, relationships, sex, TV, their iPhone, social media, etc. Some have become so desperate and feel so utterly hopeless that the best, most permanent idea they can think of is just to end it all. Figuratively, they could travel from "pool" to "pool," hoping to dip into what they think will solve the emptiness and the hurt once and for all. 

Only to come to camp this week, where I believe Jesus is going to ask the obvious of many students: 

"Do you WANT to be healed?" 

Do you want to be made whole? 

Do you want to live a life of meaning? 

Are you ready for your life to be different? 

True life change won't just happen by accident. Jesus wants our YES; and with that, He can and will, as I've seen many times, truly, deeply overhaul us from the inside out in the most beautiful way. 

Some will answer with excuses... things in they are unwilling to change; sins or habits they don't want to surrender; perhaps they're convinced Jesus doesn't understand that they have MORE hurt than He could ever possibly understand or truly heal; or it's not their fault that they're making bad choices... it's their past, their family, their school, their friends, etc {p.s. In no way am I trying to undermine the influence that broken homes, abuse, damaged relationships, etc have on the life of a student. BUT I have seen some adopt a "victim-of-life" mindset that ultimately only cripples them more; and have seen others claim the VICTORY only Jesus gives and live not as a victim to their past but a victor in spite of it}.

And to all those students who come ready, who come broken, who come crippled... Jesus will say, "IT'S ME. I'm your healer. Don't worry that you can't get into the pool. I AM." And then, by steps of faith, those students will be called to get up. To rise up. To go public with their decision. To be brave. To make the conscious choice to make conscious choices every day to turn to Jesus for their salvation, healing, fulfillment, wholeness, newness.  And to walk. To take action, perhaps physical action. To live in light of being now healed, restored, saved, set apart. OH GLORY! 

One final thing I find interesting in the story is that later, in verse 14, Jesus goes and finds this newly healed man in the temple. Jesus said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." Jesus didn't JUST meet this man's need for physical healing. Jesus always went for the heart. Knowing that this man's new ability to walk was not the only thing he needed. Jesus knew that the man would once again become an "invalid," spiritually crippled, ill, unwell, debilitated, if he continued to live in sin. Jesus' heart for us is not JUST physical freedom (though He IS a God of healing, I truly believe that) but spiritual, emotional freedom as we walk in His light, His will, and according to His ways for our lives. 

Praying this coming week that some students realize, maybe for the first time, that they are spiritually crippled, but don't have to stay that way. Praying students' eyes are opened. Praying some of them gain such an incredible passion for the Lord that, upon Jesus' offer to take over their lives, they can't help but GET UP. And WALK. And KEEP WALKING. With Him. For a lifetime. 

Oh Come, Lord Jesus. Go before us and with us tomorrow and this next week. Amen.