Do You Want to Be Made Well? Make it Happen!
Commentary
The church is a work in progress — and we are expected to be a critical part of that church’s work. In the absence of synagogue worship, Lydia and her fellow believers meet anyway at the riverside. Their faithfulness leads to Paul’s dream which helps create something where there was nothing. The passage from Revelation creates a target for us to aim for, and to work for, even as we wait for its perfect fulfillment. And in John’s Gospel, Jesus works miracles of healing — but he invites the paralytic — and us — to name clearly what it is we want and to play a part in the kingdom’s realization.
Acts 16:9-15
The church is a new creation, but it is also a work in progress. During Paul’s ministry, synagogues in the various cities he visited served as the staging area for his evangelism. In Philippi, a city on the main east-west road across Macedonia, north of the Greek city states, there was no synagogue because there were not ten men to provide a quorum. Lydia, a purveyor in purple (which required a royal patent to produce), along with several other believing women, was faithful despite the absence of an official meeting place. So the women met informally by the riverside for prayer. This is in contrast to many of us in the current age who also live in a largely unbelieving era, and who therefore excuse ourselves from participating more fully in the life of the Body of Christ. We don’t look for or find a church, however humble, to worship God and serve the world.
Lydia and company are bringing the Body of Christ to life without knowing it. And their faithfulness has a result. I’m reminded of Revelation 5:8, which tells us the prayers of the faithful are part of the “golden bowls of incense” which enliven heaven’s joyous worship. The women’s prayers are heard, and Paul receives a dream.
It's not said that Lydia’s ladies are praying for anything in particular, but God knows best their need. In Paul’s dream, a “man” from Macedonia begs him to visit, so he departs from his planned itinerary and heads to Macedonia where the Spirit leads him to the women in worship. While if I were starting a church, I would want legions of faithful believers who know what they’re doing, it’s interesting that the believers, who will come to include Paul’s jailer and his household, as well as the manufacturing household dwelling in Lydia’s villa which becomes Paul’s temporary headquarters, along with perhaps the slave girl who is freed from her spiritual chains and economic bondage, accomplishes almost effortlessly what Paul has been striving for — bringing together people of different economic classes together not only to worship, but to eat together. Perhaps because these people have no preconceived notion of how church works much more is accomplished much more quickly.
This scripture invites us to pray faithfully, trusting in what God may be planning, and without preconceived notions to be prepared for whatever God designs and desires. It begins with faithfulness, which is something God desires we perform together, even if there is not an obvious agency for us to accomplish things. Our prayers are woven into God’s tapestry as part of the grand design in which the divine well is done. We may not be able to draw upon the church structures we are used to — we are living in a new age of Christianity, after all, a major transformation that was accelerated by the pandemic. But God is accomplishing great things with us as we open our hearts to worship, prayer, and listening.
Revelation 21:10, 22--22:5
One of the themes I’m exploring in this installment of Charting the Course is helping to make God’s will happen even if what we’re doing doesn’t seem directly connected to it. I’m attracted to several aspects from this passage. First of all, it is a view from a height! The Spirit takes the revelator high up in a heavenly mountain to look down on the city so he can get the long view. He sees several things. The temple, so prized and so pined for after its destruction, is not necessary, since the lamb is present in the midst of the New Jerusalem, just as we, the Body of Christ, are the church, in the midst of the city and the world, something that’s hard to see because we can’t help but cherish the memories and history we associate with a beloved building. We are meant to be the visible presence of Christ in the world now — not our building.
The gates are never closed and the kings of the earth, who have been the symbol of evil throughout Revelation (see especially 19:19) only now, after the last judgement, are leading the parade into the New Jerusalem. This suggests we cannot afford to give up on people, and nations, and the times. God is working in very mysterious ways.
And finally, I’m intrigued by the return of the tree of life, which we saw way back in Genesis. Its leaves are for the healing of the nations. Our salvation is connected with the tree of life, and with trees, and with the natural world that surrounds us, for which we have been called to be stewards since creation. We are all of us, humans, animals, creepy, crawly things, birds, sea creatures, the grasses, the forests, the rivers, the fish of the sea and the life at the bottom of the ocean, all of this, we’re all in this together. What we do, and the choices we make, matter.
Now.
There’s the old story of the man who impressed his neighbors by the targets painted on his barn, all of which sported a bullseye! The neighbors stopped being impressed when they realized he simply shot at the barn and then painted targets around each bullet hole. We need real targets to aim at, and this vision of Revelation, revealing God’s ultimate aim for humanity and nature, gives us something to shoot for. God will bring about its perfect fulfillment, but to simply dismiss the horrors around us as God’s will when we are meant to be part of the agency that makes all things well is to ignore what God intends for us to be about.
Now.
John 5:1-9
Do you want to be made well? Simple answer — YES! But what does this text suggest we do? Simply wait passively until Jesus is ready to heal us? I’m not so sure.
Last year I attended a symposium in Bridgewater, Virginia, and listened as Margaret Elwell, assistant professor of Peace Studies at Bethany Theological Seminary, Richmond, Indiana, addressed the text. (I also reported on the conference for Brethren Newsline, and the next two paragraphs are adapted from my reporting.)
She called to mind the story of Jesus and the paralytic at the pool (John 5:2-9) who because of his disability was never able to be the first into the healing waters when they were stirred. Jesus “recognized the agency of the man in front of him,” and instead of addressing the problem of why healing could not happen, addressed the importance of the man’s free will. Jesus told him to stand up, take up his mat, and walk. “Free will is a source of healing,” Elwell said.
So I had to sit down with the passage and reread it. Jesus indeed asks this man, ill for 38 years “Do you want to be made well?” The man’s first response is to state the obvious, that when the pool was stirred others were able to get to it first and receive healing. This is a sad situation. Now Jesus is ready to heal him miraculously, but look at what he says first, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” He is saying the man has something to do as a partner in healing. Like Elwell said, “Free will is a source of healing.” It’s also something of an obligation!
Think about it. Some are unable to get to the pool of healing because of their inability to get insurance or navigate the maze of insurance regulations. Sometimes we can get partial or total payment for our expensive prescriptions by contacting the manufacturer of a specific drug (I had two friends who were able to get extraordinarily expensive hepatitis drugs for free even though they did not have insurance coverage, because they spoke to them directly). Others may need rides, or other means of helping.
I’ve been a diabetic for over thirty years, and there is much that is available to help with that condition, but it requires the willingness to become a partner in healing. I know sadly some who tell me it’s just not worth it to see medical help or to follow it.
Do you want to be made well? There is help for the darkness of depression (which is a physical, not a spiritual ailment). Don’t let fear of stigma prevents many of seeking help. Let’s work together, helping others, and reaching out for help, because when those are waters are moved we need to be ready to act.
Acts 16:9-15
The church is a new creation, but it is also a work in progress. During Paul’s ministry, synagogues in the various cities he visited served as the staging area for his evangelism. In Philippi, a city on the main east-west road across Macedonia, north of the Greek city states, there was no synagogue because there were not ten men to provide a quorum. Lydia, a purveyor in purple (which required a royal patent to produce), along with several other believing women, was faithful despite the absence of an official meeting place. So the women met informally by the riverside for prayer. This is in contrast to many of us in the current age who also live in a largely unbelieving era, and who therefore excuse ourselves from participating more fully in the life of the Body of Christ. We don’t look for or find a church, however humble, to worship God and serve the world.
Lydia and company are bringing the Body of Christ to life without knowing it. And their faithfulness has a result. I’m reminded of Revelation 5:8, which tells us the prayers of the faithful are part of the “golden bowls of incense” which enliven heaven’s joyous worship. The women’s prayers are heard, and Paul receives a dream.
It's not said that Lydia’s ladies are praying for anything in particular, but God knows best their need. In Paul’s dream, a “man” from Macedonia begs him to visit, so he departs from his planned itinerary and heads to Macedonia where the Spirit leads him to the women in worship. While if I were starting a church, I would want legions of faithful believers who know what they’re doing, it’s interesting that the believers, who will come to include Paul’s jailer and his household, as well as the manufacturing household dwelling in Lydia’s villa which becomes Paul’s temporary headquarters, along with perhaps the slave girl who is freed from her spiritual chains and economic bondage, accomplishes almost effortlessly what Paul has been striving for — bringing together people of different economic classes together not only to worship, but to eat together. Perhaps because these people have no preconceived notion of how church works much more is accomplished much more quickly.
This scripture invites us to pray faithfully, trusting in what God may be planning, and without preconceived notions to be prepared for whatever God designs and desires. It begins with faithfulness, which is something God desires we perform together, even if there is not an obvious agency for us to accomplish things. Our prayers are woven into God’s tapestry as part of the grand design in which the divine well is done. We may not be able to draw upon the church structures we are used to — we are living in a new age of Christianity, after all, a major transformation that was accelerated by the pandemic. But God is accomplishing great things with us as we open our hearts to worship, prayer, and listening.
Revelation 21:10, 22--22:5
One of the themes I’m exploring in this installment of Charting the Course is helping to make God’s will happen even if what we’re doing doesn’t seem directly connected to it. I’m attracted to several aspects from this passage. First of all, it is a view from a height! The Spirit takes the revelator high up in a heavenly mountain to look down on the city so he can get the long view. He sees several things. The temple, so prized and so pined for after its destruction, is not necessary, since the lamb is present in the midst of the New Jerusalem, just as we, the Body of Christ, are the church, in the midst of the city and the world, something that’s hard to see because we can’t help but cherish the memories and history we associate with a beloved building. We are meant to be the visible presence of Christ in the world now — not our building.
The gates are never closed and the kings of the earth, who have been the symbol of evil throughout Revelation (see especially 19:19) only now, after the last judgement, are leading the parade into the New Jerusalem. This suggests we cannot afford to give up on people, and nations, and the times. God is working in very mysterious ways.
And finally, I’m intrigued by the return of the tree of life, which we saw way back in Genesis. Its leaves are for the healing of the nations. Our salvation is connected with the tree of life, and with trees, and with the natural world that surrounds us, for which we have been called to be stewards since creation. We are all of us, humans, animals, creepy, crawly things, birds, sea creatures, the grasses, the forests, the rivers, the fish of the sea and the life at the bottom of the ocean, all of this, we’re all in this together. What we do, and the choices we make, matter.
Now.
There’s the old story of the man who impressed his neighbors by the targets painted on his barn, all of which sported a bullseye! The neighbors stopped being impressed when they realized he simply shot at the barn and then painted targets around each bullet hole. We need real targets to aim at, and this vision of Revelation, revealing God’s ultimate aim for humanity and nature, gives us something to shoot for. God will bring about its perfect fulfillment, but to simply dismiss the horrors around us as God’s will when we are meant to be part of the agency that makes all things well is to ignore what God intends for us to be about.
Now.
John 5:1-9
Do you want to be made well? Simple answer — YES! But what does this text suggest we do? Simply wait passively until Jesus is ready to heal us? I’m not so sure.
Last year I attended a symposium in Bridgewater, Virginia, and listened as Margaret Elwell, assistant professor of Peace Studies at Bethany Theological Seminary, Richmond, Indiana, addressed the text. (I also reported on the conference for Brethren Newsline, and the next two paragraphs are adapted from my reporting.)
She called to mind the story of Jesus and the paralytic at the pool (John 5:2-9) who because of his disability was never able to be the first into the healing waters when they were stirred. Jesus “recognized the agency of the man in front of him,” and instead of addressing the problem of why healing could not happen, addressed the importance of the man’s free will. Jesus told him to stand up, take up his mat, and walk. “Free will is a source of healing,” Elwell said.
So I had to sit down with the passage and reread it. Jesus indeed asks this man, ill for 38 years “Do you want to be made well?” The man’s first response is to state the obvious, that when the pool was stirred others were able to get to it first and receive healing. This is a sad situation. Now Jesus is ready to heal him miraculously, but look at what he says first, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” He is saying the man has something to do as a partner in healing. Like Elwell said, “Free will is a source of healing.” It’s also something of an obligation!
Think about it. Some are unable to get to the pool of healing because of their inability to get insurance or navigate the maze of insurance regulations. Sometimes we can get partial or total payment for our expensive prescriptions by contacting the manufacturer of a specific drug (I had two friends who were able to get extraordinarily expensive hepatitis drugs for free even though they did not have insurance coverage, because they spoke to them directly). Others may need rides, or other means of helping.
I’ve been a diabetic for over thirty years, and there is much that is available to help with that condition, but it requires the willingness to become a partner in healing. I know sadly some who tell me it’s just not worth it to see medical help or to follow it.
Do you want to be made well? There is help for the darkness of depression (which is a physical, not a spiritual ailment). Don’t let fear of stigma prevents many of seeking help. Let’s work together, helping others, and reaching out for help, because when those are waters are moved we need to be ready to act.
