I really like the Bible stories of Jesus. I like using them as parables.  But there is a problem with many of them because they are many times stories of miracles where someone had been previously deemed unclean by the Jewish leadership. Jesus corrected this notion in John 9 — that medical problems were brought on by something we do ourselves.  Medical conditions, bank accounts, maybe Aunt Litty’s temper, praying for these miracles is praying for these miracles, and we have faith it could happen but we know that the probability is low.  Miracles rarely happen. And if you pray for a miracle, and it does not happen, Jesus loves you.  God is still love.  You are still a good person. There is nothing wrong with your prayer life. It’s just time to adjust to reality that your miracle did not happen.

So these stories about miracles sometimes give us the sense that if we did everything right, we would get a miracle.  That is just not true.  Millions of miracles happen everyday.  We are by-in-large bad drivers and just to give that as an example, we survive day after day of traffic and intersections. Miracles probably stop at least a dozen accidents a day in this town. But if someone does not, and gets into a fender bender, then it wasn’t that God wasn’t interested in that person.  Sometimes reality is tough.  I don’t know why some miracles happen and others do not.  It will be one of the questions I will ask on the other side.

Those of us with disabilities and challenges have to struggle with our own misconceptions as well as a perception from others who unconsciously blame the person for their disability or condition.  So I asked a few of my minister friends how they handle the miracle stories in the New Testament because of two problems, because 1) miracles rarely happen and 2) they are ableist in telling these stories because of the beliefs of the day that made all people with disabilities part of the fringes of society.  That is not true, and we owe it to our brothers, sisters and selves to work for equity and inclusion in all aspects of life for everyone. It is our responsibility and a commitment we should make to each other –so that all people can be dealt with not just equally but with equity.

When I asked one of my minister friends how he handled talking about Jesus’ miracles he said I should “skip it” all together.  But I feel called to talk about this story because of something that it teaches.  So please see it as a parable. It opens the door to these discussions about accessibility and equity. Truly in the stories, the society should have been the one changing, not the people with the medical challenges, or both but not just the one with the challenge. 

There is story I feel compelled to share I consider a parable but Jesus acts it out instead of just telling it.  And this story is told in John 5 about a man by the Bethesda pool.  The story tells us a few things about the man.  He was paralyzed.  He needed to get into the pool to be able to go into the temple and participate in the rituals of the temple.  For thirty-eight years he had tried to get someone to put him in the pool, and no one had ever done this.  So in the story he lays there on a mat waiting for the right person to finally come along.

In this story it is a time of festivals at the Jewish temple.  People from all over are coming to Jerusalem to the temple for special rituals. This man with paralysis is laying by the entrance to the temple that most of the people will come by, so hundreds of people have come by him. Some have walked hundreds of miles, and all of them had to get in the mikveh or pool of water to cleanse before they could go in the temple.  They all had to enter the temple by this pool to cleanse first, so probably saw him and heard him ask for help to get in the pool.

The Bethesda pool was not a magical pool that those who had ailments or sores could come and wash.  That was added to the manuscript much later and is part of a pagan belief about other nearby pools.  But in the original text of John, the writer is talking about the two-basin water reservoir, a Jewish mikveh (ritual bath) near the Sheeps Gate in Jerusalem. Archaeological evidence suggests it served as a water supply for the Temple.   So this man had been seen and ignored by thousands of people over his life time.

So as the story goes, it does not say this man was surrounded by community.  He had no relatives or friends of any help.  No kind stranger had taken from their time to be a little generous and help him get in the water. Without a mikveh he couldn’t be taken into the temple for the rituals.  For thirty-eight years he had been wanting to get into the temple waiting for someone to have a kind heart and put him in the pool.  There was a barrier for this man between himself and worshipping God put there by hard hearted people who did not want to be kind for one moment.

God loves us just as we are with all of our warts, disabilities, all of our bumps, and mental and physical bruises.  What we see as an impediment, God can use as a talent. 

But we are told that a kind man did come by. Jesus just walked by, and this man on the mat could sense a kind heart.  “Maybe this man will help me get in this pool.”  The man with paralysis was very persistent and had not given up hope in this very long time of asking people to help him. But Jesus did want to help but on a completely different level.

Jesus said, “Do you want to change your circumstances completely?”

Do you want to change?

It will be a totally different set of expectations and completely different life in general.  Do you really want this?

So think about this seriously.

So many times Christ presents this question to us in so many different ways and through so many situations.  But Christ isn’t going to move you without your permission.  You have agency and Jesus dedicated his life to giving people choices and control.

And the man said, “Well I want to get in the pool.”  He never directly answered the question, but he was being honest not knowing Jesus’ powers.  The man could only think to keep asking the same question, “Will this person help me get in the water?”  Jesus had a bigger question to be answered. Jesus would have allowed the man to stay in his state if that was what the man wanted.  If the only thing the man really wanted was to get in the pool, Jesus  would have only put the man in the pool.  Christ doesn’t change us if we don’t want to change.  Life will change, and it is good to adapt if possible.  Some do and some don’t.  Jesus doesn’t force change. 

Thirty-eight years is a long time to depend on the habit of people coming by and refusing the man any help.  Talk about internalized oppression.

The man didn’t know to want to ask to not be paralyzed any longer. Miracles were not on his mind. His hope was just to get clean.  He hadn’t envisioned himself walking away from that spot, although he had probably thought of it a million times.  But Jesus was like, “Think bigger. If you could walk away, would you want that reality?”

For thirty-eight years there had been a barrier, a lack of accessibility for the man.  Jesus wants everyone to have an equal chance and opportunity. He never said it, but he definitely showed that he cared as much and more for those on the edges of society. 

But Jesus was totally present with this man.  His question had so many ramifications.  The man was getting the freedom to place himself in the pool of life. There was nothing going to be the same for him.  You would think it would be a positive and normal elated reaction.  But think about a change you need to make in your life, but you are stuck.

Life is not so easy or so rosy, and this story shows us a fact that is way deeper than the story on its surface.  What do we really want? Before you judge the man on the mat, ask yourself if you want to uproot and leave all that you ever owned and known and follow the love of Christ?  It sounds simple enough when you first say you want something different.  But how will it change your relationships, your routines, your control over aspects of your life that will be new and a little clumsy for a while?  That’s why we freeze and don’t move forward. Maybe you feel stuck. Sometimes we have to let go of what we know and trust God to help us make the next move.  Faith can be walking into a new life  at an older age and accepting a whole new perspective.

Think of the Jewish leaders who had walked past this Sheep’s Gate Sabbath after Sabbath. They were in a time of great change.  We can judge the ones who walked by, but when everything is moving around, you want something to be nailed down for comfort you many times focus on their rules.  Don’t we go to  what we know when we are anxious? Our beliefs and rules can give us that comfort. We too can get so caught up in our beliefs that we are judgmental and not totally present in an open, unassuming way. I suggest we spend our days this way for the most part, same old same old, and black and white thinking about what is right and what is wrong. We don’t adapt to what is around us.  We do the same thing the same way.  So before we judge someone, we should consider a bigger picture.  Start off with a radical idea that life is in constant change.  It’s up to you if you make it about growth or not.

Do something transformational like Jesus. Stop and connect and talk and truly listen to someone who suffers from our oppressive societal rules and games. Let go of norms and judgements.  Get to know them as people. 

Jesus was a proactive force encouraging this man to think of the unthinkable, to dream big. And he asked open-ended questions.  All of the Jewish people were celebrating in the temple, and there was Jesus by the water at the Sheep’s Gate, taking his time, getting to know one person.

The Sheeps Gate was significant to this story.  We know it was near the Pool of Bethesda, and it was the route used for temple sacrifices.  This is where you got ready to worship.  “I have my mikveh.  I have my sheep and a couple of pigeons.  I am ready to go forward to a closer walk with God.”  Are you ready to go through the Sheep’s gate?  Have you let go of all of the trappings of the past?  It’s time to go into the temple to pray.

While in silence this morning, you can reflect on these questions.

• Do you want to worship God?  What is in your way, and how can it be removed?
• Are you stuck? Do you want to change?  Are you being asked to redefine yourself in some big or small way?  Does our meeting/church want change?