God’s Questions: On Identity
Last week I wondered about God asking questions and mused that since he is omniscient, his asking has nothing to do with information and everything to do with revelation.
Every question God asks prompts listeners to understand a bit more of who he is, and who we are, and who we are in light of him. Questions move folks toward revelations of new territory.
Some times they are personal: “What have you done?” to Cain with blood on his hands.
Other times philosophical: “What will it profit a person if they gain the whole world, but forfeit their soul?”
Still, when God asks any question, it’s worth paying attention and posing the question to oneself. Last week, the question was the one to Adam and Eve after they went their own way and left home, convinced they didn’t need and couldn’t trust God. God asked, “Where are you?”, and the same is posed to us when we stray.
This week we turn to the gospels in John 5.
This is a well-known story of Jesus and a guy at a pool. Take a listen.
Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches.
Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him,
“Do you want to get well?”
“I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”
Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”
The legend with this pool was that occasionally an angel would stir up the water and the first one down into it would be healed. So, this place attracted any number of desperate people looking for a miracle.
The guy in the story had been dealing with his infirmity for 38 years, and his identity was wrapped around the axle of his illness. Solidly in his victim identity, he never answered the question from Jesus, and Jesus doesn’t press the issue. Instead, he bypasses the magic water and any demand of faith and just heals with a word acted upon.
Think about how long the man had waited, watching his dreams die, friends leave, and world shrink to the size of a small-ish pool inside the city gate. His only company were the other unfortunates waiting for their own miracle. 38 years. Consider how much you have lived since 1988. It wasn’t only his body that was crippled, but his soul.
Do you want to get well? reveals who this guy thinks he is and what he is relying on for life. The question cuts clean across his excuses and exposes what would never work.
Back in college in a Psy 101 class, the prof brought in a mobile that was all tangled up, hanging in a clustered mess. He explained to the group this was like people made dysfunctional by their circumstances, and, over time, conclude it just is the way life is, because untying the mobile looks impossible. Also, the disruption to the whole thing if one part is untied causes more chaos than living with the damage.
We are surrounded by people with tangled mobiles and who feel stuck in their situation, maybe even you. Their burden becomes their identity. Bad health. Toxic relationships. Unfair boss. Dead end life. And the chaos seems overwhelming, so we/they sit by the pool waiting for the miraculous.
But then Jesus comes along and asks, “Do you want to get well?”
I’m no therapist, but answering this question sure seems like a necessary first step toward leaving one’s false identity and moving toward our true identity in Jesus. He majors in untangling our twists in the mobile and instills us with the courage needed to confront the work it takes to get well.
So, the question resonates whenever we find ourselves stuck poolside filled with hopefully magic waters. It is the starting point for change. Do you want to get well?
Pray for strength to face your deficits, and ask for eyes to see who you are in Christ, to grasp the hope you have in him and the understanding as to what it looks like to follow him in your situation. And find an advocate to help you pick up your mat and walk toward newness.
It won’t be easy and the path will certainly have its blind corners, but it may just turn out to be the beginning of a whole new life. Our true identity is in Jesus.
Music for the week
Jokes? Sure, anytime…but no guarantee of quality
A man visiting a doctor says, "Doctor, I just dropped in to tell you how much I benefited from your treatment."
The doctor replied, "But you are not one of my patients."
The man said, "I know. But my uncle Bill was, and I am his heir."
*******************
I've had laryngitis, tonsillitis, hepatitis, meningitis, appendicitis, tendonitis, and colitis. I've also suffered from gastritis, bronchitis, gingivitis, bursitis, and arthritis.
I've been held up, held down, hung up, strung up, stood up, bulldozed, bloody-nosed, blackjacked, hijacked, squeezed, frisked, and mooched. Stuck with excess profits tax, personal property tax, utility tax, inheritance tax, sales tax, school tax, gasoline tax, income tax, excise tax, surtax, liberty bonds, savings bonds, a couple of bail bonds, and the bonds of matrimony.
I've helped the Red Cross, the White Cross, and often been double-crossed. Helped the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and a few Talent Scouts. Helped children's hospitals, mental hospitals, VA hospitals, spoke out for civil rights, women's rights, animal rights, men's relief, and stomach relief.
I have worked for a dog, and worked like a dog, and still lost all I had. I've been set aside, pushed aside, hit broadside, and had to sit outside. Demoted and misquoted. Walked on, jumped on, dumped on, rained on, snowed on, stomped on, spit on, cut on, and ratted on.
I've been put off, run off, and ripped off. Intimidated, interrogated, berated, separated, and violated. I've been cussed, and discussed, boycotted, stunned, shunned, and shocked. Criticized, despised, ostracized, victimized, brutalized, capsized, analyzed, and ill-advised.
Slapped, trapped, and wire-tapped. I've been used, abused, bruised, refused, confused, but never excused. Talked about, lied about, lied to, bawled out, chewed out, kicked out, knocked out, but never bailed out.
I've been assailed, derailed, and blackmailed. Scammed, slammed, burned, stung, stoned, robbed, cheated, booed, sued, misconstrued, and almost drowned.
And the only reason I'm sticking around is...???
I just want to see what's gonna happen next!
