“When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, He saith unto him, “Wilt though be made whole?”

John 5:6


One of the wonderful and confusing things about reading the Bible, at least to me, is that even stories whose meaning I know can mean something quite different to another person.


For example, in the story of Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount we find Jesus climbing up on a hillside to speak. Naturally when I read it I assumed He was doing that so the entire crowd could see and hear him.


A few years ago, however, I was reading a book on the Sermon on the Mount by a Hindu scholar who said Jesus went up there to separate Himself from the crowd. By being on the hillside they could see Him teaching His disciples but could not hear what He said. That, the author noted, was a Hindu tradition, where lay people could see a guru teaching his followers but could not hear the teaching because they were not yet ready for it.


While I did not then, nor do I now, agree with this interpretation, it opened my eyes to the fact two people can read the same passage but come up with a completely different conclusion.


The story in John is another example.


To refresh everyone’s memory, the story involves a paralyzed man lying beside a pool called Bethesda. From time to time an angel stirred the water and the person getting in the water first would be healed.


This paralyzed man had been lying there for 38 years but was never able to get into the pool because someone was always ahead of him. Then, when Jesus came to the place, He healed the man.


My interpretation of the story was that the man was totally incapable of getting into the water to be healed on his own, just as we are totally incapable of healing ourselves of sin. Healing, salvation, can only come from Jesus and the only thing we can do is rely on and believe in His power and goodness.


Recently a Bible teacher I greatly respect offered a completely different take on the story.


Her interpretation was that the man could have at least inched closer to the pool in the 38 years he had been lying there. She also remarked on the fact the man complained no one was helping him and that he was expecting others to do what he could do himself, even though that might not be very much.


The verse quoted above was used to prove her point. Jesus asked the man if he really wanted to be healed because his actions did not seem to argue he did. If he had wanted to be made well, she maintained, he would have been doing something about it instead of just lying there.


Both of these interpretations can be justified by the story but both interpretations seem to be totally at odds with each other. The question arises — which one is correct?


May I respectfully suggest both and neither.


But how can that be? Something is either true or false. Am I falling for the situational ethics heresy, where something may be true in one case and false in another depending on how it affects me? Or am I saying there is no such thing as truth, that nothing is ever right or wrong and how I decide for myself is the only criteria?


No and no. Let me explain.


There is such a thing as right or wrong. Right cannot be wrong and wrong cannot be right. So how can both these interpretations of Scripture be right when they so obviously contradict each other?


The answer lies in the real message of the Scripture.


The message of the story in John is that we cannot save ourselves. We cannot heal ourselves. That is the ultimate teaching of Christianity and, for me, the difference between Christianity and every other religion.


Having studied other faiths, not just as an intellectual exercise but as a seeker open to new possibilities, the one conclusion I reached was that, as far as I could see, the major tenet of these other religious systems was that humans had to earn their salvation, to do something to be healed. Whether is was meditation or acts of charity or adherence to behavioral guidelines or correctly performing rituals, a person’s behavior was the key to salvation. Do this and you will be saved.


It’s the same as the answer most people give when they are asked if they are Christians. “Well, I try to do the right thing and be the best person I can. I go to church and I read the Bible. I try to follow the teachings of Jesus, like the Beatitudes, and I give to good causes. And I say ‘Merry Christmas.’”


But none of those things save us, according to Christianity. What saves us is the sacrifice Jesus made on the Cross.


Just like the man at Bethesda, it is impossible for us to get to the pool. We, just like him, are paralyzed. And even if we could get to the pool under our own strength, it was the angel stirring up the water who provided the healing. We could jump in the water all we wanted but if God had not acted it would be in vain.


At the same time we do have to answer the question “Do you want to be made whole?” And that’s not as simple as it seems.


Be honest. How many things do you have lying around your house that would make your life better, easier, simpler if you would just use them? What about that exercise equipment you haven’t set up yet? Or is set up but being used as a clothes rack? Or those kitchen appliances still in the box which would help you make healthier meals and save money by keeping you from going out? Or those clothes that still have the tag on them that would really spice up your wardrobe? Or at least stop you from complaining you have nothing to wear?


Maybe I’m just talking about myself, but I have a feeling there are a lot of people out there who have the same problem.


It’s easy to just relax into the status quo, even though the status quo is harmful. The rut is comfortable even when we complain about being bored. And there is always the fear that if we try something new it won’t work out.


There is also the danger that it will work out and we will be forced to do things we don’t want to do, to confront things about ourselves we don’t want to deal with. If we are saved we will be forced to try and live up to that higher standard. We will have to, as the man at Bethesda was told to do, get up and walk.


Ruts are both painful and comfortable. Most important, they are familiar. You know what is expected. You know what you can and cannot do.


But getting out of those ruts takes energy and effort and there’s no guarantee what you do will be successful. You may find yourself working hard for nothing.


Even more than that, we can’t really put out any energy or effort on our own. You can’t tell a paralyzed man to get up and walk if he hasn’t been healed. And he can’t heal himself.


The message of the Scripture is this, and it supports both interpretations. Healing comes from Jesus alone but we have to be ready to accept it and believe it and be prepared to accept it.


If you have been lying somewhere for 38 years and watched others being healed you tend to lose hope. And someone calling you lazy because you can’t move doesn’t help.


Jesus and Jesus alone saves. But we are expected to do something when He does. As Scripture says in James, “Faith without works is dead.”


By the way, Martin Luther called the Book of James “the epistle of straw.” It seemed to contradict his basic belief we are saved because of faith. He probably would have taken James out of the New Testament if he could.


And there is a great example of why both of the interpretations of John’s story can lead to different conclusions which are equally valid. We are not smart enough to truly understand Scripture. We need to humble ourselves to the fact God does not need our interpretation to make His Word true. He said it because it is true. But we are not smart enough, pure enough, good enough, spiritual enough to understand everything. We have to act on what we believe to be the truth while humble enough to realize we don’t understand everything.


In other words, we are paralyzed at the pool of Scripture and unless God stirs up the water and Jesus allows us to get into it, we are just lying there.