Rev Ever­son Sie­u­nar­ine

The Amer­i­can writer RW Emer­son stat­ed: "The first wealth is health." The me­dia ap­peal to our in­nate de­sire to stay and keep fit and healthy. We are in­vit­ed to try ex­er­cis­es and di­ets, to pur­chase spe­cial con­coc­tions, to lis­ten to health gu­rus. Yet there are peo­ple who are not ea­ger or will­ing to im­prove their health. They even ap­pear to en­joy poor health whether be­cause of self-pity or the at­ten­tion they get. They are al­ways ready to de­scribe their con­di­tion. The gospel of John records an in­ci­dent when Je­sus was near a pool in Jerusalem, a pool which was pop­u­lar for its heal­ing prop­er­ties. It was be­lieved that, when an an­gel stirred up the wa­ter, the first per­son to en­ter the pool would be healed of any ill­ness. Je­sus met a man ly­ing ill near the pool. He was ill for 38 years and nev­er had the chance to get in­to the stirred wa­ter. Je­sus asked him, "Do you want to get well?" (John 5:6). It seems a strange ques­tion to ask a man sick for a long time.

The man did not know who Je­sus was but af­ter he gave an ex­pla­na­tion or an ex­cuse for not be­ing healed by the wa­ter Je­sus told him, "Get up, pick up your mat and walk" (John 5:8). We are peo­ple of­ten spir­i­tu­al­ly paral­ysed by past ex­pe­ri­ences or present anx­i­eties and fears. The ques­tions that face us re­late to our par­tic­u­lar sit­u­a­tion. Do you want mean­ing in your life? Do you want to be re­lieved of that bur­den of guilt and shame? Do you want to for­give that per­son who caused you so much pain? There is a cost for re­ceiv­ing this health or whole­ness Je­sus of­fers. When Je­sus found the healed man lat­er in the tem­ple, he ad­mon­ished him, "Lis­ten, you are well now so stop sin­ning, or some­thing worse may hap­pen to you." (John 5:14)

In oth­er words, Je­sus said that paral­y­sis of body is no longer an ex­cuse. You are re­stored to phys­i­cal health and so be care­ful what you do with your life. Je­sus of­ten asked his own dis­ci­ples ques­tions that puz­zled them or made them think deeply be­fore an­swer­ing. "Who do you think I am?" he asked them af­ter he heard them give oth­er peo­ple's views. Af­ter his res­ur­rec­tion he asked Pe­ter, the one who de­nied know­ing him, "Si­mon, son of John, do you love me?" (John 21:16)

Char­lotte El­liott (1789-1871) au­thor of the fa­mous evan­gel­i­cal hymn "Just as I am" suf­fered a se­ri­ous ill­ness in her 30s. She was con­fined to bed most of the time. When a vis­it­ing min­is­ter told her of her need to have peace with God, she replied that she need­ed to clean up her life first. But, the min­is­ter's in­vi­ta­tion was, "Come just as you are." These words in­spired the hymn that has brought many peo­ple to find in Je­sus the Physi­cian for soul, mind, spir­it and body. One of the vers­es says:

Just as I am, Thou wilt re­ceive

Wilt wel­come, par­don, cleanse, re­lieve,

Be­cause Thy promise I be­lieve

O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

In oth­er words, Je­sus said that paral­y­sis of body is no longer an ex­cuse. You are re­stored to phys­i­cal health and so be care­ful what you do with your life. Je­sus of­ten asked his own dis­ci­ples ques­tions that puz­zled them or made them think deeply be­fore an­swer­ing.