A Doctor In The House

Is There a Doctor in the House?

Our son, proudly, took us on a tour of his new medical office, showing me where he had done a particular emergency procedure just the night before when he had been called away from our dinner as a part of his on-call duties.  His partner and he have been in the new building only a few months.  He took great delight showing me each piece of equipment, their audiology offices, hearing booth, special microscopes, and special chairs.  As we walked into his office, I looked over the entire wall of framed degrees, certifications, and commendations.  Suddenly, I was struck by amazement as I realized that not only did his office look like a real doctor’s office, but also that my baby boy was a REAL DOCTOR!  Finally, there was a doctor in the family. 

That slow but sure dawning that my son is a highly-qualified and competent physician reminded of a story recounted to us in John 5 in God’s Word about someone who failed to recognize the Great Physician Himself.  Jesus had gone to Jerusalem for the celebration of a Jewish feast.  There was a spring of water on the eastern side of the city.  A large structure with five porches had been built nearby.  Jewish tradition taught that an angel would occasionally stir the water and that the first person into the water, following the stirring, would be healed of any physical infirmity.  As a result, the porch structure was filled with multitudes of people who were impotent, blind, lame, and withered.  All were waiting for the unpredictable appearing of an angel of healing.

As Jesus walked among the people, all looking and waiting for this invisible angel to appear, he saw a man who had been lame for thirty-eight years.  Jesus knew all about the man, and, as He approached him, He asked a startling question.  He asked, “Do you want to be healed?”

What a strange question!  Wasn’t he lame?  Wasn’t he lying by a pool renowned for its healing abilities?  Wasn’t he in need?  Hadn’t he been waiting for healing for most of his life?  Yet, throughout God’s Word, we are reminded that neither God nor Jesus ever wastes a word; instead, we are commanded to live by every word of God.    So, why did Jesus ask the lame man a question with such an obvious answer?  The reason for the question might be found in the lame man’s response.

Immediately, the lame man answered Jesus’ question, which only required a simple “yes” or “no,” with an excuse which blamed others.  The lame man said, in today’s vernacular, “It’s not my fault.  No one cares about me.  No one will help me.  Someone else always gets to the healing waters before I can.” 

I find it fascinating that this man was talking to the Great Physician about why he couldn’t get healed rather than asking that he be healed.  He was waiting for an angel while talking to the doctor.  He was still trying to make an appointment while he was already in the office.  He was waiting for a big event, a mysterious agenda, help from others, while He was talking to the One who had created the first perfect human body.  He was looking for the healing while talking to the Healer.  He was waiting for the miracle, but the doctor was already in the house!

Jesus heard past his confusion, his self-pity, and his desire to blame others, though, and He said to him, “Rise, take up your bed, and walk.”  And, according to John 5:9, the lame did.  What a step of faith!  Literally!  The passage says that immediately, the man was healed, took up his bed, and walked!

Why did Jesus instruct the lame man to roll up the mat that had been his bed of confinement for so many years?  Perhaps, it was to avoid his returning to what had been his comfort zone for so long – a comfort zone of need, of self-pity, of doubt, of blame, of confinement, of pain.

When I am around my son Jamie, I don’t think of him as a doctor.  I remember one time, when his oldest daughter was a baby and running a high fever, I looked at him, instructing him to call a doctor.  I remember his patience as he looked at me and he, gently, reminded me that he is a doctor. 

How often do we cry out for healing, forgetting that we are calling out to The Healer?  We wait for someone or something to intervene rather than looking to the One who already sees us, knows us, knows what we need, and is willing to meet that need.  However, like the lame man by the pool, we expect – no, sometimes, demand – that the healing come a certain way, through a certain process, and at a certain time.  We blame others for putting us in those circumstances and we excuse ourselves for staying there. 

I believe that, just like He did with the lame man, Jesus meets us at our weakest moment, in our greatest pain, and in our darkest hour, not to leave us there, but to ask us the question, Do you want to be healed?  The Doctor is in the house.

© 2010 Gerry Sisk

(09/29/10)