Health Care at Bethesda General (John 5:1 -6ff)

The Rev. Dr. H. Beecher Hicks, Pastor, Metropolitan Baptist Church, Washington, DC

It was a hospital the likes of which you have never seen.  And they came because this hospital was their last hope.  It didn’t start out as a hospital – it was really intended as a health spa, the kind with natural whirlpools and soothing baths – but it wound up that way, a gathering place for the hurting and the helpless. This is where they came – some incurable, some contagious, some cancerous, some terminal, some with malignancies, all suffering with the peculiar infections, fevers and odors associated with suffering and the indignities of human filth. This is where they came for there was really nowhere else to go.  And they called it Bethesda General but it was a hospital the likes of which you have never seen.

 

John is the one who tells this story.  He tells it better than most.  He sort of folds it in along with the rest of the stories he tells about some strange goings on in and around Jerusalem. 

 

He starts off, as you know, with the story of a wedding reception down in a little place called Cana of Galilee.  I don’t know how it happened but it turns out when the wine ran out Jesus took six water pots and turned water into wine. No doubt, that’s when somebody said, ‘Let’s get the party started!’

 

While He was on His way he stopped by the home of a preacher named Nicodemus.  He woke him up at midnight; Nicodemus still had his preaching robes on. And Jesus wanted to talk with him over the issue of whether preachers needed to be saved. Jesus wanted to raise an issue with this preacher on the subject of preaching without conversion.  The conversation didn’t last very long.  All He said was, “Nicodemus, you must be born again.” (3:3)

 

It wasn’t long after that Jesus found Himself in a city of the Samaritans, one Sychar by name. He wound up out by the well in the center of the city at high noon holding a conversation with the local prostitute.  We do not have a complete transcript of their conversation. We do know, however, that He asked her for water but she told Him He had nothing with which to draw. And that’s when it started.  He read her like a tabloid. Got all down in her business, told her about her husbands, and then raised some questions about who she was shacking with now. And when it was all over the last time we saw her she was running through town shouting as she went: “Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did!” (4:29)

 

That’s why John begins anew in the fifth chapter of his writings with the words: “After this…”  This story John tells has context.  It’s after the wedding and the wine, after a midnight meeting with Nicodemus, after an encounter with that sordid Samaritan woman, it’s after all of this that Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem and on His way He stops by the Bethesda General Hospital.

 

And what He saw was disturbing.  No doubt, He had seen sickness before.  But this gathering at the Pool called Bethesda General was something exceptional. John does not call them by name but he does call them by condition.  First of all, says John, you must understand that this is not a minor gathering.  What we have here is a “multitude.”  Make no mistake about it, this health care issue is not one man’s issue, there’s a multitude out there. And John calls them one by one: the impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.” (5:3)

 

You must understand who these folk are.  They would not have been there if they had any choice.  Their situation of sickness was not one that they chose. 

 

They were there because there were more patients than there were doctors. 

 

They were there because they had no money to buy the treatment they needed. 

 

They were there because poverty made them patients. 

 

They were there – at the Baths of Bethany – because their insurance had lapsed or because the health care providers they had never seen had declared them ineligible for the treatment they required.

 

They were there – a Bethany General – because the insurance company had decided that because of pre-existing conditions they were not qualified for coverage.

 

They were there because they needed more than emergency triage; what they really needed was intensive care.

 

They were there because everyone else had walked away and now they had nowhere else to turn. 

 

They were there because they had heard a rumor that over by Bethesda there is a pool of water.  

 

Over by Bethesda – they thought it was a hospital but it really was just a pool of water.  

 

Over by Bethesda there’s a pool of water and rumor has it that every once in a while an angel comes down and stirs up the water.  I don’t have your attention.

 

Over by Bethesda there’s a pool of water and rumor has it that every once in a while an angel comes by and troubles the water and whoever steps down first into the water will be made whole.

 

Now then I come today with the Bible in one hand and with the Newspaper in the other.  There is this issue of health care reform that is abroad in the land and the prophet in me says that something needs to be said.  The church cannot be silent; preachers cannot hush their mouths. Authentic prophets are called to speak to God on behalf of man; but more especially are they sent to speak to man on behalf of God. Authentic prophets must speak because the issue before us is more moral than monetary and more ethical than political.  I stand today, I tell you, with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other, confident that ultimately God’s word will speak to man in tones than cannot be avoided and must not be escaped.

 

The careful exegete among you will be swift to detect that the meaning of John’s writing is never on the surface but is hidden deep beneath the soil of this word.  When John speaks of “the impotent, the blind, the halt and the withered” he is not addressing the issue of a few people whose maladies are obvious.  He speaks of them not because of whom or what they represent individually but because of what they represent collectively.  The crisis of their health care was not indicia of their isolated pain but an unmistakable sign that not only they but the nation was sick. “The impotent, the blind, the halt and the withered” – all represented the magnitude of the misery faced by the nation. Those who gathered in the hospital in Bethesda were, by their very presence, a judgment upon the nation.  And as long as the impotent, the blind, the halt and the withered were permitted to remain where they were, as they were, not only they but the nation would be seen as invalids – or, to say it differently, the nation would be in-valid.

 

And may I pause long enough to tell you parenthetically that when you see the patient list – the impotent, the blind, the halt and the withered – you might as well go ahead and put your name in there as well.  You might be hale and hearty now but I thought I ought to rise to tell you that sickness is on the way.  You may be young and handsome, fat and fine, but somebody needs to tell you that the day will come when you find yourself sick in your body, sick in your mind, sick in your spirit, and the health care you need will be the health care you cannot find.

 

Did I tell you that when you read John 5 you will detect that the meaning of John’s writing is never on the surface but is hidden deep beneath the soil of this word?  Come here for a minute! I know where I am but is it alright if we have church in here?

 

There’s a multitude that is sick. Their pain is not individual; their pain is collective. The sickness of the multitude is but a visual demonstration of the sickness of the nation. They have come from every quarter and what they want is to make their way to the water.

 

You didn’t understand.  I need to get your attention. There’s a multitude that is sick. Their pain is not individual; their pain is collective. The sickness of the multitude is but a visual demonstration of the sickness of the nation. They have come from every quarter and what they want is to make their way to the water.  And do not miss the point that there is symbolism in the water. The one thing with which all Israel was familiar was water.

 

In the morning of creation God brought life to His garden when He showered it with water.

 

 Noah was set adrift in an ark that he built by hand cubit by cubit.  The ark was built for a flood situation but the world was brought to a time of new beginning on the water.

 

Moses would be the one chosen by God to lead the children from the land of slavery to the land of promise.  But before Moses could lead anybody anywhere his Mama put him in the water.  Whatever situation life puts you in God has the power to bring you out!

 

Our ancestors - yours and mine - where brought to these shores by way of The Middle Passage.  But who we are today is marked and measured by the reality that we made it through that Passage, and we made it through that horror, and we made it to these shores on the water.

 

Our ancestors - yours and mine – traveled a path that led from the segregated south to the freedom of the north – but they did it when somebody sang out “Wade in the water, wade in the water, Children. Wade in the water, God’s gonna trouble the water.”

 

It is no accident that the Christian journey is marked by an introduction to the water. Somebody in here got baptized one day and somebody sang out, “Take me to the water to be baptized!”

 

You still don’t understand.  (Somebody come go with me now; we’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there!) When you read John 5 you must understand that there is a reason for the water.  The water is not incidental to John’s story.  There is a reason for the water. This is what John says: “For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water.” (5:4a) 

 

Those who were sick – the impotent, the blind, the halt and the withered – made their way to the water and they stayed there because they were waiting for their season. They wanted to be in the right place because they were waiting for their season.  Some said it made not sense to wait, some said it was  nothing more than superstition, some said there was no such thing as angels, some said it was nothing more than religious non-sense, but there they were, at pool-side, waiting for their season.

 

I don’t know who I’m preaching to but somebody in here is sick and you’re just waiting for your season.

 

Every Sunday I see folk come in church so sick they can hardly hold their head up but they’re waiting for their season.

 

Somebody in here refuses to give up so you come in here Sunday after Sunday just waiting for your season.

 

You won’t give in, you won’t give up, and you won’t give out because you’re determined to wait for your season.

 

Somebody told you that “trouble don’t last always” so you’ve made up in your mind to wait for your season.

 

I don’t want to make a mistake and have somebody think this sermon is over. But I’m on assignment to tell somebody today “your season is coming.”

Whatever you lack … your season is coming!

Whatever you need … your season is coming!

The storm is passing over … your season is coming!

The drought has come to an end … your season is coming!

 

I don’t know who I’m preaching to but I’m on assignment to tell somebody:

 

Your bank account will be balanced … your season is coming!

You will pass your exam.

You will earn your degree.

That new job is on the way … your season is coming!

Your doctor will be amazed … your season is coming!

 

The x-ray will be clear, the biopsy will be negative, your blood will be pure, that infection will be gone, your T-cells will be alright, your heart will find its rhythm, and your sickness will be gone because, I’m here to tell you, your season is coming.

 

N

ow then, my brothers and my sisters, I’ve brought you on this journey in order to assure you that Jesus has an interest in health care. I’ve been reading this Bible and it seems to me a thing most clear that Jesus has an interest in health care.  If you were of the opinion that this is a Democrat issue or a Republican issue, I wish to disabuse you of the notion for it is quite clear that Jesus had an interest in health care.  If you follow this word the scriptures will unfold that everywhere He went, the ministry of Jesus was concentrated on the issue of health care.

 

That’s why the last time they saw the man with a withered hand he was shaking hands all around. 

 

That’s why the man born blind could testify “whereas once I was blind now I see.”

Health care.

 

That’s why they found that Gedarene demoniac “clothed and in his right mind.”  Health care.

 

That’s why those ten lepers were able to throw away the rags of their contagious shame because Jesus was concerned about health care.  

 

That’s why old blind Bartimaeus had to shout – even when they told him to shut up – because Jesus was concerned about health care.

 

That’s why that woman with an issue of blood was struggling just to touch the hem of His garment – because Jesus was concerned about health care.

 

But everybody didn’t like it.  There were those who raised an objection to this new emphasis on health care.  There were those who were deeply disturbed by this “change” thing that they said they didn’t understand.  So disturbed were they that John says

“And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus,

and sought to slay him, because he had done

these things on the Sabbath day.”

 

Sounds like a Town Hall Meeting.  ‘We don’t understand this.  We can’t have this.  You’ve got to give our country back.  We voted for you.  We thought you were “safe.”  We thought you were from the “house” but we found out you’re just another one from the “field.”  We don’t understand this change.  You’re talking about taking from the rich to give to the poor – we don’t understand this change.’

 

Sounds like a Town Hall Meeting.  This new fella in town – every where He goes He’s talking about healing folk and getting folk well and providing affordable health care where everybody shares in the cost and everybody shares in the benefit. What kind of socialism is this? Somebody said “from each according to his ability; to each according to his need.” This is not the change we asked for.  I tell you, when Jesus came to town they didn’t like Him.  He was turning over somebody’s apple cart.  He was upsetting the status quo.  Folk in the Senate – I mean the Sanhedrin – wanted to keep things as they were. The representatives wanted to keep the folk back home happy and they didn’t want to upset the special interest groups that were lining their pockets just so they would vote right and keep their mouths shut.

 

Well, which part didn’t they understand?

 

Didn’t they understand that “liberty and justice for all” does not exclude me because I’m sick?

 

Didn’t they understand that “e pluribus unum” necessarily means a redistribution of wealth and, therefore, a redistribution of the assets of this nation?

 

Didn’t they understand that if they can find money to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and send satellites to outer space when they haven’t learned how to live in this space - surely they can find the money to keep us healthy at home?

 

Didn’t they understand that health care is not a privilege for the few but a right for all?

 

Didn’t they understand that all God’s children have a right to the tree of life?

 

Ah, but let’s get it straight.  In this era the argument that rages in this country has nothing to do with health care.  (And I might as well warn you that what I am about to say is politically incorrect.  And if they did not like Jeremiah Wright I’m here to tell you, they will not like me either.)  May I preach in here today? 

 

The argument that rages in this country smacks of a racism that too many of us thought was already dead.  I am aware of course that there are men and women of good will who do not entertain the racist tendencies of this nation.  I am also aware that African-Americans did not elect the President alone.  The reality is, however, that the day of America’s greatest surprise was that day in November 2008 when America woke up to the news that a black man, two children and a bad black sister would occupy the White House. 

 

Who would have thunk it that a son of Kenya would be Commander in Chief and, therefore, the leader of the free world? 

 

Who would have thunk it that the son of those who were once called slaves, sold as chattel, beaten like dogs, raped in the fields and then equated with “40 acres and a mule,” would now be invested with a power few mortal men have known?

 

And then it gets worse.  Who would have thunk it that before twelve months had passed in his Presidency, Barack Obama would rise to the level of the Nobel Peace Prize whether some folk in America like it not!

 

But wait.  Some folk want to know how he did it.  They say He didn’t do anything.  He got elected President! Some folk want to know how he got the prize.  He didn’t do anything to deserve it.  Some analysts and political pundits want to know what it means.  He has yet to achieve anything to merit such an honor.

 

Well, let me tell you how he got it.  Let me tell you how he won the prize.  When I was a child my father would go off on trips to other cities and leave us behind.  We never knew just when he would come back but we were sure that when he did come home he would always bring me a prize.

 

I didn’t do anything for it.

I didn’t have to justify it.

There was no explanation for it.

I got the prize because I had a father who loved me.

 

And I just want to know is there anybody here who ever got something you didn’t deserve?

Is there anybody here who got something extra and you didn’t have to pay for it?

 

Is there anybody here who got blessed and you didn’t have to beg for it?

 

All you know is that you had a father that loved you.  So tell ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN and FOX too, if you want to know why Barack Obama got the Prize ahead of time, here’s the answer.  FAVOR!  FAVOR!  And may I tell you FAVOR ain’t fair!

 

Well, what are you saying, Preacher?  This is what I’m saying: It could be that we have reached the era of what I have come to call The Great American Lie:

 

Do not tell me that America has reached the point of her social maturity.  It’s a lie.

 

Do not tell me that America is now post-racism.  It’s a lie. There yet abides in the soul of this country an arrogant racism that, while subtle, is still oppressive.

 

 

Do not tell me that America is now post-civil rights.  It’s a lie.  The whole issue of health care is, in fact, the issue of civil rights. Don’t look now but we need the NAACP, SCLC, CORE, SNIC, THE URBAN LEAGUE, and everybody else you can think of … and, by the way, if “we never needed the Lord before, we shore do need Him now!  

Don’t tell me you’ve got it made just because you’ve got a degree on the wall and a BMW in your drive.  We have sadly reached a point where it is no longer politically positive to be black.  Fact of the matter is the cultures efforts at homogenization have been so successful that we find ourselves apologizing for being black. We find ourselves ashamed of being black.  But it’s a lie.  I thank God I am as I am and I plan to be black the rest of my life.

 

Do not tell me that America cannot tell the difference between George Bush and Barack Obama.  The pathetic comparison is between an intellectual pigmy who could barely make a C to get out of Yale and a scholarly giant whose breadth of knowledge and articulation of tongue is breathtaking before the world.

 

Wait a minute.  Let me ask you a question. What is the prevailing impetus that surfaces in the land in order to prevent the President of the United States from telling our children to stay in school, get an education, go to college, get a job, help somebody, be the best that you can be, and never settle for mediocrity? 

 

Could it be that he just might begin to reverse the drop out rate and thus change the economic fortunes of the poor in ways that the nation could never imagine?

 

Could it be he just might keep some of our children out of jail and then use money allocated for prisons to send them instead to Howard or Harvard?

 

Could it be he just might inspire our children to stay away from drugs and instead run for office so they too might change this land?

 

Do not tell me that with the election of Barack Obama as 44th President of the United States that the racial struggles of our history are behind us and suddenly we have become a colorless, color-blind society.  It’s a lie.

 

Come back to the text.  When you read John 5 you will discover that the problem was the leader didn’t look right. I said it.  I said it and I won’t take it back.  The leader didn’t look right.  That was the Jesus problem.  He didn’t look right.  He came from the wrong part of the country.  Everybody knows nothing good can come out of Kenya – I mean nothing good can come out of Nazareth. He didn’t look right – the circumstances of his birth were suspect.  Mary’s pregnancy was outside of the social norm.  The leader didn’t look right.  He did not come from wealth or means.  In fact, somebody said “the foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay His head.” Not only that, his “head and his hairs were …like wool.”  “And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace.”  And not only that, he knew how to talk: “his voice (was) the sound of many waters.” (Rev. 1:14ff.) 

 

Do not misunderstand.  I do not mean to make a point-by-point equation of the President with Jesus.  I do, however, mean to state that when ever the leader does not conform to the historic norm,

whenever the leader goes against the grain of acceptable social expectation,

whenever the leader does not look like the majority looks,

whenever the leader insists that the nation’s policies must be consistent with the nation’s principles,

whenever the leader begins to speak of ways to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and heal the sick that’s the change some folk don’t want to believe in.

 

The truth of the matter is that America today finds itself in the stranglehold of a radical fringe that does not want this black man to succeed.  Whenever the leader begins to speak of the use of the nation’s wealth to benefit the have-not’s rather than the have’s the vested interest of that culture will be in the failure of the one they accidentally elected as president.

 

Wait a minute.  You still don’t have it yet.  Let me see if I can help somebody.  Let me tell you what THEY SAY!

 

THEY say that what I am hearing these days is not racism.

THEY say the posters I see that hold the President up for ridicule before the world is not racism.

THEY say the voices I hear in Town Hall meetings are the voices of those who are concerned about the direction of our country and all we have is but an intellectual discourse.

THEY say that what I hear coming from the Halls of Congress is frustration but it is not racism.

THEY say that all we are seeing and what we are hearing is all about public policy and not about race.

 

To which I say … PLEASE!!

 

Listen, I am too old, I have been around the block one too many times, I have too much gray hair and I have seen too many sunrises for you to tell me that what I see is not what I see.  May I tell you I’ve seen these faces before?  I’ve heard these voices before.  I’ve seen this anger, this vitriol before.  I may be wrong but I will tell you this: if it looks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, if it floats like a duck, and if it wobbles like a duck, it must be a duck!

 

Let me walk through this text and I’ll send you on home.

 

There was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.

In these lay a multitude of impotent folk, of blind, hand, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.

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

 

After 38 years Jesus wants to know do you want to be made whole. Since you’re out here at the place of healing, I need to know your intention.  Do you want to be made whole?

 

That’s when the impotent man answered him:

 

Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

 

Wrong answer.  He did not ask him if he had help; He asked him if he wanted to be made whole?  Here is a man who has been in his circumstance of sickness so long he knows no other reality.  Here is a man who’s been down so long the getting up never crossed his mind. Here is a man who has been in such an unhealthy posture for so long he can only see what he doesn’t have. 

 

And there is an implication here – an implication for your health care and mine.

Whatever anyone else does or does not do for us … no more excuses.

Religion is ultimately a movement of the masses.  This is our moment.  This is our time … No more excuses.

If nobody else will stir your water, stir you own water … No more excuses. 

If no one else will lift me we’ll find a way to lift one another.  The cripple can lead the blind.  The blind can lead the deaf. The learned can teach the ignorant. The childless can rescue the orphan … No more excuses. 

No one else is assigned the task of doing anything for me but me …  No more excuses.

 

And that’s why Jesus said to that man, “Take up your bed and walk.”

Your mattress has carried you long enough; it’s time for you to carry your mattress.

 

Barack Obama may be President but you have your own mattress to carry.  Let him do his work but here’s what you carry.  Responsibility, accountability, dependability, reliability, integrity, loyalty, transparency, honesty, get a job, start your own business, go back to school, take care of your home, rear your children, stay away from drugs, be a man and not a “wuss,” be a woman and walk with womanly dignity and pride. But whatever you do take up your own bed and walk!

 

Come here, somebody.  Let’s go to the Town Hall Meeting. Somewhere in Bethesda there’s a Town Hall Meeting.  The crowd has gathered.  There’s tension in the air. Angry faces and mean sneers are everywhere you look. Dignity is gone; decorum is a thing of the past.  This is a Town Hall Meeting with Jesus.

 

Jesus, we want to know what you have to say about health care.  Since folk say you’re a doctor that has never lost a patient, and since they claim you can speak and dead men live, and since they claim you’ve got all power in your hand we want to know about your health care plan.

Well, first of all you need to understand I’ve got a public option. Under my plan: “He that cometh to me I will I no wise cast out.”   It’s a public option: “Whosoever will, let him come.”

 

And since you ask me, I know how to handle escalating costs.  That just means that some folk are making more money than they need to.  But I’ll just ask a question: “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36)

 

And then there’s no need to talk about “death panels,” giving folk unwanted advice on when and how to die.  Under my plan: “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.” (14:1-2)

 

Did I tell you, you don’t have to worry about pre-existing conditions? Under my plan: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” (15:7)

 

Under my plan I guarantee access.  

Under my plan I’ve got coverage you can’t get anywhere else.

In fact, I’ve given angels charge over you to bear you up in their hands lest you dash your foot against a stone.

Under my plan there is no deductible.

Under my plan you’re never out of network.

Under my plan I will not leave you nor will I forsake you.

Under my plan I’ll walk with you through the valley and the shadow of death.

Under my plan there’s never any co-pay. 

Under my plan you don’t have to pay a thing because one day at Calvary “Jesus paid it all; all to Him I owe.  Sin had left a crimson stain but He washed it white as snow.”

 

Under my plan here’s how you get it:  “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Matt. 11:28f.)

 

Somebody excuse my grammar but this is what I learned a long time ago.

 

Can’t nobody do me like Jesus

Can’t nobody do me like the Lord.

Can’t nobody do me like Jesus

He’s my friend.

 

Healed my body, told me to run on

Healed my body, told me to run on

Healed my body, told me to run on

He’s my friend!

 

©

©All Rights Reserved, Kerygma Associates, Inc. This sermon was preached

on Sunday, September 6, 2009 by

The Reverend Dr. H. Beecher Hicks, Jr., Senior Servant

of Metropolitan Baptist Church in Washington, D. C.

at Crampton Auditorium, Howard University, Washington, D. C.