Bible

Do You Want to Swim or Walk?

The Man Who Nearly Died from a Healing of Jesus

Luke Roland / 6.27.22

Friday Morning

As Rufus started to wake up he rubbed his eyes. He had been going through this same daily routine for longer than he could remember. Rufus had placed his hope in a legend that said on occasion an angel would come to stir up the water in this special pool in Jerusalem, and the first person that jumped in the water was healed from their illness. He and other cripples hung around and lived by this pool waiting for the right moment to happen. Rufus could never get to the water at the right moment because the lower part of his body was paralyzed and he was alone with no one to carry him in. Rufus had rarely been first at anything. He could attempt to crawl, but someone more mobile always beat him. He woke up in pain hoping that today would be the day that it would be over.

Friday Afternoon

Jesus was in Jerusalem for a feast. He happened to be walking by the sheep market and came to the pool where Rufus was. The smell was a combination of sheep and this group of crippled people that had been lying there for a while. There were a ton of sick people at the pool and more coming. Jesus saw Rufus and knew that he had been paralyzed for a long time. Rufus couldn’t take his eyes off the water and didn’t see Jesus. Jesus walked up to him and asked him, “Do you want to be healed?”

Rufus tried to keep his eyes on the water. He answered Jesus, “I don’t have anybody to put me in the water when it is troubled, and someone always gets in before I get there.” Jesus told him to get up, carry his mat, and start walking. As soon as he said it, the man was healed and began walking. Jesus quickly slipped through the crowd.

Friday Evening

Rufus was overwhelmed with excitement. For the first time in 38 years he could walk. He felt better than ever. With a new lease on life, his mind raced with ideas of the possibilities of what he could do and experience. His fantasies came to a sudden stop as he was confronted by a few religious leaders. They said to Rufus, “It is the sabbath day, and any day of the week you can carry your mat, but today is not one of those days. You are breaking the law. Moses said that the penalty for breaking the sabbath is death.” Rufus was bewildered and afraid. He was unaware of what day it was and what was permitted. Rufus suddenly remembered the man that healed him had instructed him explicitly to carry the mat. He was really clear in saying he should carry his mat. Rufus replied, “This guy that healed me told me to pick up my mat and walk. He really made it all happen.”

Completely ignoring the amazing miraculous healing, the religious leaders asked Rufus, “Who told you that you could break the law?” Rufus told them that he didn’t know who it was. The religious leaders took Rufus to the temple.

As Rufus walked with them, little did he know that he was being taught his first lesson in works righteousness and being initiated into religion. In a matter of minutes he had gone from crippled for 38 years, healed, hearing an accusation, and now on his way to the temple to await his fate.

In the Temple

It was just a few hours since Jesus last saw Rufus. A lot had changed for Rufus since his encounter with Jesus. Jesus left him earlier in the day in a state of wholeness and righteousness and now Rufus was veering and gambling his new found liberty with legalism. He’s in the last place that a healed person would be. Earlier in the day he was with a crowd of physically crippled and now he found himself surrounded by the spiritually blind and perverse. Going this direction would have drastic consequences Rufus wasn’t aware of.

Jesus found him in the temple and said to Rufus, “Behold, you are well: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” Rufus departed the temple a free man and Jesus stood in his place, addressing religious authorities out for blood.