CHOOSE LIFE
May 34,1987, -11:00 a.m. Worship Service
John Buchanan
Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago

Scripture
John: 5:2-9

“Bo you want toe be healed?...Rise, take up your pallet, and walk."
John 5:6;8 (RSV)

Arthur Miller's Pulitzer. Prize-winning play; Death of. a Salesman, is
abouteacmean who wants more -for his family thanche -is able to:providé:” When
it becomes clear that Willie Loman's- dreams.areé going to remain ‘dreams; his
self. respect, his sense of meaning and his vitality: begin-a-long and:tragic-
process of. decline, . The play. is. powerful... Milier's ‘genius ‘is-in
portraying one of the.great tragic human: themes in’ a-way-alaost everybody
can re@éognize-- namely, the: futility of -waitine for a ‘future which is:not
godne toa come. All of us, in some way, identify with that. . Early in the
play Wild ie's grown sons. are-talking about life-and<their plans and hopes
for the. ture One .of them says: ;

“AlI) can do now is wait-for. the merchandise manager to die: sand
suppose -T-get: lo be merchandise manager... I dontt:know- what-T amsworking.
for.. “Sometimes I-sit insomy apartment: all. alone; and 1 think of the rent
T'm paying, -and it's crazy...But then. it's:what.-l always. wanted... -My-own
apartment, and. car, and plenty of .women... And still... I'm lonely.
fp. 23, Penguin. Books ]-

There is. something universal.and also very.specific-about that
experience: . something timeless but also timely.-.We. invest. an enormous
amount of our lives - our energy, our skills, passion ‘and time :-:in othe
future, building, preparing, saving, planning and waiting. And- sometimes
when-we step back from our busy: frantic. lives long enough to see clearly,
il appears that our jrivestwent ‘inthe future-is..so heavy. that: we have...
nothing left. for living inthe present... And so -somelimes, like Happy
Loman; in- Death of a:Salesman, life does feel Like it's:on hold, like-a
process of waiting - waiting for the merchandise inmanager to die, for: the
ship te come in, for-praduation day, tilkl-r'm 16, ai, 30, 40,...0 waiting
for the > future to varrive. : :

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-Oneesthere was a:cman who invested. thirty-eight.syears.in the-task:of
wailing. forthe future...He-is one of: those. remarkable: and: interesting.
characters remembered by Uhe author: of the Gospel. of John... Nicodemus; the
Blind Man; the Woman ats the Welly Mary Magdalene. We cneounter: him -lying-

ou a.inat, beside a large pool, in Jerusatem,: in 30 A.D. The Pool -of ore
Rethesda, which means “house of healing," has-been excavated. -lt is a large
pool, “Erapazoidal in shape. There were porches. on the four sides and one
‘ona large divider which runs through the middle of the pool. The pool was
fed by ground water and an Intermittent spring. When the spring. flowed,

the water on the normally placid surface splashed and danced mysteriously.
There is some evidence that the water changed color during the disturbance.
There was always a sense of mystery about that phenomenon. And even

without the mystery, it was a pretty interesting show. People drive a Lang
way to see.a lot less. In any event, it was widely heid in those days that
a spirit disturbed the waters,’ in this case an angel of the Lord, and that
the first person in the water during the disturbance would be healed: - not
really so different. from the more extravagant claims of hot-tub commercials
or, for-that matter, not. too far :frométhe therapeutic merit which s wittine

in water. clearly has.-..[See Raymond FE. Brown, John, Vol. I, De 209 ff]

So;..-around the-perimeters of this: pool; under the porches, were the
crippled, the sick, the aged, sitting; lying-on their mats, watching- the
pool, waiting. “Some surely had a friend or relative waitine with them,
ready. to assist as soon’as the water bevan’to churn. And some of’ them were
‘alone; watching intently, anxiously hoping to scramble to the-side as soon
as it happened... And then there were some -- and TI have the sense that they
“may have been the majority - «who were alone, arid who were watching less
intently, These were the ones who had concluded: that the future wasn't
going .to-come, that they were not: going: to -make:it-to the pool; not:ever
they: would continue going through the motions, to-be sure. They would be
there, lying on their mats, but they were resigned. to the status quo.

This’ is'a masterpiece of a scene. I-see in -itva'reflection of the:

convalarium at the Veterans' Hospital, where men ’- utterly: fergotten; have
“sat.in-wheel chairs watching television. for decades, and a bit. of a
reflection of the mid- day scene-at othe Water’ Tower: Park; and two blocks

from:here, where theshomeless assemble «in a kind of community, and. I-see in
it‘a reflection of a slice out ofthe dife cf everyoue-of us who bas ever
‘engaged’ in the careful ritual ‘there beiny rehearsed. The necessary
accommodations -had. been made, the°rationale ‘carefully worded. ‘and practiced.
“There is. no-one to help:me, someone always pushes me out of “the: way: and
steps..in front of me." Someone suid this. fellow would be funny if he
wasn't ‘so pathetic, “with his unimaginative approach tothe curative
waters). his crotchety: grumbling about the Awhippersnappers. who cutrace
him.t" [Ibid ~ ReSy Brown] “ 7

“A complex new ‘dynamic is-now-emerging.: The man has a support system,
a community of misery devoted ‘to enabling “its “participants to-continue the
ritual, waiting fer’ a-future.to:happen- which they.know-will-never- happen.
The community is important here. ~The community-allows the: charade’ to
continue. . By. common..consent, .everyone. gets: to.choose the status quo and
then, without: challenge, -to:complain about: it. - There was definitely
something tobe said for’ life around the pool. Jbewas nol aticnanpleasant
place to be. Passersby often left a little money for food. The man had
his: special spot, sun in the-morning,.shade:<in-the aflernoon: he had his
cronies:with whom to -pass*the time of day; talk-about the Cubs, read the a
paper, play a little vincrummy. He had his. bed to lie-on.° A “game,” Dr.
Eric Berne -taught us; in his book Games People’ Play, isa ritual, the

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purpose of which is not. what it. appears to be, and often is contrary. to:
its stated purpose. A favorite.game, a very common game is "Ainftlsit
Awful”. in which. the players get. to lament the terrible state of things.
and enjoy the ritual of hand-wringing, and brow. furrowing. The purpose of
the game, of course, is actually te prevent anybody. from doing - anything
about “it" so that tomorrow another round of “Ain't it: Awful” can. be
piayed., ; :

The author of the Fourth Gospel. presents this: story with artistic
symmetry,-and wants us. to see in it something critical about the power. of
Jesus Christ to bring new life into the personal histories af some -
disturbingly Camiliar human. characters sa that they are - after
encountering him - literally “born again." WhenJesus encounters the_
thirty-eight year. veteran of the wailing game he asks a question which
violates every. precept of common courtesy and of the. non-directive
counseling techniques which we all carefully learned,..and which avoids the
direct confrontation, and instead rephrases the.client's questions: and
concerns: and- redirects. them.... "So. you're feeling -helpless... I -hear- you
saying. you're feeling a -littie negative about. your. prospects.... So. you-feel
like you really can't manage to make it ‘to the pool -alone:..".. Instead Jesus
of Nazareth looks him in the eye and asks,.. “Do-you want to be healed?".

What kind of -a question is: that? Of course hé wants to be healed.
Why clse would he have spent. the last.thirty-eight years. on the porch =...
watching the. pool, waiting... And yet, it: really-is-."the" question,isnit
it? Ruminating about the text-and literally being pulled-into it I thought
about how unsettling it would be for a. physician to.-enter the examination
room, in .which you have. been shivering, partially clothed; for-a long-time,
but a little less. than thirty-eight years, and ask,-"Mr. -Buchanan,.-do-you
want to be well?" .And then it occurred to me: that--a. good. physician does,
in fact, ask that question; not in those words and perhaps not even:
consciously... We have Jearned that: the: starting point of .the physician's
ability.to assist the process. of healing is soimewhere close to the.
patient's desire to.be wello... the patient's will. ;

- There. is. mounting evidence that. without this. will-to-live, healing
does not easily happen. After his now. famous: battle with a rare blood
disease, Norman Cousins wrote, “The will to: live.is not-a theoretical
abstraction. but a.physical reality with therapeutic. characteristics."
Cousins cites research which connects the robust. will. to live with chemical
balances in the brain. [Anatomy Of An lliness, p. 44-48]

"Do you want to.be healed?".. Jesus asked... It was and is “the"
critical question. Significantly,.the man never-answers.. Instead, -he
plays.a little "Ain't it awful?" and complains about his hard luck and: the
impossible: prospect of ever making it. into the pool on time. -Jesus
apparently, is not interested.in that. He wants this man's will -- the life
force buried deep in the heart. of. this person. who had literally givencup
and so he says - “Get up... Take up that pallet - that.symbol of the ‘status
qua - getoup and. walk!” : . :

If. you-and [ are to be fully alive. we have to choose to: belalive -
which may mean choosing’ to stop engavying in the ritual: behavior whose-real
purpose is-actually to rationalize the status que und protect.us ‘from. the

”
at

tisk of new adventure. -Now thal is notoan easy nov a simple matter. Rollo ao
May, one of the wisest observers of our culture, suggests that. modern life _
conspires against a strong, healthy individual will. -Modern men and women
feel: powerless, May. teaches, viclims of huge #lobal forces over whieh they
have vabsolutely no: cantrol: = : : ;

The philosophers. and the theologians suggest that we are really
talking ahout spiritual crisis; that each person is called to choose life,
tu decide to be, “tu affirm self in-an act of personel wild. © Juergan Moltman
wrote an eloquent little: book, The Passion for Life, in ’which-he observed
that — ; ; :

"Apathy seems to beva characteristic: sign ofthe illness. of our
society... > Interest in life is crippled. -The courage to be -is’ weakened...
We-must learn: ta Jove: life.with such a passion: that we will-ne- longer

“become accustomed to-the powers of destruction.’ [py 20-22] :

To choose life is-often ta say no to the status quo and-yes te
change. -That. can be risky-and dangerous::: There ‘are places in. the world
where? that decision means: siding with a-revolulion. Atlanta Mayor, Andrew
Young, addressed the National Meeting of Presbyterian Men’recently and in
his opening told his audience that the world is in a mess and they were at
faults T*chuckled when I-read that. National meetings of Presbyterian men
are largely white, middle aged, middle class. men who after a while became
accustomed: to ‘being’ scolded ‘for being: white, middle-class, middle aged and
male... and told that most of the world's problems are their fault... So my
brothers were surprised and probably delighted when Mayor ‘Young. didn't
scold°them for being what they are but explained that there are thousands
of Africans who were educated in Christian Missionary Schools, and in
Christian colleges‘ and universities, there and here, who became convinced
of the: power*of the-Gospel to change lives and actually to change the
world; °* who heard and believed the’ Biblical stories, and who are now
choosing. life, not death;freedom not oppression, .justice ‘not injustice,
compassion. not cruelty, love not torture, hope not the grinding hopeless
tragedy.of the status quo... It is not the-whole story.- but it -is at least
part of the story. in South Africa and South Korea and Argentina and Central
America... It was not the-whole ‘story but it: was-an important part 6f ‘the
story when young black and white people sat-down-at Tunch counters and said
eloquently - “We believe Jesus was-right...: Justice is more powerful than
sinjustice..." : :

There is a choice to be made by everyone of us. The man had been
waiting by the pool’ for thirty-eight years. That's very close to a full
career in our culture. ~So-the story compels “us -tu look at our lives.-. ‘Are
‘there:familiar~echoes here? Do you:hear- your own voice saying, “no one
ever helps me, people always push ahead of: me?" Do you ‘ever-engage in that
confortable litany which starts out, "Someday I'm going to... ?

Someday, when I accomplish my goals, when. I get the degree, or. the
promotion, or the new office, or a new secretary, or the raise ... I'll -be
able to breathe easier and do the things that. are important: ~Someday I'll
read more bocks and see more plays and write poems. -Someday I'm going toa
spend more: time with omy spouse and my children and my friends. . Someday pote
I']li -lose-twenty. pounds,’ get in shape, quitcsmoking and. take up pottery.
But in thesmeantime, 2. just can't." -Are there: familiar echoes “in - that?

C21?

"No you want to be healed? Do you want things to be different: in
your life?" To thease blunt questions which Jesus asks, wouldn't integrity
force many of us to say.."nel really... no thank you. The stalus quo may
net be what Towant. but it's not as bad as trying to change it."

There are Visks. after. all, for the man. in Ehe story. When he -abeyed
the command-sof Jésus, pickinps: ap his bed and. walking dway, there was the”
risk that he might fall. dowu. There was che very real uncertainty about
the details of daily life. rn ee

Deprived of “alms for crippled people," where in the world does a
newly-healed man find his next meal? No longer bart of the community of
misery, where will he find new friends? ;

The sécurity 6f the known is often preferable to the radical
insecurity of the unknown. If you have moved to a new place, or changed
jobs, or significantly altered your behavior, you Know. how strong and
powerful the status qio is. And here comes Jesus suggesting that. we have a:
choice to make,.that in some way, in some form, unique to-each of us...
each of us confronts the opportunity to choose life, -to elect. to be. Here
comes Jesus. suggesting that ‘the trouble with life. on the: mat, in addition
to its dead}y sameness, ‘thatcdt is not life vat all. :

The purpose of this story is to illustrate the idea of rebitth and
the new’lifeé in Christ which is so important in the Fourth Gospel. "You ~
must be born again" Jesus tells Nicodemus at the beginning of the Gospel,
and each subsequent story, wilh a Mary velous cast of: characters, illustrates
what that new: birth looks like. If you’ ‘eliminate. spiritual rebirth. from:
these stories, this one in’ particular, what is” left: isa kind of pidus “pep
talk, a-combination “Iuk OK>- You're’ OK seminar and Bobby Knight! s-locker®™
room. speech abaut how the essence of the self issplayed -citt: on the court of
life. Granted ."Born Again" makes us nervous -. granted when the. talk-turns
te “Born Again Christianity" Presbyterians start Jooking for the exits,

But what if being born again means something iike what happened to this: man
beside the pool tnstead of the wretched excess of televangelism? What if.
it means the simple, quiet, personal and modest: act of standing, rolling: tp
your mat, and walking into the future? What if, instead of .the arrogant
exclusivism ...° the offensive presumptuousness of friends who get born
again and then seem to wallow in the delicious and exclusive sense that
they have what you don't... What if being born-again? means, at heart, a
passionate choosing of life instead of ‘death? -- oe

Tt is-impossible to Study Scripture, l- have Found, without ;
discovering: something hew.° This:time I uncovered the intriguing fact that
this story was one of three-stories from John which: were used in preparing
new converts for Baptism in the early Christian church. The three stories
the Pirst Century. Club wanted its newest members, converts, ta hear and to
know - were the story of Nicodemus coming to Jesus al night - to learn that.>
he had to be born again; the story of the Blind-Man whose ability to see
was restored ly Jesus and this story -- about: a man who had heen waiting for’
his life-to happen for thirty-eipht years

How wood jt is today. as we confirm and. commission new disciples - ta

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remouber this story.

=. Jesus. Christ calls us,-in our time, to lay aside old sccurities, to
stand up-and against all the odds, sometimes in the face of our: better
judgment’ to walk imto the future, fully alive. We would, of course,- be
more: comfortable waiting. We would rather wait till our doubts are
resolved before we join the church and commit ourselves to following him.
We'd rather wait until he shows us a little bit about where he's headed
before we agree to be a disciple. We'd rather not think new thoughts - our
old opinions and prejudices are really rather comfortable. We'd rather net
risk our Jove, our time, car money on a cause or a person who needs us.
There is something to be said fer life around the pool.

So it goes. So the dynamic continues in your life and mine. The
choice comes at us every day. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is zood news
about a God who is always on the side of life; a God who nurtures and
strengthens his people when. they choose life.- The Gospel is good news
about a God passionately committed to life, a God who is a lover , who gets
into dife and who is honored. and worshipped best, where people. love and live
life: fully and give ‘their hearts away...

The Gospel is about a God. who so loves this: world ‘that he. gave his
only son that people might live fully; joyfully and eternally.

That son, whom we: know as Jesus. the chr is€, challenges us when we
settle for. less. than life; when. we opt for the status quo rather than
creative change in our owu lives.

“The ‘Gospel. is about. a ‘Lord who. loves each of. us: so much he wants us,
“wills, is, -to be fully alive: .a:Savior who:invites:us to pick up our bed
“and: walk, to stand-up and choose life. and walk: with him today and tomorrow
-and forever. ;

“ Lord God :- we. praise you for: your unsettling love... -Praise:to you for
dis turbing quiet walter on. occasion.

“Praise to you for making us. important... for placing within-us a lust
forlife’- a. passion. for. fullness...

And praise to you-for your great. gift of love and for the invilation
io Follow, your son, Jesus Christ. our Lord.” Amen.

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