The healed invalid in John 5:1-18 reminds me of Jonah. Jonah, was miraculously delivered by God, but he was not transformed. At the end of the book Jonah remained as vengeful, resentful, and xenophobic as he was at the beginning of the story.

I am also reminded of the ten lepers who were healed in Luke 17. At the end of the story only one of the ten returned to give thanks to Jesus. He was the only one to whom Jesus said,

‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’ (Luke 17:19)

All ten lepers were physically healed, only one was “made well.” The returning leper alone was transformed by his encounter with Jesus. His healing penetrated deeply enough to cause him to open to a place of gratitude at the centre of his being.

The invalid healed in John 5:1-18 does not seem to have found that heart of gratitude at the centre of his being.

The physically restored invalid is confronted by the religious officials of his day who attack him saying,

‘It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.’ (John 5:10)

In response to their challenge, he ducks any responsibility for the infraction of the law and rushes to lay the blame at the feet of his healer.

But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” (John 5:11)

The imperfectly transformed victim, still seeks others to blame.

When he does finally take action, his action appears to be aimed at gaining favour with those he believes might be in a position to benefit him.

Clearly the religious officials who criticized the healed man for carrying his mat on the sabbath, when they asked who had ordered him to break the law, would have only desired to harm the culprit.

So, when the healed man, having learned of Jesus’ identity,

went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well (John 5:15),

he was knowingly putting Jesus in harm’s way.

Given an opportunity to seize power, the person who has not been healed of his victim identity becomes the victimizer.

Whether this man did in fact receive any benefit from his betrayal of Jesus, we are not told. But, we are told that the man’s action initiated the spiral of violence that would ultimately result in Jesus’ death.

Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. (John 5:16)

When we have not faced the will to power that lies at the heart of our attachment to our victim identity, we inevitably perpetuate harm in our relationships. Until we are willing to take responsibility for our own lives, we will continue to seek others to blame and find ourselves caught in an endless chaos of power negotiations in an attempt to determine how we can assert that power we feel has been taken from us.

Jesus intends to bring us true liberation. He intends to set us free, to open us to the knowledge that it is always possible to reach out to embrace the reality of God’s healing presence in our lives. There may be times when we have been treated terribly, when we have been betrayed, harmed, and made to suffer unspeakable violence. But, we are always free to choose to “take up our mats and walk.”

The powerful word of Jesus is always available. We are always free to respond from that deep inner truth that makes transformation possible even in the most desperate circumstances.

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