This is a joke that is no joke. Understand this and you understand what I truly believe the living Lord Jesus is trying to say to each of us today through the words of the Bible.

So here goes: A poor man goes to church every day and prays before the statue of a great saint, begging, “Dear saint--please, please, please ... give me the grace to win the lottery.” This lament goes on for months. Finally the exasperated statue comes to life, looks down at the begging man and says in weary disgust, “My son--please, please, please ... buy a ticket.” ...

Understand that and you understand what I sincerely believe the living Lord Jesus is saying to us today through the words of the scripture we just read.

The man in today’s gospel story has been sick for thirty-eight years. If that were today, he’d have gotten sick in 1972 and not been well a day since then.

When Jesus notices him, the man is propped up beside one of a series of pools used for public bathing in Jerusalem. Local legend promised that, when the otherwise calm water was stirred by the wind (and, remember, “wind” and “spirit” are exactly the same words in those days)--when the otherwise calm water was stirred by the wind or spirit, the first person in the water would be healed. Or so the legend claimed.

Jesus notices the man and he notices that this man has been here a long, long time. Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be made well?”

“Well, duh, Jesus,” we might imagine the man saying to Jesus. “Why do you think I’m propped up here with shriveled legs and my crutches lying by my side?" Except, instead of saying it that way, the man blames his problems on everyone else. “Sir,” he says, oozing with contempt, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.”

I’ve known people like this. Heck, if I had an illness that had crippled and sickened every single day since 1972, I would be exactly like this! So, instead of answering Jesus’ question--which, as you recall, is, “Do you want to be made well?”--the man rattles off bitter excuses and complaints. “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.”

Remember the joke? After months of hearing the poor man beg for the grace to win the lottery, the exasperated statue comes to life to say, “Please, please, please ... buy a ticket!”

I wonder if that’s how Jesus is feeling in his encounter with this man? He asks what would seem to be the obvious and, indeed, the most important question: “Do you want to be made well?” Does the man think the answer is so obvious that he doesn’t need to answer it? Is he afraid of getting his hopes up, after 38 years--13,879 days--of disappointment?

Or is it actually that the man simply has no more expectations? That after 13,879 continuous days of being sick and crippled, he’s gotten use to his condition? Oh, sure, he shows up every day--just like the poor man in our joke keeps showing up--but, at this point, maybe he’s showing up simply out of habit?

I wonder how Jesus feels when his question--his most important question--is met with excuse and complaint: “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me”? I suspect there’s a little frustration in Jesus’ voice (much like there’s frustration in the voice of the exasperated saint in this morning’s joke).

Maybe Jesus’ voice sounds like this: “Stand up, take your mat and walk” (spoken with evident frustration and anger). Regardless, the good news is that at once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Last week in my message, I wanted to convey that Christianity isn’t simply the good news that, once upon a time and long, long ago, Jesus was crucified, buried, and three days later rose again only to live thereafter in the memories and in the writings of his first followers. No, I said, the message of Christianity is that, right here and right now, Jesus is alive!

I believe that the living Lord Jesus--the Jesus whom God raised from the dead--is alive right now and that he’s using these stories from the Bible to speak to us here and now.

What might Jesus be saying to us through this story?

How about this? “Please, please, please ... buy a ticket!”

I’m speaking about myself as much as anyone else. But, aren’t we all like the man in the joke or the story?

We come to church poor and injured. We come to church full of needs. But, like the man before Jesus or the man in the joke, we come to church so habitually that, like them, we no longer believe or expect anything to change! We just mouth the words, “I cast all my cares upon you, I lay all of my burdens down at your feet ...”

What might Jesus be saying to us--right here and right now--through this story? Might it be: “Please, please, please, buy the ticket!” Or, how about this: “Stand up, take your mat and walk”

What am I saying? I’m saying that, perhaps, Jesus sees us as people who all too frequently practice our faith simply out of habit. We show up! We sit in our familiar places. We even mouth the right words.

But what we may be lacking is the expectation that, when we show up--or, let’s be precise: when we show up today--God is here to listen to our calls and respond to our needs?

So. You are here today. You are sitting here, wounded and poor. Right here and right now the living Lord Jesus sees you and has compassion on you. He asks a question that, at first seems to obvious as to be ridiculous: “Do you want to be made well?”

Don’t rush it. And don’t simply react to it. What do you say? What’s on your mind? Why are you here today?

Don’t rush it. But, when you’re ready, hear Jesus say to you--right here and right now--”Stand up, take up your mat, and walk!” Cast all of your cares upon him. Lay all of your burdens down at his feet. And go in peace.

For Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia and Amen!