Pallet talk John 5

2895. krabattos -- a camp bed 
... 2895 -- a small bed used by the poor; "" () a rude pallet made of thick padded quilt
or mat" (M. Vincent); "a Macedonian word (Lat ) for a bed, pallet, or ... 
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2895.html

Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. John 5:8

This is a well-known story of Jesus healing the man at the pool of Bethesda. For 38 years the man hanged out at the pool hoping to be healed. That's a LONG time. He wasn't able to get into the pool by himself. I imagine he had people take him there and they probably stayed a few days, but then were off to make their livings and take care of their other burdens of life. Him life, however, consisted of laying there, begging for food and help. How did he go to the bathroom? How did he do anything? They must have had a nursing staff or the place would have been a complete stenchy mess. Maybe it was. But Jesus sees a guy laying on a padded quilt of some sort and asks him if he wants to be healed. Dumb question, right? Maybe not. Maybe we get to the rut of life and are afraid to climb out. We can't imagine life any other way. But Jesus gives him only 3 instructions.

1) Get up. Well, he thinks, if I could do that I wouldn't be laying here. He had to have the faith to stand up, believing that the strength would be there if he would just do it. His legs would have no strength. His back would have no support. His feet and ankles hadn't born weight for at least 38 years. Was Jesus out of his mind?
2) Take up your pallet. That meant bending over and bearing weight. That meant balance, arms strength, and a strong back.
3) Walk. With weight, with balance, with strength. Do something he hadn't done for years.

All 3 of these things would require faith. Faith that Jesus knew what He was asking. Faith that he wasn't going to struggle to rise up, look the fool when he fell down, or stagger like a drunk under the weight of his burden. Realistically, he would at best look a fool. He could really hurt himself. But the alternative was to lie there for the rest of his life. He didn't even know this was Jesus! He knew nothing but that he wanted to believe this man that offered him the thing he had wanted all his life. Healing.

We may not have physical infermities. We may be held down by the sickness of soul, the weakness of lack of faith, and knowledge of our limitations. Jesus comes to us and asks if we want to get over it. He tells us to get up. To accept his healing and strength and to stand. Prepare for the next thing. Take up our pallet. Get off our backsides and move on. We aren't going back down except to rest. We are moving on. And walk. Get going. Get on with life. Take the pallet and take it home and put it away. We don't need to lay out in public showing our weakness any more, but walk in the strength, power, balance, and under the direction of the Lord. When we do, Jesus comes and tells us who He is! And when people tell us we aren't supposed to be doing this, we tell them that Jesus told us to! We tell them that Jesus said to walk in his strength and power every day of our lives. That we are to follow His directions and not man-made rules that limit God's power. We have a new life.

There was a wonderful testimony of a Muslim convert to Christianity. He spent his years trying to figure out how to properly worship Allah. When he converted, he had the same concerns. How do you properly worship God? And God's answer was to walk in freedom. There were not chains of ritual and format, hours of the day to bow in worship or certain Sabbath rules to keep. Jesus sends the Spirit so that we can worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. That is every day in every way, with the worship coming from the heart and obedience in heart and not format. He was liberated and rejoicing that his worship was so much more than before! May we get up, no longer depend on the sickbed, and walk in the Spirit as He has commanded so that He may reveal Himself to us in new and glorious ways.