Break leg
In Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, there is a pool with five colonnades, called Betzata in Hebrew. A large number of the sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed used to lie there. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, ‘Do you1 want to get well? (From John 5 NIV)
“‘Do you want to get well?’
Who wouldn’t, after being sick for such a long time, even bedridden and unable to walk?
Reading this, I couldn’t help but think of the word ‘brekebeen’. Literally, it means someone with weak legs, who walks with difficulty or cannot move easily. But we also use it figuratively. We call a ‘brekebeen’ someone who is clumsy, a bit of a klutz, a bungler – someone with whom everything seems to break or go wrong. This man from the Bible story was literally a ‘brekebeen’ for 38 years. He couldn’t stand on his own two feet. But perhaps he felt that way figuratively as well.
So, the man answers Jesus that he has no one to help him into the water, and that someone else always gets there before him. That’s exactly what you notice when you feel rejected or unseen. Others get ahead of you. You’re always in second place, you’re overlooked.
Consistently left behind as the last one
Very often, this has to do with experiences from the past. Perhaps due to how you grew up: always being compared to your brothers or sisters who did ‘better’ at school or in something else. Then you would hear, ‘Look at your sister, she’s doing so much better.’ How painful it was that despite your efforts, you were constantly confronted with the fact that others achieved much better grades. Yes, then things aren’t going your way. Or think back to gym class. When teams were chosen, you might have consistently been the last one left. Because you weren’t the fastest, the best, or the most popular. Because you didn’t have friends to pull you along.
Such experiences can significantly damage your self-esteem. You feel unhappy because of it, you don’t feel successful. Perhaps for a very long time, just like that man who had been sick for 38 years.
You can also hold onto this feeling later in life. Not getting a promotion at work because you keep seeing someone else get the new position. Not being invited to parties, not having a relationship, having few friends… you feel like your life is ‘not successful’. You are ‘lying on your mat’, not moving forward. It’s sad when people are so marked by life. To have the feeling for 38 years that you are a klutz, a ‘loser’, a ‘brekebeen’, and not making progress.
But how beautiful it is when Jesus comes into your life and asks that question: ‘Do you want to get well?’ That’s not just about your body, but also about your inner being. Do you no longer want to accept that you are a ‘brekebeen’, a klutz who feels like a loser? Do you want to get up?
Jesus can change that
And the miracle happens! Through Jesus’ word, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk,’ this man starts moving. And that’s also what can happen if you are in a situation where you see yourself as a ‘loser’. Then you can get up, according to the word of God. You can discover who you are in God’s eyes.
If you are not yet a child of God because you haven’t consciously made that choice for Jesus, then you can do so. And then you can know: I am loved, and I am allowed to be here, even if the world makes you feel ‘rejected’ or insignificant.
It is wonderful to see that Jesus can change people who have been stuck for years in a certain character, in habits, in a way of life where they constantly experience themselves as a loser. Jesus says to you, ‘Come on, get up, pick up your mat and walk away from that situation you’re stuck in!’
Believe that change is possible. Take God’s Word about your life seriously. That helps you to break free from the negative forces and thoughts that pull you down. In other words: no longer settle for your ‘mat’ or your situation! God wants to give you a new future. He sees you, even if you have felt unsuccessful and unhappy for 38 years or longer. God says, ‘I see you standing completely, instead of lying down!’
Come on, stand up and become the free person God intended you to be.”
@wimvanputten