Emotional Health and the Miracles of JesusSample

Helpless? Get up and walk!

Some years ago, a controversial experiment on dogs pointed to the impact that helplessness has on functioning well. In the experiment, one set of dogs was given a series of painful shocks and if they nudged a lever with their nose the electric shocks would stop. For the second set of dogs the lever was deliberately set not to work which meant the electric shocks continued. Eventually after a repeated number of failed attempts the dogs stopped trying altogether. 24 hours later when these dogs were given similar electric shocks but now with easy escape options, they didn’t even try. Over time some dogs accepted helplessness as reality.

The implications of this experiment were found to be true even among humans. Over a period of time, we too, tend to accept helplessness, failure, betrayal, and abuse as “normal.” We stop trying to change our circumstances because past experiences remind us that there is no point trying. Repeated attempts with no results can be very demotivating. So, we accept these lesser realities as permanent fixtures.

But this does not have to be the case. In John 5 we meet someone with a similar experience. For 38 years he had tried and failed. People who had crossed his path were unable to help him. Perhaps he was let down by his own family and friends. For 38 years he was on the verge of a miracle – but nothing happened. He may have on many occasions come close to receiving it, but was repeatedly met with disappointment. This man, like some of us, was living proof of the helplessness experiment.

It was in this phase of his life that Jesus meets him and asks him, “Do you want to be healed?” And his response, we might expect, to be a resounding “YES!” Instead, it is, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going, another steps down before me.” A reflection of the recurring sense of disappointment, failure and betrayal that he had repeatedly experienced over the past 38 years.

But the life-giving words of Jesus changed the man’s circumstances. Jesus simply says, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk” – giving him the power to change his circumstances. Sometimes that’s all it takes to receive the miracle we are waiting for. Especially, in the case of overcoming repeated failure and disappointment; hearing and believing the words of Jesus can be life transforming. To trust God to speak life into our particular – stale – situations can give us another shot at life.We can, if we are willing, get up and walk, and recreate a life of renewed possibilities.