More Than A Band Aid

Band Aids.
A friend of mine teaches kindergarten.
She told me how many band aids she goes through in a day.

Mrs. J…my finger…it hurts! they say holding up the injured appendage.
What hurts?
There…see? My cut! I need a band aid!
She has to squint to see the injury, but it is real to them.

There is no backing down when child thinks they need a band aid.
No matter how miniscule the scrape is, it somehow feels better if it is band aid-ed.
Plain colored bandages just won’t do!
Band aids have to have designs on them!

Superheroes, cartoon characters, neon colors…a fashion statement for children.
A badge of honor.
Mothers say “no’ to many things, but arguing about the need for a band aid is futile.

I never wanted a band aid when I was little because they hurt too much to pull off!
That was before the days of “ouch-less” band aids.

Liquid bandage is available now.
That can be invaluable when you have a cut on your finger.
It amazes me to think that someone came up with a first aid antiseptic that you brush on.

The Band-Aid was invented in 1920 by Johnson & Johnson employee Earle Dickson.
His wife, Josephine, frequently cut and burned herself while cooking.
His invention allowed her to take care of her wounds by herself.

Johnson and Johnson loved the prototype.
Band aids were homemade at first and not very popular.
By 1924, sterilized band aids, in a box, were introduced.
They were shipped oversees during World War II which helped them gain popularity.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3)

We “band aid” a problem to get a quick solution.
Those quick fixes may cover up the problem, but they don’t alleviate it.
It is far better to deal with a situation than to band aid it.

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there 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 you want to get well?”
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well. (John 5:1-15)

A superstition at that time attributed the stirring of the water to the actions of an angel.
It was believed that the first person in the water, after it was stirred, would be healed.
This man had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
Jesus did not band aid the man’s infirmity.

Jesus asked him the perfect question.
Jesus got right to the point.
Do you want to get well?

Jesus was not insinuating that sickness and infirmity are a direct result of sin.
Jesus was concerned for this man’s soul.
The “something worse” that could happen to him, would be eternal separation from God.

Do you want to get well?

That is a question Jesus can ask us as well.
Do you want to be healed from your sinful state?
Are you through making excuses?
Are your finished blaming others, or your circumstances, for the way things are?

Do you want to get well?

Later, Jesus found the man at the temple.
He wanted the man to have more than a physical healing.
Jesus wanted to heal his soul.
To Jesus, it would have been far worse if the man remained in his sin.

Jesus wanted the man to have a complete healing.
No more excuses.
No more blame.

Just an acknowledgement.
I want to get well!