This summer we hosted out-of-town guests, and to accommodate their needs, I gave up my bed for their visit.  This is something that most of us have done, but this time I noticed a difference in my attitude.  The first day, I was excited to sacrifice. The second day, I began to think, “I sure miss my bed.” By the third day, I could hear the Jeopardy theme song counting down the seconds until the guests would leave I could have my bed back!

As a child, I could sleep just about anywhere – a vacant sofa, a pallet on the floor, in a chair, or with several siblings piled into a bed fighting for space and a pillow! Now, however, my own bed is especially important to me. Perhaps it is because I’m older now, or because my bed represents my personal space and who I am.  At any rate, I have reached that point where my bed matters!

In the scripture, Jesus spoke to a man in John 5 who had been lying on his bed, begging for many years. His bed mattered because it was the only thing he had control over.  John 5:1-9 NLT, “Afterward, Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches.  One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”  “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”  Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”  Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking!” This man’s bed was his identity and his constant companion for 38 years.  Then Jesus came and spoke the healing word, and everything shifted.

In the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We find another story of a man being healed and being told to “lose the bed!”  Mark 2:1-12 NLT, “When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home.  Soon, the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them,  four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”  But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”  Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? 9 Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’?  So, I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said,  “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”  And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”

In both events, Jesus told the men being healed to “pick up your mat (bed).”  Don’t just run off telling people what has happened. You must deal with your identity and who you were on the mat before your healing. Put your house in order!”

Many sermons have been preached on the faithfulness of his friends, the popularity of Jesus and his teaching, the boldness it took to not be denied, the attitude of the Pharisees and Jesus’ second encounter with the man and his challenge to go and sin no more. But I have never heard one on “pick up your mat.”

Surrender is often an overlooked ingredient in our walk with the Lord, but it truly is a manifestation of faith.  Giving up the way we have done it for 38 years and seeking a new and living way empowered by the words of the Healer takes obedience and surrender. Don’t leave your mat for others to stumble over or where you might be tempted to return to it. Pick it up and walk free!