When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition 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.” – John 5:6-7
According to Hebrew tradition, a few times per year God would send an angel down to the pool in Bethesda to stir the water, which immediately released miraculous healing powers. Again, according to tradition, the first person to get into the pool while the water stirred would be healed.
John tells us that a great number of disabled people would lie by this pool; the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. It was a rather large pool, so it would be reasonable to assume that it was a very crowded place.
The man who Jesus had come to visit that day had been there for much of his adult life. He had suffered from paralysis in one of his legs for 38 years. That is a long, long time. Even longer than Jesus had been alive!
So, Jesus approached the man and asked him a fairly straightforward question. However, had any other person in the world asked this man that question, it would seem incredibly stupid, if not outright cruel.
“Do you want to get well?”
Of course, the man lying by the pool has no idea who this man is that has asked him this question. Because if he did, his response would’ve been completely different. “Sir, I have no one to help me get into the pool when the water is stirred. While I’m trying to get in, someone goes in ahead of me.”
On the surface, the man’s response seems quite predictable. He’s laid by this pool for many years. He’s hopeless. He’s helpless. He’s surrounded by others who are just as hopeless and helpless as he is. He’s tired. He’s forgotten what it feels like to be normal; to be able to walk to the market, to be able to take a bath, to be able to run and dance. This is the only life he’s ever known as an adult, and now he’s having to explain why his life is meaningless to this man who has appeared from out of nowhere to talk to him.
But what seems like a cruel question is so much deeper than Jesus wanting to address this man’s physical disability. Yes, Jesus wanted to heal his paralytic leg. But most importantly, Jesus wanted to get involved in this man’s life. He wanted him to know what real hope was again. He wasn’t concerned about this man’s leg. He was concerned about this man’s eternal life.
That’s who Jesus is. He longs for a relationship. He wants to do so much more than just heal the outside; He wants to heal the inside.
After the man responded to Jesus with an excuse, Jesus poured out his mercy and grace upon him. “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk. At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.” (vv.8-9)
What are our excuses today for not wanting to get well? Are too many people in our way? Have we become so comfortable in our suffering that we’ve come to rely on the attention and sympathy it offers us? Might it be the fear of not having an excuse should we try and fail at something? Or is it the greatest fear of all, the fear of change itself?
Jesus has no use for mats. He has no use for excuses. He’s ready to do something incredible in your life today. And it doesn’t take a mountain of faith. In fact, he tells us that faith the size of a tiny mustard seed can move a mountain (Matthew 17:20-21). So Jesus can work with a little faith, and you will be amazed at what he can do through you with a little faith.
The question is, do you want to get well?
Former Blackout Artist 