DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL?

John 5:1-15 / Keywords 5:6

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?”

The Healing at the Pool

5:1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 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?”

7 “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.”

8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 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.”

11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

14 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.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Footnotes

a. John 5:2 Some manuscripts Bethzatha; other manuscripts Bethsaida

b. John 5:4 Some manuscripts include here, wholly or in part, paralyzed—and they waited for the moving of the waters. 4 From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had.

1. Many sick people around the pool of Bethesda lay in hopes of being the recipients of supernatural healing. Jesus saw an invalid of 38 years there and asked him, “Do you want to get well?” Jesus was not asking for permission to heal him. He instead wanted to know the man’s true desire for healing after being invalid for 38 years. Jesus wants to set us free from the miseries and disabilities that bind us. But he cannot help those who do not have the desire to be free. When Jesus saw a seed of desire, he told the man to get up, pick up his mat, and walk. The man obeyed Jesus and was healed. Jesus can set us free from sins and failures as we come to him in faith and trust in his saving power. 

2. The Jewish leaders saw the healing. Instead of praising God, however, they accused the man of breaking the Sabbath. One minute after receiving Jesus’ lifegiving work, the man got into trouble. Jesus found the man later and warned him to stop sinning. Jesus’ concern was not only physical, but salvation oriented. After receiving Jesus’ grace, we need to seek, know, and follow Jesus continually. 

Prayer Lord, heal my besetting sins as I obey your words. Help me seek Jesus and obey his words. 

One Word I want to get well