John 5: 1-15
Have you ever wondered why God
doesn’t answer all our prayers the same way? Or when Jesus was walking around
in Judea, healing many diseases, why didn’t he heal all of them? Take the story of the man at the pool of Bethesda. It
was a gathering place where a great number of disabled people used to hang
around—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. But Jesus only spoke to the one man.
Nothing is said about the others in the crowd being healed. Why does grace seem
so arbitrary?
Here at the pool of Bethesda, Jesus singled out one man and approached him for a conversation. The man was laying on a simple mat. He must have been weak and frail. His legs pretty much wasted away from lack of use. He had been in that condition for a long time, approximately 38 years. Most interesting is the fact that Jesus initiated this healing. The man hadn’t called out to Jesus in any special way or made a unique appeal. Jesus had His own reasons. He just moved forward and began talking with the man, almost as if they knew each other.
“Do you want to get well?” Jesus asked, when He had drawn near. It wasn’t a loud announcement addressed to everyone, it was a private, personal conversation. It seems like a silly question--of course he would want to be healed. But perhaps the man has grown accustomed to his disability and would prefer the known pain to the terror of the unknown, with its new responsibilities. This Gospel event stresses both divine sovereignty and human responsibility, and here we see both Jesus' sovereign approach to this man and the importance of the man's own will.
“Do you want to get well?” This is another of Jesus' questions that are intended to reveal one's heart. What would we say to Jesus if he asked us whether we wanted to be healed of our own illnesses, physical or otherwise? Do we want to be rid of our addictions and other sins? Ten minutes hard thought on this question could lead us to new depths of repentance.
Here was a man lying beside a pool of water that was an unpredictable source of healing that could affect only a few people, or one, or maybe none really, and this man seemingly has no hope of getting healed anyway because he cannot get to the pool. In other words, this looks like a situation of utter hopelessness and futility. But while the man cannot get to the pool, Jesus can get to him. The man is met by the one who is the stable, constant source, not just of healing but of life itself, indeed, of eternal life.
This man has no idea who Jesus is. And in his wondering what to make of this strange question, instead of saying a simple, “Yes,” The man responded with an explanation of why he wasn’t well already.
“Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I’m trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Perhaps he thought Jesus was willing to help him into the water. Maybe Jesus would hang around until the water was stirred again. So he indirectly asked for Jesus' help the same way the Samaritan woman wanted the indoor plumbing she thought Jesus was offering to her. You know what I mean, springs of water welling up within you. In both cases they got far more than they expected. Instead of giving him a hand into the pool Jesus gave him a hand up on two good legs with an immediate and complete healing. He hadn’t asked for that! He hadn’t shown any faith to be healed!
But perhaps in an indirect way he had demonstrated faith, just by persistently being at the pool and hoping that someday he would get to the water first. That would show the man had some kind of faith in the healing properties of the pool. Then we could conclude that Jesus saw the man's character as faithful, and this made his healing possible. Jesus knew the man's humility and saw this was fertile ground for receiving saving faith. Much the like the humility of Zaccheus who, sinner though he was, scorned his dignity to climb a tree for a chance to see Jesus.
This man by the pool did not know who Jesus was, but he gave evidence that he knew it was God that had healed him because he immediately went to the temple to give thanks to God for making him whole. We know he went to the temple because that’s where Jesus found him. It shows the man believed in God and wanted to give Him thanks for the blessing he had received. Could that be why it is that of all those by the pool desiring to be healed, Jesus only chose this man?
So Jesus simply said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” And the man did it. He obeyed the command. That took faith too, to give it a try when he hadn’t been able to for 38 years! Soon, the man got into some trouble with the religious folk for carrying a mat on the Sabbath day. Instead of rejoicing in his healing, the religious leaders nabbed him on the technicality that he was working and that it was against the Law. It actually wasn’t against the Law of Moses though. It was just against the Jewish traditions that grew up around that Law.
It’s sort of like the way we show respect for our church building by taking good care of it and in taking good care of it, after some new carpet is installed and some spills happen a rule comes along, “No red punch will be served in this church!” They meant well. But over time the rule can become more important than the blessing of the Sabbath rest.
When Jesus found the man later at the temple his legs were sturdy and if you didn’t know any better, you’d think that nothing had ever been wrong. Again Jesus approached him and said, “I see that you are well again.” That probably made the man smile. But then Jesus continued in a more sober tone, “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” This was different too. Obviously, Jesus knew a lot about this man that we do not. It looks to us as if this healing was a second chance at life for some reason that we don’t understand. It is hard to even imagine how he could have been sinning over the last 38 years in any way that needed to stop.
Did the man heed the warning? Did he deserve to be healed? We’ll never know that until and unless we meet him in heaven. And I really hope we do. Until then, we are left to ponder and marvel at the sovereignty of God, his mighty power to heal and save, and His wisdom which is beyond our understanding.
There are a few more observations to make. Amazingly, since Jesus asked the invalid whether or not he wants to get well, we need to accept the fact that there are those who do not want to get well. There are some benefits in being sick, when other people care for you and you don’t have to lift a finger because you supposedly can’t. I have heard that in those days, a beggar could make a pretty good living off the healthy people who were religiously trained to give alms. Or, the invalid may want the benefits of being well, but what can hold them back is the fear of the responsibility of staying well or, in many cases, acknowledging responsibility for the part that they may have played in becoming unwell in the first place. I am not talking here about the handicapped, or those afflicted with biological illnesses. There are some clues in this event, that this man’s condition may not have been a result of natural causes.
We have a hint that this man may have played a part in his becoming unwell in John 5:14 when Jesus meets him in the temple and says: “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” Of course, only Jesus and the man know the truth of the history of that statement. Our imaginations cause us to ask, “Was he injured in a drunken brawl? Was he being reckless with his life?” We don’t need to know. It is enough to know that getting well and staying well is not automatic.
We all know someone, or perhaps we ourselves, are addicted to something that is keeping us from being fully well. It could be an addiction to food, causing us to be obese. It could be smoking or drugs that damage us physically. It could be what we do with our free time or finances that keep us from being wholly devoted to God’s best for us. Being well and staying well would mean a change on our part, Jesus’ words, “take up your mat and walk,” would not be enough. It would also require an action on our part to walk away from our temptation. The man was being made aware of his choice in the matter. Jesus was warning him, if you go back to your old ways, it could be worse for you the next time.
It’s unclear whether the angel in the pool was a real occurrence or superstition. But it is good for us to observe that people who aren’t well do often put their hopes in quick fixes or false beliefs that end up proving themselves to be frauds in the end. Jesus was offering truth and reality, just as He offers to us. His question to you is, no matter what your struggle, “Do you really want to get well, better or more mature?” Are you willing to accept all that goes with becoming well? May God bless you as you wrestle with Him in this.
Some of us may still wrestle with the question, why just him and not everybody. But we also might ask, why not him. The fact is, he was healed and apparently because he wanted to be. So let God ask you, “Do you want to be well, or better than you were a moment ago?” If you think that can’t happen or you don’t need it, or for any reason you don’t want it, ask yourself, Why not? Why not you? Why not now?
In the Gospels, Jesus performed many miracles and healed a lot of people. Our opening question was: Why didn't Jesus heal everyone? Well first of all, he sure healed a lot of people. With certainty we can say that no one has ever lived on earth who miraculously healed more people than Jesus! In addition, there is not a single New Testament account of someone asking Jesus for healing who was not healed!
So if Jesus didn’t heal everybody, at least we know that no one ever came to Jesus for healing and got sent away unhealed. We also wouldn’t want to say that Jesus should have healed people who never asked him for it.
But still we are left with: Why didn't Jesus heal everyone, regardless of where they were or whether they came to him? Some might ask: Is it because He didn't care about those left unhealed? Did he love some more than others? Was He incapable of healing everyone? Did someone prevent Him from healing everyone? Did He only heal those who believed in Him? Why didn't Jesus heal everyone?
Well, it is not because he couldn’t. Certainly he doesn’t lack the power. We also know he is the God who loves perfectly, so it can’t be that he wouldn't heal them, as in, didn’t want to. In fact, His heart was that of love, mercy & compassion for the sick. He also taught disciples to have the same heart. We have the epistle of James who carried on that healing love by telling his readers to anoint the sick with oil and prayers and they would be healed.
Jesus did not heal everyone because a universal healing of the flesh was not the work the father gave him to do. His miracles served as signs for a greater work, that he is the Christ, the Son of God, to bring people to faith in him as the Son of God, to reveal his glory, to prove his authority over sin, to forgive it, and over satan, with a word. Jesus healed to show God's mercy and compassion. The miracles recorded were sufficient to fulfill the divine purposes listed above.
In addition, the body is one thing. Far more important to Jesus’ mission is that he came to heal the souls of all who will believe. We must learn from his miracles that he can save our souls from sin! God sent Jesus to heal people completely, body AND soul! Yet, many would and will not come to be healed of their sins! Do such people want to be made well? Many of them even refuse to believe there is anything wrong with them.
But we must not refuse to believe that we need to be saved. Jesus said and did all the things he did "that you may be saved"! By his healing miracles we also know that he has the power to save you. He has the will to save you. Have his miracles of healing human bodies convinced you that he can heal your soul from all your sin? Notice the healed man in our story was warned about his own sin and surely that’s the greater disease!
Jesus’ miracles teach the Christian to trust his grace in our lives. For example, Jesus loved Paul and could have healed him of his thorn in the flesh. But it seems that Paul came to understand that he needed a greater lesson; humble dependency upon Christ in all things! If Jesus just healed everybody, everybody, even though they weren’t asking for it, wouldn’t many of them have been left in their sins, unheeding of any warning about sin, because they didn’t know the one who healed them had authority over sin as well as bodies.
We are familiar with people dear to us, who though they were not healed of physical illness, nevertheless demonstrated a great and deep faith in and love for the God who forgives sin. And though they are no longer with us in this world, yet we know that where they are they are perfectly healed of every infirmity, including sin and death itself, because of their faith in Jesus Christ!
Can’t we learn to thankfully rejoice in and reverently worship Christ for the healing he has given us?! Jesus healed all who came to him for healing. Everybody Jesus healed showed he has power to heal the soul. But he didn’t need to heal every body in order to accomplish his greater work of making possible the healing of every soul. And besides, we should not be so focused on the healing of the body we own here. Since we get a better one in Heaven, let us be sure that we get there! Will you let him work his power in your life?
Here at the pool of Bethesda, Jesus singled out one man and approached him for a conversation. The man was laying on a simple mat. He must have been weak and frail. His legs pretty much wasted away from lack of use. He had been in that condition for a long time, approximately 38 years. Most interesting is the fact that Jesus initiated this healing. The man hadn’t called out to Jesus in any special way or made a unique appeal. Jesus had His own reasons. He just moved forward and began talking with the man, almost as if they knew each other.
“Do you want to get well?” Jesus asked, when He had drawn near. It wasn’t a loud announcement addressed to everyone, it was a private, personal conversation. It seems like a silly question--of course he would want to be healed. But perhaps the man has grown accustomed to his disability and would prefer the known pain to the terror of the unknown, with its new responsibilities. This Gospel event stresses both divine sovereignty and human responsibility, and here we see both Jesus' sovereign approach to this man and the importance of the man's own will.
“Do you want to get well?” This is another of Jesus' questions that are intended to reveal one's heart. What would we say to Jesus if he asked us whether we wanted to be healed of our own illnesses, physical or otherwise? Do we want to be rid of our addictions and other sins? Ten minutes hard thought on this question could lead us to new depths of repentance.
Here was a man lying beside a pool of water that was an unpredictable source of healing that could affect only a few people, or one, or maybe none really, and this man seemingly has no hope of getting healed anyway because he cannot get to the pool. In other words, this looks like a situation of utter hopelessness and futility. But while the man cannot get to the pool, Jesus can get to him. The man is met by the one who is the stable, constant source, not just of healing but of life itself, indeed, of eternal life.
This man has no idea who Jesus is. And in his wondering what to make of this strange question, instead of saying a simple, “Yes,” The man responded with an explanation of why he wasn’t well already.
“Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I’m trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Perhaps he thought Jesus was willing to help him into the water. Maybe Jesus would hang around until the water was stirred again. So he indirectly asked for Jesus' help the same way the Samaritan woman wanted the indoor plumbing she thought Jesus was offering to her. You know what I mean, springs of water welling up within you. In both cases they got far more than they expected. Instead of giving him a hand into the pool Jesus gave him a hand up on two good legs with an immediate and complete healing. He hadn’t asked for that! He hadn’t shown any faith to be healed!
But perhaps in an indirect way he had demonstrated faith, just by persistently being at the pool and hoping that someday he would get to the water first. That would show the man had some kind of faith in the healing properties of the pool. Then we could conclude that Jesus saw the man's character as faithful, and this made his healing possible. Jesus knew the man's humility and saw this was fertile ground for receiving saving faith. Much the like the humility of Zaccheus who, sinner though he was, scorned his dignity to climb a tree for a chance to see Jesus.
This man by the pool did not know who Jesus was, but he gave evidence that he knew it was God that had healed him because he immediately went to the temple to give thanks to God for making him whole. We know he went to the temple because that’s where Jesus found him. It shows the man believed in God and wanted to give Him thanks for the blessing he had received. Could that be why it is that of all those by the pool desiring to be healed, Jesus only chose this man?
So Jesus simply said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” And the man did it. He obeyed the command. That took faith too, to give it a try when he hadn’t been able to for 38 years! Soon, the man got into some trouble with the religious folk for carrying a mat on the Sabbath day. Instead of rejoicing in his healing, the religious leaders nabbed him on the technicality that he was working and that it was against the Law. It actually wasn’t against the Law of Moses though. It was just against the Jewish traditions that grew up around that Law.
It’s sort of like the way we show respect for our church building by taking good care of it and in taking good care of it, after some new carpet is installed and some spills happen a rule comes along, “No red punch will be served in this church!” They meant well. But over time the rule can become more important than the blessing of the Sabbath rest.
When Jesus found the man later at the temple his legs were sturdy and if you didn’t know any better, you’d think that nothing had ever been wrong. Again Jesus approached him and said, “I see that you are well again.” That probably made the man smile. But then Jesus continued in a more sober tone, “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” This was different too. Obviously, Jesus knew a lot about this man that we do not. It looks to us as if this healing was a second chance at life for some reason that we don’t understand. It is hard to even imagine how he could have been sinning over the last 38 years in any way that needed to stop.
Did the man heed the warning? Did he deserve to be healed? We’ll never know that until and unless we meet him in heaven. And I really hope we do. Until then, we are left to ponder and marvel at the sovereignty of God, his mighty power to heal and save, and His wisdom which is beyond our understanding.
There are a few more observations to make. Amazingly, since Jesus asked the invalid whether or not he wants to get well, we need to accept the fact that there are those who do not want to get well. There are some benefits in being sick, when other people care for you and you don’t have to lift a finger because you supposedly can’t. I have heard that in those days, a beggar could make a pretty good living off the healthy people who were religiously trained to give alms. Or, the invalid may want the benefits of being well, but what can hold them back is the fear of the responsibility of staying well or, in many cases, acknowledging responsibility for the part that they may have played in becoming unwell in the first place. I am not talking here about the handicapped, or those afflicted with biological illnesses. There are some clues in this event, that this man’s condition may not have been a result of natural causes.
We have a hint that this man may have played a part in his becoming unwell in John 5:14 when Jesus meets him in the temple and says: “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” Of course, only Jesus and the man know the truth of the history of that statement. Our imaginations cause us to ask, “Was he injured in a drunken brawl? Was he being reckless with his life?” We don’t need to know. It is enough to know that getting well and staying well is not automatic.
We all know someone, or perhaps we ourselves, are addicted to something that is keeping us from being fully well. It could be an addiction to food, causing us to be obese. It could be smoking or drugs that damage us physically. It could be what we do with our free time or finances that keep us from being wholly devoted to God’s best for us. Being well and staying well would mean a change on our part, Jesus’ words, “take up your mat and walk,” would not be enough. It would also require an action on our part to walk away from our temptation. The man was being made aware of his choice in the matter. Jesus was warning him, if you go back to your old ways, it could be worse for you the next time.
It’s unclear whether the angel in the pool was a real occurrence or superstition. But it is good for us to observe that people who aren’t well do often put their hopes in quick fixes or false beliefs that end up proving themselves to be frauds in the end. Jesus was offering truth and reality, just as He offers to us. His question to you is, no matter what your struggle, “Do you really want to get well, better or more mature?” Are you willing to accept all that goes with becoming well? May God bless you as you wrestle with Him in this.
Some of us may still wrestle with the question, why just him and not everybody. But we also might ask, why not him. The fact is, he was healed and apparently because he wanted to be. So let God ask you, “Do you want to be well, or better than you were a moment ago?” If you think that can’t happen or you don’t need it, or for any reason you don’t want it, ask yourself, Why not? Why not you? Why not now?
In the Gospels, Jesus performed many miracles and healed a lot of people. Our opening question was: Why didn't Jesus heal everyone? Well first of all, he sure healed a lot of people. With certainty we can say that no one has ever lived on earth who miraculously healed more people than Jesus! In addition, there is not a single New Testament account of someone asking Jesus for healing who was not healed!
So if Jesus didn’t heal everybody, at least we know that no one ever came to Jesus for healing and got sent away unhealed. We also wouldn’t want to say that Jesus should have healed people who never asked him for it.
But still we are left with: Why didn't Jesus heal everyone, regardless of where they were or whether they came to him? Some might ask: Is it because He didn't care about those left unhealed? Did he love some more than others? Was He incapable of healing everyone? Did someone prevent Him from healing everyone? Did He only heal those who believed in Him? Why didn't Jesus heal everyone?
Well, it is not because he couldn’t. Certainly he doesn’t lack the power. We also know he is the God who loves perfectly, so it can’t be that he wouldn't heal them, as in, didn’t want to. In fact, His heart was that of love, mercy & compassion for the sick. He also taught disciples to have the same heart. We have the epistle of James who carried on that healing love by telling his readers to anoint the sick with oil and prayers and they would be healed.
Jesus did not heal everyone because a universal healing of the flesh was not the work the father gave him to do. His miracles served as signs for a greater work, that he is the Christ, the Son of God, to bring people to faith in him as the Son of God, to reveal his glory, to prove his authority over sin, to forgive it, and over satan, with a word. Jesus healed to show God's mercy and compassion. The miracles recorded were sufficient to fulfill the divine purposes listed above.
In addition, the body is one thing. Far more important to Jesus’ mission is that he came to heal the souls of all who will believe. We must learn from his miracles that he can save our souls from sin! God sent Jesus to heal people completely, body AND soul! Yet, many would and will not come to be healed of their sins! Do such people want to be made well? Many of them even refuse to believe there is anything wrong with them.
But we must not refuse to believe that we need to be saved. Jesus said and did all the things he did "that you may be saved"! By his healing miracles we also know that he has the power to save you. He has the will to save you. Have his miracles of healing human bodies convinced you that he can heal your soul from all your sin? Notice the healed man in our story was warned about his own sin and surely that’s the greater disease!
Jesus’ miracles teach the Christian to trust his grace in our lives. For example, Jesus loved Paul and could have healed him of his thorn in the flesh. But it seems that Paul came to understand that he needed a greater lesson; humble dependency upon Christ in all things! If Jesus just healed everybody, everybody, even though they weren’t asking for it, wouldn’t many of them have been left in their sins, unheeding of any warning about sin, because they didn’t know the one who healed them had authority over sin as well as bodies.
We are familiar with people dear to us, who though they were not healed of physical illness, nevertheless demonstrated a great and deep faith in and love for the God who forgives sin. And though they are no longer with us in this world, yet we know that where they are they are perfectly healed of every infirmity, including sin and death itself, because of their faith in Jesus Christ!
Can’t we learn to thankfully rejoice in and reverently worship Christ for the healing he has given us?! Jesus healed all who came to him for healing. Everybody Jesus healed showed he has power to heal the soul. But he didn’t need to heal every body in order to accomplish his greater work of making possible the healing of every soul. And besides, we should not be so focused on the healing of the body we own here. Since we get a better one in Heaven, let us be sure that we get there! Will you let him work his power in your life?
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