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 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 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. 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. John 5:1-9
John 5 introduces a new division in John's Gospel. In John 1-4, John introduces the Lord Jesus as the promised Messiah. In John 5, John begins to chronicle the growing rejection, by the Jews, of the claims of the Lord Jesus.
Today, we consider the healing of the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda. This pool was lost until recently, therefore many have used its seeming non-existence to disprove the Bible. However, in 2005, this pool was discovered, and with its discovery the critics were silenced. No one has ever proven the Bible to be anything other than the word of God through archeological discoveries. No, every archeological finding has proven and substantiated the claims of the Bible.
The pool of Bethesda, like many pools in the Jerusalem area, is an intermittent spring. At times water is released in surges from hidden reservoirs in the hills around the city, causing these springs to rise and fall suddenly. This is what gave rise to the superstition about an angel troubling the pool as mentioned in v.4.
This man at the pool at Bethesda had been burdened with this illness for 38 years. He was weak, feeble, and unable to stand. In any event his disease made him unable to walk for 38 years.
So here was a great crowd of people, paralyzed, blind, lame, sick, all waiting for the water to be troubled. Out of that crowd the Lord Jesus picked out one lone man to be the recipient of His grace. He did not heal everybody that was in need of healing that day.
In John 5:6, the Lord Jesus asks the man, "Do you want to get well?" This a strange question to ask of a man who had been ill for 38 years! " The Lord Jesus had to pose this question to this man. Of course, He already knew the answer before the man uttered it. So, why ask it?
Many people today do not want to be healed of their infirmity. They do not want to receive divine help with their problems. They do not want to be helped out of their weakness. They love their helplessness. They are always craving the attention of others through their helplessness. And, they cannot be helped if they do not want to be helped.
Some, perhaps, may not have yet reached the place this man had reached. They are not helpless enough yet. They are not ready to give up on human efforts to solve their problems. They are not ready to admit they cannot make it on their own. They are still determined to get into the water when it is troubled. The Lord Jesus can do nothing for them.
The sick man answered the Lord Jesus in v.7. In essence, he says, "I want to be healed, but I cannot. I've tried, I've done everything I know how. I want to get into that water, I want to be healed, but I lack the ability; I've no one to help me."
Notice the Lord's response in v.8: "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." It is obvious that it was Jesus' will that this man should be healed. However, the Lord Jesus required this man to act on his faith in the word of the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus did not merely say, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." The Lord Jesus is essentially saying: "Get rid of that mat that will tempt you to depend upon it tomorrow. Let it be known that your faith is firmly in the Lord Jesus."
Then the Lord Jesus tells this man to "walk." Many want to be carried, even after they have been healed. But if the Lord Jesus gives the power to get up and walk, we must obey His word. The Lord Jesus is the One who gives us the power to rise up and to keep going. The key is He is the One we focus our attention upon. Our eyes must not behold any other resource that distracts us from Him.
If my dad said it once to me, he said it a thousand times when he said, "Son, some people are so narrow minded they could look through a key hole with both eyes." This man had to redirect his focus, especially due to the fact that he had been focused as he was for 38 years.
This true story of this lame man at the pool at Bethesda is an illustration of how God accomplishes His will for and through our yielded lives. It does not happen automatically, we must decide to follow Him and be defined by Him. We must come to an end of our emptiness and receive His fullness.
