October 01, 2023 | Letters from the Lead Pastor by Brandon Lenhart
“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!”
John 5:1-8 (NLT)
During His ministry, Jesus and the disciples would travel to Jerusalem for the annual festivals. Once when He was there He encountered a man who had been sick for nearly four decades sitting by the pool of Bethesda (a pool considered to have healing qualities). As Jesus approached Him He asked, a very simple, but important question, “Would you like to get well?“ to which the man responded, “I can‘t, sir.“ His reasoning was that no one would help him and others kept getting in ahead of him.
What‘s interesting about this at first glance is Jesus‘ question and the man‘s response. It seems obvious that the man is there because he wants to be healed, but Jesus asks him the question anyway. Though the answer may seem obvious to those reading the text, the man‘s response is definitely not what one would have assumed.
Let‘s first take a look at Jesus‘ question: “Would you like to get well?“ Being the gentleman He always is, Jesus doesn‘t assume that everyone wants His help. Though he has so much to offer, His concern isn‘t to force Himself on anyone. All Jesus can do is offer what He has to give; He will never force anyone to receive the gift and the blessing He wants to give them. blessing He wants to give them. So, what may seem to be a ridiculously obvious question is more in line with the character of the heart of GOD who asks before He heals.
And what of the man‘s response to Jesus‘ question? Instead of responding the way we expect Him to, with a resounding “yes,“ he instead gives an explanation/excuse as to why he has
been unable to be healed. Why doesn’t he just answer Jesus with a simple yes or no response? Why does he feel the need to offer an explanation? It could be several things:
- After 38 years of illness, maybe he had grown so accustomed to being overlooked and dismissed that he didn’t believe it possible to ever be well again.
- After 38 years of illness, maybe he was so used to being sick that his illness had ultimately come to define him.
- Or, maybe after 38 years of illness, he was merely going through the motions and routines of living with a disability that change wasn’t really an option for him anymore.
No matter the reason for the man’s response, Jesus opens the door of opportunity that the man had been waiting for for so long. Without getting into the pool of water, Jesus tells the man to stand up, pick up his mat, and walk. And in an instant, he is healed.
How many times have we been sitting in our difficult circumstances and situations feeling like nothing will ever change? How often have we convinced ourselves that burden, sorrow, and sickness are our plight in life? And yet Jesus comes along and He asks you, “Would you like to get well?”
Sometimes we’re too distracted by our circumstances to even see or hear Jesus in the midst of our difficulty. Sometimes we’re so consigned to our circumstances that we don’t believe anything will ever change for the better in our life. And sometimes we have just given up all hope for change in the way things are we sit in discouragement and disbelief.
GOD doesn’t want us to focus on “pools of water” for healing and blessing, He wants us to focus on His Son, Jesus. He is calling us to take up our mats and walk. He is calling us to follow Him out of spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical illness and into a life of healing, hope, and blessing.
“Would you like to get well?” Say yes to the One who can make you well.
