John 5:6

New International Version

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?”

For Meditation

John the Apostle is the only one to record this story. The person in focus is a disabled man who had staked his chances for healing on the stirring of a pool by an angel (John 5:1-7). For thirty-eight years, this man waited through multiple disappointments. The many years of waiting had frustrated him, and it showed in his response to Jesus when He stopped at the pool called Bethesda.

“Do you want to get well?”

It was a simple yes or no question, but our friend went on to a blame and complaining trail, far from the Healer’s requirement. An examiner would have given him a failed mark for deviation. 

Ignorance is a disease indeed. If only the man had known the person asking about his wishes, he would have shouted his affirmative answer. In his ignorance, his frustration got the best of him, and he vented. It was like saying, 

“Do not blame me, sir, for I have heard enough of that from folks who think I have not tried enough. If only they knew the insurmountable handicaps that I face every time the pool got stirred, they would be sympathetic and helpful in getting me into it at the right time. But I have hope in the Lord to help me one day soon.”

Whether it was a plea for sympathy or fear of the liberating power of healing that threatened him, we don’t know, but Christ did and was there to give him a second chance at life. He ignored the man’s complaints and poured His healing grace on him.

Get up! Pick up your mat and walk! (8). 

That is the voice and command the body had to hear. It shocked the man out of his lethargy, and he did as Christ commanded (9). 

There is nothing in all creation that can resist the voice of Jesus. He created all things, seen and unseen (Colossians 1:16), and sustains them all by His powerful word (Hebrews 1:3). When we come before Him; we must set all our complaints and excuses aside and only plead for mercy. He knows them all and has the compassion to help us. 

Easter should remind us of God’s love, without which we have no hope for healing grace. The Pool at Bethesda could not be the source of the man’s forgiveness and healing (9, 14), and it cannot be for you and me. Nothing else but the healing power of the blood of the Lamb of God He sacrificed for us on Calvary (1 John 2:1). Receive Him today for your healing (1 Peter 2:24). 

Do you want to get well?