John 5:1-9
“Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered porches. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for 38 years. 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 be well?”
“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.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” Immediately the man was healed; he picked up his mat and walked.”
Can you picture this scene? Jesus asks a man who has been ill for a very long time if he wants to be well. A man who waited by a mystical healing pool for the chance that maybe, just maybe, THIS time, he could be cured. At first it seems like a no brainer, what an obvious question for Jesus to ask him. Of course he wants to be well, that’s what this place represents! Bethesda was known for attracting the blind, sick and lame, because it represented a place of hope. A place where brokenness gathered.
In my study of this passage I looked at several Bible translations and some use the word “healed” or “whole” instead of “well.” And here’s what I found to be so beautiful in these words:
The definition of healing is: “the process of making sound or healthy AGAIN.”
The definition of wellness is: “the state of being in good health, especially as an ACTIVELY pursued goal.”
The definition of being whole is: “all, ENTIRELY.”
Healing, wellness, and being made whole all by definition reveal to us that God wants to restore us to where we were meant to be: being truly well with our souls; emotionally, spiritually, entirely.
The dialogue between this man and Jesus demonstrated to us how deeply He desires to see us walking in strength and victory in our lives and how often we need to have a moment of honesty with ourselves, “do we really want to be well?” If so, what needs to happen?
This man had no friends. He tells Jesus in this passage that no one helps him into the waters. I am overwhelmed with the compassion of Jesus when I think of this very moment. Jesus wanted to lift a forsaken crippled man up on his feet leading Him not only into healing but into relationship.
Jesus wants us to know that with Him, we are never alone. He is who makes us well within our souls.
The suffering, the rejection, the hurt, the grief, the confusion, the shock, the need to forgive, the difficulty letting go…the enemy will stop at nothing to make sure you feel alone. Soon we are reciting to ourselves, no one understands my pain.
But Jesus does. And I think He is often shining a light in areas of our lives that need immediate attention and with deep empathy in His eyes saying, I am here. You have my full attention, child. Do you want to be well?
You see, we all, like this man at the pool of Bethesda, have a story of struggle. We ALL have stuff. And it holds us back from being fully free.
Jesus said “get up” to a man who had been lame for 38 years. Jesus speaks into the “impossible” areas of our pain and tells us to believe that HE can make us whole. But there is an action required through faith on our part. We must get up and walk away from where we’ve been sitting.
It took a long time for me to recognize and confess that hanging on to my hurts was something I was physically and spiritually and emotionally choosing to hold on to. In John 14:27 Jesus made this promise, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” If Jesus has promised me peace, why in the world can I not feel it?
Why does my heart, body and spirit hurt so much?
Because I’ve been sitting on a mat telling Jesus all the ways that I have been trying to get up and that’s not what He’s been asking. He doesn’t ask, “what have YOU been trying to do to get well?”
He asks, “Do you WANT to be well?”
When will I learn that the striving on my part, the intention to self-heal is never going to make me whole? He is asking me to get up in faith, not heal myself. The only action I need to take is to trust Him. Stand up. Let go of mystical pools where hope is deferred and clasp my hand securely in His.
It seems in every season, I am being pruned in order to be made more fruitful. After all, that’s what abiding looks like. Being one with the True Vine means allowing Him to tend to us and to heal. And while I won’t lie that it hurts deeply, I am grateful that He cares for me so.
I truly want to be well.
I want to hold my hands out to Jesus, entrusting myself to Him. He is the only one who can make all things new. He truly is the Great Physician, the one best equipped to perform spiritual heart surgery.
Hope has come.
I want to get up, pick up my mat, and walk with Him.