John 5:1-13

The man has been ill for 38 years. He is used to begging, earns quite a good living even – for an invalid – because, as always, it’s about location, location, location and he’s got the pick of all begging patches at a pool famed for its healing properties. But begging wasn’t what he first came here for. Whenever the waters are stirred, angels are supposed to turn up and heal people, but he can’t get there quick enough. It’s never his turn – it hasn’t been for 38 years. No-one is there to help him. Not even his parents lend a hand.

But one day things changed. Enter Jesus. “Do you want to get well?”

What a question. What can he mean? What a cruel thing to ask a man who hasn’t moved for nearly 4 decades and seen so many others come and go as transformed people. Of course an ill person wants to get well “¦ of course a person who is incapacitated wants to be made whole again. Surely this question makes no sense? But Jesus knows what he is asking and why.

The man is used to his illness. It has been his constant companion for so long, even at times, his shelter. It is his occupation. It is his source of income. It is his status. It is all he knows (better the devil and all that).

“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.”
John 5:7

He seems to be thinking that Jesus is suggesting he help him get into the pool! He doesn’t know who he is talking to! Even if Jesus was suggesting he helped him into the water, the man has hardly pounced on the opportunity. What we can tell from this simple reply is that the man had pretty much run out of hope, resigned to the fact that he will forever be the witness to miracles, never the receiver.

Jesus has other ideas.

“”Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.”
John 5:8,9

Have you become used to something in your life that you’ve resigned yourself to thinking that it’s going to forever stay in its current state? Would you struggle to answer the question “Do you want it to be different?” any stronger than the man did? Are you looking to a method of resolving that issue rather than looking to the Christ who speaks to you?

The man left so quickly that, when asked later, he hadn’t even got Jesus’ name. We have the privilege of knowing and being in a relationship with Him. Let us listen to the questions he has to ask us and seek Him for the answers.