What Jesus Did : John 5:5-7 - Would You Like to Get Well?
by Phil Ware
Would You Like to Get Well? - John 5:5-7
There was a man lying there who had been sick for 38 years. Jesus saw the man lying there. Jesus knew that the man had been sick for a very long time. So Jesus asked the man, "Do you want to be well?" The sick man answered, "Sir, there is no person to help me get into the water when the water starts moving. I try to be the first person into the water. But when I try, another person always goes in before I can." (ERV) Full TextKey Thought
"Would you like to get well?" Sometimes our biggest disease isn't what appears in our body. Instead, this disease hides in our hearts. "Do I want to get well?" That's a much harder question to answer than meets the eye. I might have to change. I might have to give up my excuses. I might have to adapt to a different lifestyle. I might have to give up blaming others for my problems. I might have to take some responsibility for my own condition. Jesus asked the question because, in this case, it was the real disease. As the man shows by the end of the story, he wasn't ready to take responsibility for anything. What about us? Do we really want to get well, both spiritually and physically? Really? Then come to Christ and be ready for the Holy Spirit to begin changing you!
Today's Prayer
Father, I do want to be made well. I want to be saved through and through—body, soul, mind, and spirit. I offer myself up to you to be changed so that I can be whole. I offer myself to be transformed to be more like Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Today's Verses in Context
Later Jesus went to Jerusalem for a special Jewish festival. In Jerusalem there is a pool with five covered porches. In the Jewish language it is called Bethzatha. This pool is near the Sheep Gate. Many sick people were lying on the porches {beside the pool}. Some of the people were blind, some were crippled, and some were paralyzed. There was a man lying there who had been sick for 38 years. Jesus saw the man lying there. Jesus knew that the man had been sick for a very long time. So Jesus asked the man, "Do you want to be well?" The sick man answered, "Sir, there is no person to help me get into the water when the water starts moving. I try to be the first person into the water. But when I try, another person always goes in before I can." Then Jesus said, "Stand up! Pick up your bed and walk." Then immediately the man was well. The man picked up his bed and started walking. The day all this happened was a Sabbath day. So some Jews said to the man that had been healed, "Today is the Sabbath. It is against our law for you to carry your bed on the Sabbath day." But the man answered, "The person (Jesus) that made me well told me, 'Pick up your bed and walk.'" The Jews asked the man, "Who is the person that told you to pick up your bed and walk?" But the man that had been healed did not know who the person was. There were many people in that place, and Jesus had left. Later Jesus found the man at the temple. Jesus said to him, "See, you are well now. But stop sinning or something worse may happen to you!" Then the man left and went back to those Jews. The man told them that Jesus was the one that made him well.-- John 5:1-15 (ERV)
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