Focal Passage: John 5:1-11, 17-20
Today’s study is one of my all-time favorite stories from the life of Jesus, especially because of the question He asks. Out of one-hundred and thirty-five questions Jesus asked in the New Testament, this story contains one of His most startling!
Our series is entitled All Signs Point to Jesus and comes from the Gospel of John. Today’s focal text is John 5:1-11, 17-20, the third “sign” the Apostle John selected out of Jesus’ many miracles. Remember that John chose seven miracles “so you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20: 31).
The startling question Jesus asked in today’s ‘sign-miracle’ was “DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL?” (Verse 6). I could imagine a response to such a question being another question from the sick man himself: “Why Lord?” Really, why in the world would Jesus ask a long-term bed-ridden man, Do you WANT to get well? There are FOUR POSSIBLE REASONS FOR THE QUESTION to the sick man — AND to anyone or any church or any ministry that has gotten stuck in ‘poor health:’
Mike Dawson
“Because the longer you wait, the more difficult it gets” (verses 1-6). So many years of waiting: this man had been sick for 456 months. 1,876 weeks. 13, 528 days. Thirty-eight years is a long time. But the ‘patient’ at ‘Bethesda Regional Hospital’ might have had a higher than usual level of expectation. Celebrating crowds had gathered in town for a Jewish festival. The ‘E.R.’ pool was jam-packed with a multitude of the sick waiting around it; and apparently there was a feeling that now could be the time for another heavenly bubble-up of the ‘warm-springs’-type healing waters. Yet Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time. So He asked the question!
“Because your faith is in the wrong things” (verses 7-9). The sick man’s answers revealed a deeper illness. He didn’t say “Yes! I do want to be well!” Instead he rehearsed his excuses — like “no one will help me,” and “others get ahead of me!” The One who could heal him was hearing him complain about others — who could not. So The Healer simply said, “Get up! Pick up your bed-roll! WALK!”
“Because there’s unconfessed sin in your life” (verses 10-15). The enemies of Jesus tried to distract from this miraculous healing by inserting a Sabbath argument, but Jesus shut that off. In effect He declared that this was not a Sabbath issue, this was a SIN issue. “See, you are well,” Jesus told him; “Do not sin anymore, so that something worse does not happen to you.” A long-term sickness (personal or congregational) may not be because of unconfessed sin, but it also MAY be!
“Because the Father has the agenda — and Jesus has the authority — to turn hopeless hurtings into holy healings” (verses 16-20). The follow-up of this sign-miracle was a heated discussion with Jesus’ enemies about His AUTHORITY to do and say what He did. Ten words from Jesus said it all: My Father is still working, and I am working also.
Do you want to be well? Call the specialist team, “Father & Son.” Then get up, pick up, and step up! B&R — Dawson is pastor emeritus at First Baptist Church, Columbia, and has served as transitional interim pastor at numerous churches since his retirement from full-time ministry.