John 5: 1-6
‘”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 colonnades. 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 thirty-eight 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 get well?’”
This passage is one of the more powerful passages in scripture. It is easy to overlook the power of the passage because of the casual way John approaches this story in his Gospel. Time has passed. We just traveled north from Jerusalem and stopped for a brief visit with the Woman at the Well in Shechem. Then as we arrive with Jesus in Cana we are met by the royal official whose son is dying. John doesn’t tell us how long Jesus stays in Galilee or what else might have happened while he was there, but “…some time later,” Jesus is heading back to Jerusalem.
John tells a little bit about the place Jesus passes through, the place near one of the gates into the walled city. The pool called, Bethesda, was actually outside the city wall. Originally a kind of reservoir for rainwater, the main pool was reportedly very deep, one report I read explaining that the pool was about 40 feet deep. This explains why getting in and out of the pool might have been difficult for the invalid in this story. (It is also possible that there were shallow pools adjacent to the larger one that were used for bathing.)
John’s story does not explain why Jesus chose to go to the pool, but there he sees a man who has been an invalid for 38 years. Knowing this, Jesus goes up to the man and asks him, “Do you want to get well?”
This might seem like a no-brainer kind of question. “Of course he wants to get well!” one might justifiably think. And yet, the answer isn’t always that obvious. Human beings have a curious ability to find comfort in feeling sorry for themselves.
Q: If getting well spiritually means letting go of our personal thoughts and turning them all over to Jesus, do we sometimes hesitate? Should we?
Jesus asked, “Do you want to get well?”, a picture of the Holy Spirit convicting an individual of their disability. SPIRITUAL SIN. Before a person can respond they must open their minds to, made well from what? This can be a real tough one to honestly evaluate and more importantly accept the answer.
I recall when I first recognized God approached and revealed ” just a portion ” of my totally sinful life/nature to me. I had known there was a God, and in my mind, my saving grace was, I had always been kind to animals. I could not think of one animal I had abused, and surely that must be worth something. I was prepared to argue that one with Him if I had to.
The Lord was not buying that and He managed to get me into a bible study while not yet a believer.
Praise God for His patience with me as He took steps to make absolutely/unquestionably certain I knew what I was doing.
Well, as I studied Gods Word, I was absolutely floored. First, God already knew everything there was to know about me. Second, to be saved I had to go to Christ, admit my sins, ask His forgiveness and turn from my old ways. Knowing this, I held my filthy, corrupted heart high and went directly to the front of the line, and became a child of God.
So, I did hesitate, out of fear of being punished, and for me it was a good thing. In my mind I was not fit for anything but Hell. Should we all hesitate, I have no idea.
Yes and No,..yes I am sure we all hesitate on some thoughts before the eyes of our heart and mind are opened, and no we shouldn’t hesitate but we do,..maybe because we are human,..we like to hold onto things for as long as we can,..some thoughts of mine I know now He has taken care of but before I knew any better those thoughts were locked up tight in the box in the back of my mind,..getting rid of those personal thoughts and handing them over has allowed me to grow spiritually and have a closer walk with Jesus,..
Ron & John,
Thanks so much for sharing your stories! It seems like God is continually prodding me to “let go” of the next thing that I am clutching to instead of trusting totally in God. Often I hesitate. I wish I didn’t. Trusting God always ends up being for the best.
We know this Jeff, but it takes a lifetime of practice to even begin to make it part of our lives. I’m so glad Jesus will complete our natures.
Jeff- Thanks so much for sharing.
I feel power over Satan when I can blatantly point out one of his dirty tricks. Which you just did! I think he works hard to help make us all sorts of cozy and comfortable feeling sorry for ourselves. If our thoughts aren’t constantly on Him we risk them being taken over by his foe. Reminds me of the Screwtape Letters.
Your passage spoke to my heart and to my thoughts. Thanks!
Dr. Brester,
Thank you for joining our discussion! You are so right to feel the power of our Lord when his light shines on the adversary’s “dirty tricks!” That is an awesome feeling of empowerment and freedom.
Blessings!!
Well said everyone!