HEALED, BUT NOT HOLY
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Opening Prayer
God and Father, help me to be more aware of your presence, ready to do your will, eager to share who you are with others.
Read JOHN 5:1–15
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
The Healing at the Pool
5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 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?”
7 “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.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Footnotes
- John 5:2 Some manuscripts Bethzatha; other manuscripts Bethsaida
- John 5:4 Some manuscripts include here, wholly or in part, paralyzed—and they waited for the moving of the waters. 4 From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy.’1
‘Do you want to get well?’ seems a strange question to ask someone who had been an invalid for 38 years (vv. 5, 6). The answer was obvious—or was it? Jesus’ question went unanswered. Instead of responding enthusiastically, the invalid began grumbling about his helplessness (v. 7). Had the years chipped away at his hope and made him cynical? Had he settled so deeply into a victim mentality that even discomfort had somehow become a comfort zone? While we may view grumbling as a minor attitude problem, the Israelites’ wilderness narratives show that God regards grumbling as a serious sin.2 Grumbling gets in the way of contentment; since grumbling is ungracious, it also impedes grace.
The World Health Organization defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.’ Medical science testifies to the powerful interconnectedness of physical well-being and the state of our mind, emotions, and even our spiritual state. True wellness involves wholeness of the whole person. Although Jesus had cured the man in body (vv. 8, 9), he was not made whole. Despite being well again, he was not out of danger. The command to ‘Stop sinning’ (v. 14) did not imply that the man’s sin had caused his sickness; rather, Jesus was warning him that a settled lifestyle of sin had consequences far worse than any physical disability. While the man’s sins are not named, he comes across as self-absorbed and ungrateful—for he made no attempt to discover his healer’s identity and offer thanks. He even tattled about Jesus to the Jewish leaders (v. 15)! Nevertheless, Jesus sought him out, longing to complete his work of healing. It is this pursuit of our holiness that keeps the Father and Jesus always ‘working’ (v. 17).
Apply
Do you long for wholeness? Are you committed to holiness?
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, forgive me for those times when I am so absorbed with my circumstances that I forget that you are the answer to my every need, when I forget that I am to seek you, to be most concerned with glorifying you.
1 Eph 1:4, The Message 2 Exod 14:11, 12; 15:22–24; 16:1–3; 17:1–3
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