Do You Want to Get Well?
One of the craziest questions in the Bible is posed to a man who was paralyzed for 38 years...
John 5:5–9 (ESV) One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.
Jesus asks and there is no enthusiastic "yes, please!" There are only excuses. Somehow, the physical condition of this man and the other invalids surrounding him have shaped his mind. He became mentally what he was physically. Invalid.
Jesus doesn't pay much attention to the excuse. He tells him "Get up!" in emphatic terms from the original language. The man cannot stop himself from doing exactly what Jesus said. That is the power of Christ's voice.
Yet a few moments later when the authorities turn the heat up, this man quickly reports who it was that made him well. What kind of gratitude is that? What kind of response to the incredible goodness of Jesus is this?
He is proof positive that not all people respond well to the goodness of God. For some, God will simply be used for their own benefit then discarded at the least hindrance to their safety. Some come to church only to see what can be done FOR them and never for others.
Do you want to get well? A middle eastern beggar stands to lose a large income being healed. This would have to be made up by his own effort after healing.
When Jesus touches your life there is responsibility. There's a new lifestyle to adopt. There's new sacrifices to be made, there's new work to be done. The world is lost and God has entrusted us to put it right in the power of His Spirit and the proclamation of His Gospel. You weren't saved just to be secure and safe.
John fills his Gospel with so many different personal responses to Jesus. This one is not a good one. It is that of a man who went from excuser to accuser. He represents those who benefit from the goodness of God but never channel it to anyone else.
May that never be us.
PRAYER:
Father, help us to remember what Christ has done in our hearts and to live accordingly. To put away sin and selfish desires, to walk in accordance with the Word of God. May Your will be done in my life as it is in heaven. Amen.
John 5:5–9 (ESV) One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.
Jesus asks and there is no enthusiastic "yes, please!" There are only excuses. Somehow, the physical condition of this man and the other invalids surrounding him have shaped his mind. He became mentally what he was physically. Invalid.
Jesus doesn't pay much attention to the excuse. He tells him "Get up!" in emphatic terms from the original language. The man cannot stop himself from doing exactly what Jesus said. That is the power of Christ's voice.
Yet a few moments later when the authorities turn the heat up, this man quickly reports who it was that made him well. What kind of gratitude is that? What kind of response to the incredible goodness of Jesus is this?
He is proof positive that not all people respond well to the goodness of God. For some, God will simply be used for their own benefit then discarded at the least hindrance to their safety. Some come to church only to see what can be done FOR them and never for others.
Do you want to get well? A middle eastern beggar stands to lose a large income being healed. This would have to be made up by his own effort after healing.
When Jesus touches your life there is responsibility. There's a new lifestyle to adopt. There's new sacrifices to be made, there's new work to be done. The world is lost and God has entrusted us to put it right in the power of His Spirit and the proclamation of His Gospel. You weren't saved just to be secure and safe.
John fills his Gospel with so many different personal responses to Jesus. This one is not a good one. It is that of a man who went from excuser to accuser. He represents those who benefit from the goodness of God but never channel it to anyone else.
May that never be us.
PRAYER:
Father, help us to remember what Christ has done in our hearts and to live accordingly. To put away sin and selfish desires, to walk in accordance with the Word of God. May Your will be done in my life as it is in heaven. Amen.
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