John 5:1-15
The Healing at the Pool
1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When 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."
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
11But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "
12So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"
13The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Jesus is the greatest healer ever...We must not forget this...He gives us disciples, Saints, doctors, medicine, therapists and other methods for us to get well...We must never forget prayer as one of the tools to get well...Jesus being the Truth, our Truth, and being divine could heal if you believed in Him and could just touch Him...He is the the Way, the Light, the Truth, and the life...These (His) characteristics allows Him to heal us...It is, who He is...The invalid did not know who Jesus was, but He healed him...He is not only our Healer, but He is our life...
To one who has an addiction...Does the addicted one want to get well?...There is work, pain, and hardship to get well...After thinking about this over a period of time, is it easier to stay ill or get well?...Our will and our attitude is very important part of our healing...
It is sometimes a process to be healed...Jesus asks one of these things (or part of the process) in a question to the invalid of thirty eight years...The question He asks is "Do you want to get well?"...Therefore, we must remember this, when we are involved in our (or anyone's) healing process...We must want to get well...We must also have faith that we can be healed...The people in His hometown, did not have faith in Him, and only a few people were healed in his hometown...
Love, prayer, and faith assist in the healing process...The spiritual part (of healing) should not be forgotten as part of this process, when we or our friends, and family are ill...
We sometimes need medicine to heal us...We sometimes need a therapy either physical or verbal...We also need an immune system that was created by God (in us) that heals the injury, wound, or illness...We can keep our immune system strong by faith, by eating right, avoiding smoking, excessive drinking, excessive eating, exercise, and a positive attitude...We must want our bodies, or wellness, or illness to get better and be better...We too, must ask ourselves, do you want to be better?...
It also takes a knowledgeable one overlooking this process of healing when one is very ill...It takes a Great Physician to heal many...As you read through the four gospels, and count and recall all of His healings in the four gospels, we realize He was the Greatest Physician to ever walk our earth...He was the Greatest Healer ever...Jesus healed many types of disease...God has given us many ways to be healed...
Jesus is not only a healer of illness, not only physical or mental...But we sometimes need our faith healed, and/or strengthened...He is our Christ of faith...Like the invalid of thirty eight years, He can strengthen our faith after many, many years of weak or little faith...We must take some responsibility and some initiative to get well and our faith increased...If the invalid did not accept Jesus' help He would not have gotten well...But even with initiative and responsibility, Jesus has the power to cure illness...We can follow and do what we need to do, but in the end, He is the Truth and the Life, not us...We need Him for many reasons...We must ask Him to increase our faith, or help us overcome our unbelief...
Jesus slips away after the man is healed...The Jews want to know why the man is carrying his mat on a Sabbath...Some Jews believe that carrying a load was work, and according to Mosaic Law, work was not allowed on the Sabbath...Jesus tells us in another teaching that Sabbath was made for man...The Sabbath was not created to be over man, but to serve man...Also on the Sabbath, good is what we are to do on the Sabbath, not evil...Healing is good...
Jesus comes back and tells the healed man, not to sin anymore or something worse may happen to him...This is part of being reborn and the good news...We are to repent...The man went away and told the Jews, it was Jesus who had healed him...