DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL?

(Post by: Michelle Hobbs)

“Do you want to get well?”

This is the question Jesus asks the invalid man at the pool of Bethesda. I would propose, it is the question He is asking each one of us today.

You can find the full telling of this story in John 5. To summarize, there was a pool in Jerusalem where a great number of disabled people used to lie, waiting on the water to stir. It was believed that if you were the first one into the water when it stirred, you would be healed. At this particular time, Jesus approaches one of the disabled men waiting there and asks him the fateful question, “Do you want to get well?” The King James Version reads, “Will thou be made whole?”

I heard one teaching on this passage about a month ago and have been contemplating it ever since. The pastor who delivered that sermon thought the question Jesus asks the invalid man was a silly one, stating that obviously the man wanted to get well. He was laying beside this pool that was believed to have healing power for many years, after all. But I walked away from that sermon wondering…Was it actually a silly question or was there more to it?

Then, just this morning at a Camp Meeting we are attending, I heard another sermon on this same passage. This speaker affirmed that it was not a silly question at all. It was not even a rhetorical question, posed only for dramatic effect. It was, indeed, as serious a question as will ever be asked!

Just think about that term “invalid.” It means one that is sickly or disabled. You probably already knew that. But let’s take the term further. It is also defined as not valid: being without foundation or force in fact, truth, or law. I also found this definition: something that is damaged, but not so much as to be wholly unserviceable. How about this one? Of no force, weight, or cogency (power of proving or producing belief). 

I would propose that by those definitions, most of us church-goers could be labeled as invalid, and that is why I believe that Jesus is asking each one of us, “Do you want to get well?”

You see, the invalid man in this scripture had been in his current condition for thirty-eight years. He had probably been brought to this pool at Bethesda at the same time each morning, and he would stay there all day, every day for many, many years. This was his dysfunctional existence, but he was comfortable in it. He knew what to expect. There was no challenge in it after all those years. Each day was exactly like the one before. He would be there with the same people, have the same conversations, laugh at the same jokes, tell the same stories, be taken home at the same time each evening.

So, when Jesus asks him, “Do you want to get well?” I now think in my mind, “Do you want to get well? No, really, stop and think about it. Do you really want to get well? Do you really?” Because it will mean an entire life change. Your world will be flipped upside down, totally, and completely different. There will be new responsibilities, new commitments, new discomforts than the ones you are used to.

We have to wonder; did the invalid man arrive on this particular morning thinking anything would be different? Did he really have any expectation to change? How desperate for something different was he really?

When Jesus asked him if he wanted to get well, the invalid gives excuses instead of an answer. He says that he has no one to help him into the water when it is stirred. Someone else always beats him to it (John 5: 7). It sounds, to me, like he had little to no expectation of change on this day.

However, Jesus shows up and suddenly this day is not like all those days before.

Isn’t this a fantastic reminder that Jesus is always intentional in His actions? In every scripture account of Jesus encountering individuals, we can see that He was not there by accident. He was there for a specific purpose. He did not simply make a detour and happen upon the pool of Bethesda. Nor does scripture say that Jesus healed everyone at the pool. Jesus was there to ask this specific question of this specific man. It was a divine appointment.

Astonishingly, this invalid man must have recognized this as a turning point in his life, as his opportunity to truly be healed. He must have seen something in Jesus’ eyes that convinces him to try and stretch out his crippled limbs, to attempt to make his atrophied legs bear weight. Remember, they had never done this in his thirty-eight years of life! BUT… on this day they did!

The scripture tells us that the man did not even know who Jesus was. He had not heard the story of Jesus healing the royal official’s son or that Jesus knew all the secrets of the woman at the well. He had no idea that this man standing before him was a miracle worker. BUT…there was obviously something different. Something that led the man to obey when Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”

So, let me ask you, church-goer. “Do you want to get well? Will you be made whole?” “No, really. Do you really and truly want to get well?” Because it will mean an entire life change. Your world will be flipped upside down, totally, and completely different. There will be new responsibilities, new commitments, new discomforts than the ones you are used to.

It will require you to get uncomfortable; to stop just making yourself feel better in your dysfunction, but to actually be made whole. You will have to stop answering Jesus’ question with excuses about your circumstances. You will have to allow Jesus to remove the idols of money, materialism, sports, hobbies, and the like from our lives and instead, devote your time to Him.

You will have to stretch out your crippled limbs and serve and love your neighbor. You will have to bear the weight of the acknowledgement of your selfishness and pride on your shaky, unsteady legs, then allow Jesus to transform you into His image.

Do you want to get well? Do you want to stop being an invalid? Stop being a sickly, disabled Christian? Start operating from the firm foundation of scripture; being a force in fact, truth, and in the fulfillment of the law, Jesus Himself. Don’t you long to have the power to testify and to evangelize and produce belief in our Lord? The great news is, you may be damaged right now, but you are not beyond restoration!

Have you shown up at church at the same time to sit in your same church pew every Sunday morning for the past thirty-eight years (figuratively speaking). Do you see the same people there, have the same conversations, laugh at the same jokes, tell the same stories, then leave at precisely 11:00 am each Sunday? Have you grown comfortable in your dysfunction?

How desperate for change are you? Jesus wants to have an encounter with you today. We see in scripture that He never leaves anyone He encounters the same. He will change you! He will make you well. He will make you whole. All you have to do is recognize that He is a miracle worker and obey His command. And, you have an advantage over the invalid man in this story, you do know who Jesus is and what He is capable of!

Revival starts when our excuses stop! “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”

SO, WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

= What are you going to do differently?