The scene introduced in this part of the chapter is indeed a very pathetic one. The background is the pool of Bethesda (which stands for mercy), around which lied a great multitude of sick people. It is here where Jesus encounters a lame man who has gone through many years of frustration, hardship and disappointment. After thirty-eight years, this man’s problem had become a way of life. He had no hope of ever being healed and no desire to help himself. Desire had reached the vanishing point in his life. He had decided to accept his situation and had given up. He had lost all desire to go on. It is very detrimental when a person loses his desire. Nothing can be accomplished without desire. That is why Jesus started here when he encountered this man. The first thing that he asks the lame man is; “do you want to be healed?” There is no substitute for desire. It’s the difference between winning or losing.
Now, at first, Jesus’ question seems like such an odd thing to ask: “Do you want to be healed?” What kind of question is that? Why, of course, he wanted to be healed. He’d been coming to the pool of Bethesda all his life. Why else would he have been there?
Yet, when you think about it, thirty-eight years is a long time to wait for a miracle, especially when the conditions were so obviously impossible to meet. From the man’s own admission, he had no hope of reaching the water before the others. You have to wonder why he kept coming back, day after day, year after year. Given the circumstances, he had no reasonable chance of ever being healed. So, in this sense, it was a good question. Do you (really) want to be healed is what Jesus was asking the lame man because, if you do, you’re going about it the wrong way. Unless something gives, it’s not going to happen. There’s a lesson to be learned here: When it comes to being healed physically or otherwise, repetition is not necessarily a virtue.
Bethesda was one of the most attractive clinics of that day. It wasn’t too unpleasant to lie there in the shade while other people outside worked all day long. It was easier to lie down here and do nothing. It’s possible that this man had come to enjoy being sick. Here he enjoyed a measure of comfort.
You have to refuse to accept failure as final. It is said that a professional is an amateur who just never gave up. Don’t give up, get up, get going! You can’t pray successfully with the brakes on! There are some advantages in being just sick enough to get sympathy, attention or your way. Little by little you can get accustom to lying down. You can begin to think that way. You can think small or you can think big.
This man’s condition was aided by self-pity (v.7). Self-pity is a favorite alibi for those who give up. No one wants to help me. I’ve never enjoyed the advantages that others have. I’ve been neglected all my life. The going is just too rough. I’ve tried so many times, etc. Self-pity is destructive. You can’t go around feeling sorry for yourself and get anywhere; “take up your bed and walk” (v.8). You don’t look at difficulty, you look at opportunity. The lame man had to make a choice (v.3). You just can’t wait around. “Do you want to be healed?”
Jesus is asking you today, “Do you want to be healed?” Do you want to experience life in all its abundance? The point is, dare to do things differently. Dare to alter your routine. Break old habits. This can be an important first step toward experiencing a new and more abundant life. And a second step is to venture out of your comfort zone. We often get locked into the mindset that where we are and what we’re doing is a given while, in fact, there are other options, and God often calls us to venture out into new frontiers of life and faith. Nothing in life is more wonderful and powerful than faith, God requires faith.
You have to take up your bed and walk! A little boy was asked, why he fell out of bed. He replied, “I stayed too close to where I got on.” You can’t enjoy God’s victory and carry reserve clauses. Burn the bridges behind you. Don’t make provisions to go back. That why Jesus told the man after he was healed to pick up his bed and take it with him. He was not going to need it, because he was not coming back. Don’t be thinking, “If this doesn’t work, I can always go back and do what I was doing before.
“Do you want to be healed?” Because if you do, you may need to step out of your comfort zone and take a leap of faith and venture out into the unknown. If you’re determined to hold on to what you have, you may well be closing the door to the possibilities God has in store for you. In the final analysis, it’s a question only you can answer.
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