Day 31 – Passive Paralysis

Read:  John 5:1-15

The pool of Bethesda was near the Sheep Gate and had developed a reputation for having mystical healing powers. The legend promised that the first person to enter the pool after the water stirred would be miraculously healed. As Jesus passes by, He initiates the third miraculous sign recorded in John's gospel. We have seen Jesus perform two other miracles, but they were both in response to requests -- first by His mother (chapter 2), and the second by a royal official (chapter 4). The person Jesus heals is a paralyzed man who has been in his condition for 38 years. There must have been other disabled people gathered at the pool that day. Why did Jesus pick this man and not any of the other people assembled by the pool? This question becomes all the more puzzling when we see the man's response – but we'll discuss that tomorrow.

Jesus asks the man, “Do you want to get well?” The question must have seemed offensive to the man and other bystanders. Without answering Jesus’ question, the man explains what was obvious to everyone; his condition has prevented him from being first in the pool. But that is not what Jesus asked. Jesus knew the pool was powerless to heal, and after 38 years of observation, the man probably knew this too. Whatever he had been doing for 38 years had little to do with healing. His religious devotion to the pool held out the promise of a better life, but like a carrot mounted on a stick, kept the man grasping for what was always just beyond his reach. Jesus does for the man what he is unable to do for himself and the man walks away carrying his mat without so much as a “thank you.”

"Do you want to get well?" I believe every person who comes to Jesus must answer this question. Many of us would give an answer similar to the lame man. We offer excuses for why we haven't done what we are powerless to do anyway. We continue to hold out hope that if we find the right therapist, the right diet, the right spouse, the right church, if we read the right book, attend the right seminar, land the right job, then surely we can be healed. We mock the man for lying helplessly beside the pool for 38 years only to discover that we've been right beside him. We are powerless to save ourselves, but content to live with the lie that healing is always possible. Then Jesus walks into our passive paralysis. He doesn't ask us about our feeble plan to save ourselves (He knows it is futile); He just asks the question, "Do you want to get well?"

Well, do you?

Great Physician,

I am helpless to heal myself and weary of trying. Thank You for seeing me in my need, while I was blinded by self-reliance. I invite You to heal my brokenness.

I know it is You and You alone who can make me whole.

I renounce all of my self-effort and surrender to Your healing.

Amen