“Do You Want to be Well?

In John chapter 5, we read how Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate a feast. While there He finds Himself in a place where the sick hang out. This place offers hope to the blind, lame and paralyzed. For in this place a angel comes and stirs the water. The first one in after the stirring finds healing. Here Jesus, Immanuel, “God with us” focuses on one man, makes him well, and changes the trajectory of his life.

One Man

Of all those around the pool at Bethesda, Jesus had compassion on one man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. Seeing him lying there He asked, “Do you want to be made well?” The man thought the only answer to his wellness lay in getting into the pool and it was impossible without help. Besides someone else always got in first. Here, however, stood Immanuel, not just a compassionate individual but God Himself in flesh.

Makes Him Well

Then he heard the words. “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” Immediately upon hearing the words he was well. He then obeyed. When the man heard the command he took the action prescribed. He picked up his bed and he walked. Right away someone blind to all that had gone on before, passed a judgement. “This is the Sabbath. You are breaking the law by carrying your bed.” The man was just doing as he was told by the one who made him well. He didn’t yet know the Healer.

Changes Trajectory of His Life

Jesus, not yet finished in His dealings with this man, finds him in the temple. “You have been made well.” A life devoid of quality has been injected with health and vitality. Yet there is more. “Put your sins behind you.” Spiritual death, a far worse scenario, will be the end of a sinful life. Immanuel, God with us not only brought a miracle to change his life but showed him the way to life eternal. Now the man knows who has healed him and he tells the Jews. Here Jesus, Immanuel, “God with us” focused on one man, made him well, and changed the trajectory of his life.