The Questions Jesus Asked – Part 2
This week in our series on the questions Jesus asked we are going to move into John chapter 5 and look at one of my favorite questions.
John 5:1–9 (NIV)
1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 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. 4 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.
Do you want to get well?
Sometimes we get so used to the way we are living, even if it is not good, that it starts to seem normal. The bad becomes familiar, and we settle for familiar instead of what is good all the time.
John 5:5-6 (NIV)
5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When 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?”
What a great question. Do you want to get well? Are you willing to do whatever it takes? To walk away from the familiar? To have faith? To trust in God? To do what He says? Or, maybe, you don’t want to get well, you would just like to feel better? I don’t really want to change. I would just like a better result than I am getting now. Don’t you have something that would allow me to keep doing what I want, but not have these consequences? Do you want to get well? Really?
If you really want to get well, you need to listen to Jesus, put your faith and trust in Him, and do what He says. It is all about doing the next right thing.
Stop telling yourself rational lies
We often become expert in telling ourselves rational lies (rationalizing why we can’t get well).
John 5:7 (NIV)
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.”
I can’t do it. I am all alone. Someone else gets there first. It’s not fair. It’s too hard. What if it doesn’t work? What if I can’t do it? It’s not my fault. It’s your fault. It’s the world’s fault. It’s the government’s fault. It’s my parent’s fault. It’s societies fault. I am in pain. Nobody cares. I can’t change. I have tried before. What difference does it make? I will fail.
Jesus didn’t help him to the pool. Jesus didn’t even offer to carry him to the edge. Jesus told him what he needed to do. Get up. Pick up your mat. And walk. And as he did it, Jesus made him well.
The battle ground for life, is played out in the choices we make to do what Jesus says or to do what we want instead. One way leads to life. Real life. Abundant life. Now and forever life. A life of purpose and meaning and mission. The other way leads to a false life, an in-valid life. A life that leaves you alone, afraid, ashamed and constantly looking for something to fill the emptiness or to relieve the pain.
Choose the way of life. Trust in the Lord. Yield to the Holy Spirit. Live by doing the next right thing.
Proverbs 3:5-8 (NIV)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. 8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
Steve Lawes is a church encourager and the lead pastor of Keys Vineyard Church.
