When Jesus Takes the Lead (and restores)

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Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and WALKED.
(John 5/8-9 NKJV)

The remains of the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-9) are in Jerusalem today, just north of the Temple Mount. Excavations have discovered that it had five porches, just as John described (John 5:2). This pool was surrounded by a multitude of hurting humanity. They waited for an angel to come down and stir up the waters – believing that the first person in the water after the stirring would be healed. We don’t know if the promise of healing was real or merely a hopeful legend; nevertheless, people believed it.

Coming to a well outside Sychar, Jesus sent His disciples into the village to get some food. When the disciples left, Jesus had an amazing conversation with a Samaritan Jesus asked the lame man an unusual question: “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:6) Jesus knew that not every sick person wants to be healed, and that some are so discouraged that they have put away all hope. Jesus dealt with a man whose heart may have been just as withered as his legs. Therefore, Jesus first worked to heal the man’s faith.

Sometimes we think that, as bad as our current situation is, things could always be worse. This thinking can make us feel more comfortable in our present misery than in taking bold steps that might lead to freedom.

..thinking can make us feel comfortable in our present misery..

But John’s account tells us that the man wanted to be made well. His answer (John 5:7) was basically, “Yes, I want to be made well, but I don’t see how it can happen.” In his commentary on John, Calvin described the lame man’s response:

“The sick man does what we nearly all do. He limits God’s help to his own ideas and does not dare promise himself more than he conceives in his mind.”

It is easy for us to do this. J.B. Phillips wrote a famous book about this problem, titled Your God is Too Small. Many of us create a small god in our heads, an imaginary god that is limited in all sorts of ways by which the real God Who reigns in heaven is not limited.

Jesus simply said to this man, Rise, take up your bed and walk, and the man did. Jesus asked him to do something he was unable to do, but when he put forth the effort in some unknown way, the lame man was miraculously able to do it.

Yet, no one would think the man healed himself. In this miracle, Jesus took the lead. In this case, Jesus could not say what He said to many others: your faith has made you whole (as in Matthew 9:22).

At the Pool of Bethesda, Jesus took the lead, and He did the work. Will you respond as Jesus takes the lead in your life today? Ask Jesus for the strength and grace to follow where He leads. But first, determine that by His grace you will be free, and not accept your present pain just because you are accustomed to it.

At the Pool of Bethesda,
Jesus took the lead,
and He did the work.

David Guzik — enduringword.com

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