Just Say Yes, Part 1

Has God ever asked you if you want to be healed?

In John 5, we find the story of the man at Bethesda. This man had been an invalid for decades—almost forty years. He had stayed by this pool, where miraculous healings happened, but hadn’t had the chance to be healed yet.

One day, Jesus comes up to him and asks him a life-changing question. Let’s read about it in verses 1-9.

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic^[a] called Bethesda,^[b] which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.^[c] One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Do you notice the man’s response to Jesus’s question? He doesn’t say “Yes!” He doesn’t say anything about what he wants, actually. While his answer should have been yes, instead, the man starts explaining and blaming. He explains why he’s still at the pool after all these years; he blames the others who have stepped down before him for all those decades. In his response, we see his frustration, bitterness, and his fixation on the past.

I’ve talked in a previous blog post about our Historical Self vs. our Possible Self. This man was so entrenched in his history that he couldn’t see his possibilities—even with Jesus standing right in front of Him!

However, Jesus doesn’t pay attention to his explanations and his blaming. He tells the man to get up and walk. Thirty-eight years of handicaps didn’t distract Jesus from seeing this man’s possibilities. Jesus knew who He was. He knew His mission. And He knew this man’s destiny.

We can learn a lot from this short exchange. When Jesus asks you if you want to be healed, your answer should always be “Yes!” Don’t let the past blur your vision of the future! Jesus—the Word of God, the One through whom all things are created and sustained—is in the room with you! He has the power to do anything—so when He asks, just say yes!