Read: “Do you want to be healed?” (John 5:6).

Examine: During the ministry of Jesus once, Jesus went to Jerusalem for a religious festival. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool with five porches; in Hebrew it is called Bethzatha. A large crowd of sick people were lying on the porches—the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. A man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. Jesus saw him lying there, and he knew that the man had been sick for such a long time; so he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

 The sick man answered, “Sir, I don’t have anyone here to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am trying to get in, somebody else gets there first.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.”  Immediately the man got well; he picked up his mat and started walking.

Application: An invalid of thirty-eight years lay beside the pool of Bethesda, waiting for the healing waters to be stirred up so he could jump in and be healed. To that date, he was unable to make his way into the pool when the water moved. Jesus chose to engage with that man on a Sabbath day. He approached him and asked, “Do you want to be healed?” The man explained his situation that he is not able to make it to the pool as no one was there to help, he did not understand Jesus meant do you want Jesus to heal you. He did not understand that Jesus is powerful to heal.

This healing brought the Pharisees’ ire and they questioned the man, who later saw Jesus again and Jesus addressed his spiritual state (John 5:14). Jesus then rebuked the Pharisees when He (1) called God His Father and (2) proclaimed God’s continued work.

Decision: Lord Jesus heal me; this is my prayer; I need spiritual and physical healing. In front of the compassionate question from the Lord of the universe “Do you want to be healed?”, I want to cry out with loud voice and say, heal me Lord, have mercy on me. The condition has been going on for a while, you alone are the true healer.  Walk with me Lord in this journey and have the peace that passes all understanding.