John 5:1-9
1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.
3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 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?”
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.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
In a quiet corner of Jerusalem, there lay a man who had been suffering for thirty-eight long years. His body was weak, and his spirit even more so. He lay by the pool of Bethesda, waiting for the waters to stir, hoping that one day he might be the first to step in and find healing. But year after year, his hopes were dashed as others always reached the water before him.
One day, Jesus came to him, noticing his suffering. Jesus didn’t ask him to make a wish or tell Him what he needed; He simply asked, “Do you want to be made well?” The man’s response was one of despair—he had been waiting for so long, but he had no one to help him. In his mind, his healing was always just out of reach. But Jesus didn’t leave him in his hopelessness. He said, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”
The moment Jesus spoke, healing flowed through the man’s body. He stood up, picked up his mat, and walked. The man’s thirty-eight years of waiting ended in an instant, all because of Jesus’ command. His healing was not the result of waiting for the water to stir, but from the authority and power of Jesus’ words.
This moment teaches us something profound. Like the man at the pool, we often wait for a solution to come from external circumstances. We believe that if we could just find the right moment or help, our problems would be solved. But true healing and change come when we encounter the power of Jesus, who doesn’t just offer us a better way, but commands us to rise above our limitations. Just like this man, our spiritual lives are sometimes paralyzed, waiting for something external to change, but in Jesus, we find the power to rise, to move, and to walk in newness of life.
This healing wasn’t just physical; it was spiritual too. The man who once lay hopelessly waiting for help was now walking, not by his own strength, but by the power of Christ. When we allow Jesus into our lives, He doesn’t just fix what is broken on the surface—He transforms us from within, giving us the strength to rise above our circumstances and walk in His peace.
If you’ve been waiting, waiting for your own healing, your own breakthrough, take heart—Jesus is asking you, too: “Do you want to be made well?” Let Him speak to your heart, and rise in His power. The healing He offers is not just a distant hope; it is available right now, through His love and His grace. All we need to do is trust in Him.
Kommentarer