"Do You Want To Be Healed?"
Jonathan Roumie as Jesus in The Chosen, Season 2 Episode 4, “The Perfect Opportunity.”
Our in-person Sunday School class has been studying the book of John since August. We’ve been taking it slow, diving deep into the Word, learning how to be disciples by watching how the first disciples lived and walked with Jesus.
This past week, I’ve been going back through the whole book from the beginning, choosing verses and sections from each chapter that I personally want to study on a deeper level. And the section I stopped at this morning, that I cannot move past (which is why I know I need to write about it) is John Chapter 5. The story of Jesus healing the paralyzed man at the Pool of Bethesda.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the scriptures. For today, we’re going to look at the ESV translation.
John 5:1-8, ESV
1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 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?” 7 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.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
First of all, what we need to know about this Pool at Bethesda is that it was connected with a history of pagan Greek ritual in which people believed that the waters were miraculously stirred up by angels (when natural bubbling would occur) and that the first person who entered the water while it bubbled would be miraculously healed of whatever infirmity they suffered from. This is why there were so many ill, wounded, and paralyzed people around the pool.
So this man has been there at the pool for a long time and has been paralyzed for a total of 38 years. We don’t get a whole lot of his story here in scripture—not even his name—but we can surmise that he is at a point of hopelessness but also just unsure of what to do now.
When Jesus approaches him, he asks this man a pointed question:
“Do you want to be healed?”
It seems like it would be easy to answer. “Yes!” we want to instinctually say. But this man does not say yes. Instead, he deflects. It’s easier to point out how no one else has helped him get into the water, how others have hurt him, stolen his place, and wronged him. He focuses on how he has tried to heal himself.
(Spoiler alert: we cannot heal ourselves, no matter how hard we try.)
In this clip below from The Chosen, the story takes on a little more weight. While yes, this is not scripture word for word, the writers have added some depth that can give us a little more insight into how this scene might have actually played out. Take a few moments and watch this scene. Then, scroll down below the video for some journaling questions to think and pray about.
In thinking about this scripture passage and this clip, I want to pose some questions for your consideration. Maybe take some time to pray and journal about your answers to these questions, and see what the Holy Spirit speaks to you through this time.
Have you ever dealt with an issue (physical, spiritual, mental, or material) for so long that you got to a point where you just felt completely hopeless?
What did your faith look like during those times?
Were you putting your faith in your own strength during that time? Or were you trusting God to lead you through in a surprising new way?
If Jesus were to ask you right now, “Do you want to be healed?” how would you answer Him?