Spiritually Paralyzed And Needing A Miracle?

There are times we all need a little help with something. For me it is often finding something in the kitchen. I can spend 5 minutes looking for something I know we have, a pot, pan, food item, whatever. Then I give up and ask my wife where it is. She’ll generally tell me where it is, or if I continue to struggle she comes and shows me where it is. Don’t judge me- we all need a little help sometimes.

Sometimes we need more than a little help- the circumstances simply overwhelm us. Sometimes we need a miracle.

Have you ever seen a five year old shut down when you tell them to clean their room after letting them have way too much fun without cleaning up? Maybe you tried to bring them out of this paralysis by saying they were going to have to stay in that room until they get it clean. Then the five year old goes from shutting down to melting down? Either breaking into tears or rage depending on their personality? They do that because they look at their messy room and they are absolutely convinced that the task you assigned was herculean. They might even have been promised a reward for cleaning the room- maybe a treat, a toy, or going somewhere special they love. They want that reward- but they don’t think they can get it, they truly believe that there is absolutely no way that they will ever be able to clean this room up. Or maybe they decide they don’t want it enough to actually clean up the room. So they will either stay crying or raging until something changes.

As we grow up we wish the biggest challenge we faced was having to clean up our room. We would easily handle that silly little issue and happily take the nap afterwards after eating the free meal mom prepared for us afterwards! But we have grown up problems- Right? We have things that are really beyond our ability to deal with! Problems in our family, health, marriage, money, jobs, cars, houses,.... maybe even a problem with some broken pipes in our beloved church!

Spiritually Paralyzed And Needing A Miracle?: The Text In Its Context

Looking For Miraculous Solutions

John 5:1–5 (CSB)

After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed.

One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years.

We don’t usually see large gatherings of sick or disabled people. Even if we go to a hospital everything is separated into wards and rooms. Can you imagine walking into this area of raw need? Hundreds of people without any real hope or path to being well.

They were gathered at this pool of water because they needed miraculous healing.

John 5:3–4 (NASB95)

In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters;

for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.

Not every bible has that verse- They are not in the the most recent translations because they are not in the best Greek manuscripts that we are confident were the inspired words of God. John probably thought that everybody knew about this famous pool. The additions make sense, and help to explain the setting, but don’t affect the meaning of the passage regardless. All these sick people were gathered at a place where they hoped to be healed. One man there had been lame for 38 years. 38 YEARS!

Do You Want To Be Well?

John 5:6 (CSB)

When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?”

What kind of a question is that? It seems kind of tone deaf, or even rude. I cannot imagine visiting somebody in the hospital and asking them that question! The first question Christ asked the paralytic was, “Do you want to get well?” That is quite a question. The man had been crippled for thirty-eight years, and Jesus had the nerve to ask, “Do you want to get well?” That sounds like a ridiculous question. Now that I have been both the visitor and the person in the hospital bed I have a pretty good idea of how stupid the person asking the question would need to be. Hello- I am in a hospital getting poked and prodded and cut open and filled full of more medicines than I can remember. I am not here for fun- YES I WANT TO GET WELL! If you or I were to ask that question it might even seem to be a bit cruel!

But the person who is asking this question is Jesus. The Son of God, God Himself, who died on the cross so that we could live. He isn’t cruel or crazy. He wants us to get well. He has given the entire world the opportunity to be forgiven their sin and be reconciled with God. Jesus asked this man an important question. I believe that Jesus asks everybody that question. He has asked me, you, and everybody in this room today that question.

Do you want to be well?

Those words capture a critical problem in everybody lives, and few things help or hamper the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives more than our answer to that question.

I would be surprised in there was a person hearing my voice today that doesn’t know they need a miracle to be well. We hear the promises of God, and at first our hearts are warmed and we respond to them, or at least we think we respond to them. We love to think about God making everything work out in

Romans 8:28 (CSB)

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

or getting supernatural peace when we hear

Philippians 4:7 (CSB)

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

But then we hear the promises again, and we again want to feel God’s comfort, suddenly remembering wait didn’t we already do that? Why do we still have that problem? Why isn’t it fixed? Why? Because although we think and say we want to be healed, in our heart of hearts we really do not. We don’t want to leave the outcomes to God, we don’t trust that God actually will take care of the issue, and we keep on trying to fix the problem or tell God exactly how the problem needs to be fixed.

For many of us it is all about the excuses! Just like the 5yr old we come up with excuses why we can’t get well.

John 5:7 (CSB)

“Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”

Going back to illustration of a 5year old standing in a dirty room not knowing how it could ever be cleaned. The kid may have no idea where to start. He might try kicking everything under the bed, or into the closet. Only to be very disappointed to learn that mom is not satisfied with their efforts. Or trying to enlist help cleaning the room and blaming the condition of the room on that fact that nobody was willing to clean it up for him.

The disabled beggar imagined only one solution- he had to get into the miracle pool right after the angel stirred it up- and somebody had to help him get there. So he would stay miserable- maybe he had stayed there for the whole 38 years- who knows. Paralyzed both physically and spiritually.

Or maybe the 5year old, and the beggar, decided getting well wasn’t worth the cost. That beggar may have lived a fairly comfortable life. One commentary I read point out that a man being healed might lose a very good income. As the crippled man lay by the Pool of Bethesda, he was surrounded by misery and sorrow. But if the man looked out from those shaded porticoes, he saw men and women out in the sun carrying their burdens and working. He knew that if he were healed, his life would take on larger responsibilities.

And so the question the Lord asked was very relevant: Do you really want to be healed? Did the poor disabled man want to do the things expected of a person who can walk? It would change his life. Did he desire that? Do we? Are we willing to follow Jesus and do what He commands?

Trust God And Start Walking In Faith

Apparently, that poor lame man wanted to be well.

John 5:8–9 (CSB)

“Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.

Now that day was the Sabbath,

The man stood up and walked as Jesus instructed. He didn’t argue that Jesus needed to get him to the magical pool of healing. He believed Jesus healed him. Sometimes, like that 5yr old stuck looking at his messy room instead of listening to his mother, we are stuck in paralysis not knowing how to move ahead. But if we follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures we will get the miracle we need. Maybe the kid hears the mom say just pick up one toy and put it away, then another, and soon you will be done! God tells us that He loves us, that He will do the work needed for us to get well. We just need to want the total health package. That means the joy of eternal life, and the scary thought of repenting from our favorite sins.

Please note the text doesn’t say the lame man came to a saving faith- the guy didn’t even know who Jesus was when he was first healed.

John 5:12–13 (CSB)

“Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. But the man who was healed did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

There is no indication that the man believed IN Jesus. He never asked Jesus for help. There is no mention of him sharing his faith with family or friends. And Jesus told the man to sin no more.

John 5:14 (CSB)

After this, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.”

All we truly know is that Jesus in His grace and mercy healed a poor sinner from paralysis. We can hope that the man found salvation, but we cannot be certain. Sometimes God wants us to ask as the royal official did. And sometimes he asks for faith before he acts. But God does not need our help, our permission, or even our faith when he chooses to work in our lives or in the lives of our loved ones. God is sovereign over all things. Thankfully His the true Benevolent King with our best being His desire.

Don’t Let The World Change Your Mind

Don’t be surprised when worldly influences (cultural, governmental, or even religious) try to make you back down on trusting God and walking in faith.

John 5:10–11 (CSB)

and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.”

He replied, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’

A man who had been lame for 38 years had been healed- and these jewish officials were worried about the man rolling up his mat and leaving the pool.

God declared the Sabbath to be holy.

Exodus 20:8–10 (CSB)

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates.

The rabbis had added to God’s Sabbath law: “Whoever on the Sabbath brings anything in or takes anything out from a public place to a private one, if he has done this inadvertently, he shall sacrifice for his sins; but if willingly, he shall be cut off and shall be stoned.” The scribes had come up with thirty-nine tasks prohibited on the Sabbath. These were done to avoid unintentional sin, but they were man made laws not God ordained commands.

Jesus is God- and when you follow Him and obey His commands you will get the world upset with you. Don’t let them distract you from pleasing Jesus.

What Is Your Answer? Do You Want To Be Healed — Our Contemporary Application

Do you want to be well? That is the great question we must face.

If you are not a believer, I am charged to pass Jesus’ question on to you. Do you want to get well? Do you really want to be healed? Do you truly want to be forgiven and made new? Because if you want to, you can be healed right now. If you decide you don’t want to give up your “freedom” and turn your back on Jesus you are now doing doing it knowing Jesus can make you well. Whatever ails you, you have chosen that ailment. You really do not want to be healed. You haven’t said yes to that tender but blunt question from Jesus Christ.

For those of us who are already Christians, there is also a question we must keep asking ourselves. Do we really know our own hearts? As we get to know ourselves, we find more and more that needs healing. But the question is, do we really want to be healed?I am speaking primarily of bitterness, unresolved conflicts, and things that lie hidden within us. Sometimes when we experienced these things, we were aware of them but didn’t deal with them. We cauterized them, layered them over. But they are realities within us, and they do affect our lives. Even though we cannot put a finger on them, they take their toll. As a result we do not feel God’s power; we do not feel the authenticity of grace we know we ought to feel. We know we should be joyful in all the things we confess and while we are doing the right things—reading the Word and praying—but we have little power or inner peace. The question remains, do we really want to be healed? Do we really want to have those things resolved? I believe with all my heart that if we do and if we take the time to ask God to do his work within us, he will reveal to us the things that must be washed away—the refuse, the filth, the sin. He will help us to remove anything in our lives that seperates us from holiness. He will change our perspectives so that everything is rightly valued.

The Holy Spirit within us has opened us the treasure vault of heaven. We have been invited to walk right in and take what we want. If we decide not to walk in, not to trust God, not to be joyful.... well that isn’t because God has denied us. It is because we don’t want that level of being well.

So the question that Christ asked the paralyzed man, the seemingly unnecessary, ridiculous question, was relevant for him and for all of us as well. If you don’t know Jesus but want to be healed please talk to myself or a deacon. We can guide you through that joyous decision. Same goes if you are a believer but realize that you are struggling to remain in Him. Do you want his continued healing? Don’t struggle alone- we will walk with you without judging you. What a blessed thing to have the release, fullness, and joy that come with having things cleared with God, with being healed.