Transformational Question #2: Do you want to be well?

Scripture John 5:1–9

John 5:1–9 ESV

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 called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 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. Now that day was the Sabbath.

I. Review

Tour Bus experience

Go through the week’s sermons and passages;

We started at Caesarea Philippi with the Question of ALL questions; Whom do you say that I am,

Transfiguration; Peter tried to built three tents one for Elijah, Moses and of course Jesus..in Luke’s account Luke 9:36

Luke 9:32 ESV

Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.

c. Jesus Baptism at the Jordan; we dove in the three movements of the Christian Life;

the consecration

and transformation/anointing that came down and rested upon his shoulders like a dove and a voice from above “this is my Son of whom I am well pleased”

d. Week after that we went to the wilderness. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness; we saw the third movement which is the demonstration of Christ, he replied to the devil and his temptations with just facts—Truth!

e. Last week we came to the Love of God; 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 ESV

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

and ended on the footwashing; Jesus not only beheld the love, he became, even in bending over to wash the feet of his disciples.

We did an exercise last week during the service where we put our name instead of the word ‘love’ in the text and tried to keep a straight face.

There is this thing called a performance mindset, which measures where you are and where you should be, there is a gap. In other words, in a performance mindset, one lives only for the gap. It becomes frustrating, exhausting, demoralizing, but there is great news, Good news!

In Transformation, focuses on the gain — I once was this, but now I am this.

3. Key in the text for today

II. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.

Context of the place, Bethesda:

The name Bethesda in Hebrew means ‘House or Place of Mercy’

There was a tradition where people gather around the pool because they believed an angel of the Lord would stir up the pool and the first person in the pool will be healed.

In history, various cultures have had places like the Pool of Bethesda where the suffering would gather.

During the leprosy breakout in the early 1900s, the British colonies in the Pacific would transfer their lepers to Fiji in an island, Makogai. Most are sent to Fiji to die, there are catholic sisters assigned to take care of these lepers and they themselves ended up getting leprosy and die on the island with their patients.

These locations symbolize not just physical affliction but also spiritual and emotional burdens. As we reflect on this, we see how many people today, burdened by life’s challenges, seek healing—both from their past and their current struggles—yearning for a divine touch that can transform (metamorphoo) their lives altogether.

III. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

The man at the Pool of Bethesda waited thirty-eight years for healing, a profound lesson in perseverance.

In today’s world, we often feel frustrated when our prayers seem unanswered or our struggles seem eternal. Just as the invalid’s wait was a test of faith, our challenges can lead us to a deeper trust in God. Each moment of that long wait was a part of God’s plan, shaping him for the miracle that awaited. This story teaches us that our hardships are often preparation for God’s greatest work in our lives. See it as a launching pad for God’s greatness.

IV. 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?”

Here is our second transformation question; Jesus is asking, Do you want to be well? Do you want to change

What condition, or conditions, sins, addictions that you have and that needs changed? Again, do you want to change?

V. “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.”

Some might have that same reply this morning,

I have tried to break this cycle,

this lifestyle

this addiction but have no power to do that.

I always relapse, it has become my identity.

Picture a man who has been waiting for years by the Pool of Bethesda, longing for healing yet feeling invisible among the crowds rushing for the waters. His isolation speaks volumes about the human experience—how we often find ourselves waiting for help that never comes. This is a call for us not just to look to our own healing but to actively seek out those who feel abandoned and alone, striving to be the hands and feet of Jesus in their lives.

Good news, you can be made well!

In Mark 2:1-12 Jesus heals a paralytic lowered through the roof. It was the faith of his friends that made him well

In 2 Kings 5; Naaman initially hesitated but had the faith to be healed from his leprosy. And so on.

And similar in our text this morning;

VI. Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

In the days of Jesus, to tell a paralyzed man to pick up his mat was to confront despair. The mat was more than a physical object; it symbolized the weight of hopelessness that held him captive.

The mat had became his comfort, his identity, his comfort zone.

Jesus, by asking him to rise, offered not just physical healing but a new beginning. This underscores our faith journey: it may require us to take a step towards God, trusting He has the power to overturn our situations.

Transformational Question 3: How deep is my desire to follow Jesus?