John 5:1-9
"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?' 'Sir...I have no one to help me...'"
(John 5:6-7)
When I am hurting, I tend to focus my attention on my pain or on what I think might bring relief. However, my focus is often limited by a wrong perspective.
The man in this passage had been ill for 38 years. He sought healing at a pool known for miraculous cures. A crowd of disabled people waited at this site, watching intently for the slightest movement of the water. Each one yearned to receive a cure by being the first to enter that pool.
But in order to watch the water, they needed to keep their gaze lowered. They were limited by their physical conditions, and they were also limited by a perspective that always had them looking down. Then everything changed for one man when Jesus stepped into the picture.
How often do we focus on our problems or pursue wrong choices for relief? We compound our suffering because we do not look up. We fail to include Jesus in the equation. Looking up may not change our physical condition. But it will help us maintain an eternal perspective.
INSIGHT
ON WHAT DO YOU FOCUS DURING YOUR TRIALS? KEEP YOUR EYES ON JESUS. HE IS THE ONE WHO BRINGS ETERNAL HEALING.
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Isaiah 61-62
Psalm 101
Acts 24-25
John 5:1-9
New International Version (NIV)
The Healing at the Pool
5 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.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
Footnotes:
a. John 5:2 Some manuscripts Bethzatha; other manuscripts Bethsaida
b. John 5:4 Some manuscripts include here, wholly or in part, paralyzed—and they waited for the moving of the waters. 4 From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had.
Cross references:
A. John 5:2 : Ne 3:1; 12:39
B. John 5:2 : Jn 19:13, 17, 20; 20:16; Ac 21:40; 22:2; 26:14
C. John 5:8 : Mt 9:5, 6
D. John 5:9 : Mt 12:1-14; Jn 9:14
WHERE IS YOUR WORSHIP
with Sally Lloyd-Jones
Worship is part of life. And everybody worships something. The only question is: what? Our words and deeds reveal the true object of our worship.
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