Today, many people are trapped within their own countries due to quarantine, unable to travel abroad for vacation. The situation is the same in our country. Many resort destinations are still off-limits, and many of the countries our tourists have visited are still unable to return. Why am I telling you this? Believe me, I’m not trying to sell you last-minute vacation packages after the service. I’d like to join you on a trip today. Where, you ask? To a country we read about extensively in Scripture and which I personally would very much like to visit one day.
In the Gospel of John, chapter 5, we read:
“After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus came to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda (mercy house), having five porches. There lay a great multitude of sick people—blind, lame, and withered—awaiting the moving of the water. For an angel of the Lord would descend at certain times into the pool and stir up the water. Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water would be healed of whatever illness they had. A man was there who had been sick thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been in this condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered, “Yes, Lord. But I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately he was healed, and took up his bed and walked. Now this happened on the Sabbath day.”
The first thing we can see in this story is that it emphasizes the time when the healing took place. It was during a Jewish feast. I think most of us would like to visit Israel during one of the biblical holidays. I don’t know about you, but I’d also like to visit Jerusalem while in Israel. Many scholars say that the event we read about occurred during Passover—the most revered holiday among the Jews. Although Christ was living in Galilee at the time, He nevertheless came to Jerusalem for the holiday.
And the first revelation I see in this story is: be where the Lord desires you!
Why, you ask? Why did Jesus go to the holiday in Jerusalem? Because it was God’s ordinance, and Christ, as His servant, wanted to fulfill it. As His Son, He could have demanded an exception for Himself, but He did not. Why did Christ do this? He specifically wanted to emphasize the importance of attending church meetings and fellowship with believers. In Hebrews 10:25 we read, “Let us consider one another to spur on to love and good works. Not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” I’ll put it this way: it’s impossible to be considerate of someone if you’re alone at home or at your dacha. No one will see your good deeds if they’re done solely for yourself. You can’t encourage and support someone if your brothers, sisters, and friends haven’t seen you in a while.
The sick man we read about in this story also somehow understood this revelation. He was in the right place and didn’t leave, even when his need wasn’t answered. He stayed there year after year, even when someone else stepped into the pool first. Many people in our church didn’t wait for an answer from God and left. Some began running from church to church, but even there, finding no answers, they continued to seek again and again, this time in a different place. The truth is, God comes where two or three are gathered in His name. And the location or name of the church doesn’t matter, but what matters is why you came and whether you are ready to wait for an answer from the Lord. If God has placed you and me in our church, then this is the place where the Lord will heal us, transform our character, and prepare us for ministry.
The place where the healing took place was the pool of Bethesda, which possessed miraculous healing powers. Note that the one who stepped into the water first benefited from it. That is, only the one or those who entered the water immediately were healed, not those who dawdled and came later. This teaches us to use the opportunities the Lord gives us wisely, lest we miss a moment that may never come again. The Angel of the Lord troubled the waters, but He left it to the sick to enter them themselves. The Lord never forces anything on us. He may speak to us about it, He may create circumstances in our lives that will push us to change, but He will never take the first step for us.
God has placed miraculous power in Scripture and in the institutions of the church. He desires to heal us and change our character, but if we do not use what God has revealed to us, then it is we who have not desired to be healed. That’s why I don’t believe in pilgrimages to miraculous relics, because all power and might come from God, who comes where He is sought.
The next person I’d like to draw your and my attention to is the man Jesus approached. Have you ever wondered: Why did the Lord speak to only him? Why did He heal only him? I think each of us has asked these questions. Why him, and not me? After all, it’s unfair that only one was healed, while others were left with their problems and illnesses.
I see only one answer: there is never justice in healing someone; in healing, there is only God’s mercy!
Let’s try to look at this story through the eyes of Christ.
The first thing we can notice is that Jesus came to the place where this man was. Why didn’t He immediately go to the temple to worship? There is only one answer: He knew this man’s need and wanted to help him.
Second, when Jesus came to Bethesda, he saw him. He looked for him with his eyes when he came to the pool, peering into each of the sick people and saw him. But there were many sick people there, you might say. Medicine has put a big, fat cross on each of them, but Christ came to this particular man. He inquired about him. He asked who had been in Bethesda the longest without being healed. And that person was precisely this sick man. 38 years without an answer, 38 years of disappointment, when someone nearby is healed, and you remain lying. 38 years of hoping in God, and your hope remains unfulfilled. The truth is, the Lord knows how long you and I have been without an answer. He knows how many years you have been sick and unable to be healed. God is coming to meet you and me. The important thing is whether we live to meet Him.
Third, He asked him, “Do you want to be made well?” It seems strange to ask such a question of a man who had been ill for so long. But in fact, not everyone who is sick strives to get well. For many, their illness serves as a source of income and an excuse for their idleness. Therefore, the sick man’s answer is very important here: “Yes, Lord; but I have no man to put me into the pool…” (v. 7). It seems he perceived Christ’s question as a reproach for carelessness and irresponsibility: “If you were thinking about healing, you would have worried about it more and would have gone down into the pool long ago.” – “No, Teacher,” says this poor man, “I was not healed not because I do not have a great desire to be well, but because I do not have a good friend for this. I did everything in my power, but all my efforts were in vain, since no one but myself wanted to help me.”
It is precisely this sick man’s words that reveal the answer to the question of justice. Why him? Why only him? Because he alone had no one willing or able to help him receive healing. Others did, but he had only God. And it was the Lord who came to him and said, “…arise, take up your bed, and walk.” (v. 8)
Jesus became that person who came to his aid. You and I can become that person for someone near us. We ourselves, in our own struggles or illnesses, can become that person for ourselves if we are in the right place at the right time and await answers from the Lord, despite setbacks and disappointments.
Therefore, the final revelation I see in this passage is that you and I can become God’s answer for those who are awaiting an answer from God today.
In his diary, the famous scientist Nikola Tesla wrote: “So, my scientific method consists of two parts: insights sent to me from above, and the results of my own mental work. These insights have finally strengthened my conviction that science should serve humanity as a whole, not patent holders. God does not send me answers to questions so that I can take out another patent. For reasons unknown to me, He chose me as an intermediary between Him and man. And my duty is to convey to man what I have received from above.”
In conclusion, I would like to once again wish you and me:
– to be where the Lord desires us to be
– not to seek justice in someone’s healing, but to see only God’s mercy in it
– and may the Lord help us become God’s answer to those who await an answer from Him today
