The Invalid

Walk by Faith

“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.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” John 5:7-8

Many people came to the pool of Bethesda (sometimes translated Bethsaida) hoping to be healed. The name of the pool near the sheep-gate at Jerusalem meant “house of mercy” or “flowing water.” The waters were believed to have curative powers when they stirred, but only the first person to enter the pool would be healed.

One day Jesus stood by a man at the pool and asked, “Do you want to get well?” It may have seemed a silly question. The command may have seemed silly too: “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” Move? If not paralyzed, the man certainly was too weak to move on his own after being an invalid for thirty-eight years (John 5:5).

Nevertheless, when he heard the command, faith stirred in him. He stood up, grabbed his mat, and walked. The first place he went was the temple.

Later, Jesus found him at the temple and said, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you” (John 5:14). The man had been lying on a mat, unable to get into a pool where he would be healed—how had he sinned? Jesus never uttered an idle word, so what was behind his words?

We often equate sin with actions, but sin sometimes involves our attitudes. Examine the man’s words in verse 7. In his disappointment and discouragement, perhaps he had envied those who had been healed, or maybe he yielded to resentment or bitterness because no one helped him. Jesus knew the man had to change his way of life to be spiritually whole.

The man believed Jesus’ words. He began his new life by returning to the religious leaders and boldly proclaiming that it was Jesus who had made him well (v. 15).

Have you received a new life, spiritual as well as physical healing? Boldly walk proclaiming what Jesus has done for you.

DIG DEEPER:

Many current scientific studies have suggested a connection between health and attitudes such as anger and bitterness. How do you see that connection in Job 5:2, Proverbs 14:30, and Mark 7:21-23?

According to 1 Corinthians 13:4 and James 3:13-18, what beneficial attitudes should we cultivate?

Read Luke 17:1-6. Has Jesus asked you to do something impossible? What will He give you to enable you to do it?

Nancy J. Baker

This devotion is part of a series, Unnamed Heroes.