Jesus Christ Loves All God's Children

---

As God's child, the Creator of everything is your Heavenly Father.
His Son, Jesus Christ, is your loving Big Brother and Very Best Friend.
His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is your All Powerful Helper and Faithful Guide.

L.G. Parkhurst, Jr.

---

JESUS MAKES PEOPLE WELL

JOHN 5:6

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

Easy Print .PDF Version of JOHN 5:6. International Bible Study Commentary on John 5. International Bible Study Commentaries on John.

When Jesus went to the pool of Bethsaida where many waited for the waters to stir so they could be the first one in the water to be healed, no doubt Jesus did what He always did among the broken, ill, and injured — He healed everyone. Furthermore, the crowds that followed Jesus were always amazed by His compassionate power, so even more people wanted Jesus to heal them.

In his gospel, John wrote about Jesus and a broken man who had been lying by the pool of Bethsaida for 38 years. The Bible does not tell us all we would like to know, but Jesus’ question implies that perhaps the man might not have really wanted to be healed. We know of some who will not go for help when they know they are sick and treatment is available. Or perhaps the man truly wanted to be healed, but for 38 years no one would help him get into the pool (as he told Jesus). Or perhaps he intentionally wanted his mat far from the pool so it would be impossible for him to get to the pool on time even with help. Or perhaps he preferred being physically broken because he felt it was easier to be fed by others and taken to the pool each day where he could sit in the cool shade, relax, and visit rather than work for a living.

The Bible does not give us an answer to all this man’s possible problems or Jesus’ reasons for asking him, “Do you want to be made well?” But the Bible does encourage us to think about sick people, their situations, the possible solutions to their problems, and what we might be able to do to help them get well, as Jesus did. Of course, the best and eternal solution is helping people put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Healer and Savior — the One who makes people well.

John shows in his gospel how Jesus helped and healed this man physically, what Jesus later said to the man to heal him morally and spiritually, and what the man did after Jesus healed him. Whether the man wanted healing or not, Jesus did what was best for him. Jesus gave him another opportunity to live as God intended. Jesus healed his physical brokenness, as He did for the multitudes who came to Him and those at the pool. But in this case, instead of waiting for the man to call out to Him for healing, Jesus personally went to the man to physically heal him. Then later, Jesus found him again to tell him how he could begin to heal mentally and spiritually — the healing he needed more than physical health.

In like manner, in our own lives as believers in Jesus Christ, while we were still sinners and broken in many ways, Jesus first came to us and began our substantial healing. He bestowed God’s grace upon us before we entrusted our lives and eternal future to Him. We do not go to Jesus before He has come to us and has led us to trust in Him in some way. Then, by the truth in the Bible and the work of the Holy Spirit, we come to believe fully in Jesus and receive Him as our Lord and Savior. Remember what John wrote in John 1:12, “But to all who received Him, who believed in His name, He gave power to become children of God.” Jesus comes to us often, often very often, to give us the power to become and remain children of God.

Now notice: when Jesus came and asked the man, “Do you want to be made well?” the man did not say, “Yes! Praise God that You have come to heal me!” No. The man made an excuse and blamed others for not being healed. He replied, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making the way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” The situation is so unique, so unlike the time Jesus healed the man born blind, that we need to ask ourselves if the man really wanted to be healed. He responded exactly opposite to the way the blind man responded when Jesus healed him (see John chapter 9). [Lest we forget, not all accidents and illnesses are the result of our sins, for as Jesus told His disciples when they asked about sin and the man’s blindness, “Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him’” (John 9:3).] God wants to reveal His works in all His children.

The man at the pool had no faith in Jesus, and we see no evidence that he ever came to believe in Jesus. He apparently said nothing to Jesus after Jesus healed him, but he did as Jesus commanded for Jesus gave him the power to obey His command. Later, when he reported to the religious leaders what Jesus had done for him, he said he did not know who healed him. Still, we see the grace and power of Jesus when Jesus healed the man with these few words: “Stand up, take your mat and walk” (John 5:8).

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 9:5, about a paralyzed man He healed, “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk?’” Jesus could have forgiven the man for his sins when He physically healed him (perhaps He did, John does not say so). Later, Jesus gave the man the opportunity to know Him and repent of his sins, but he did not; instead, he reported Jesus to the authorities. His physical healing could have led to his spiritual healing, but as far as we are told by John, it did not. The man needed to repent and receive forgiveness of sins to begin a new life, and he needed to believe in and receive Jesus as his Savior and Lord to become a child of God and to receive the gift of eternal life.

The Bible does not tell us everything we might like to know, and it does not answer all our questions, but it does lead us to think about God and Jesus and God’s ways. We do know that the man at the pool was broken more than just physically. We do know that Jesus went to him to make him well. We do know that the man’s healing did not depend on his desires, his will, his knowledge of Jesus, or his is faith in Jesus, for he had none of these. He was so broken that Jesus healed him from the depths of God’s infinite love for everyone who is broken, no matter how broken. Jesus healed the man and commanded him to do what he could never have done apart from Jesus by first giving him the power through His words, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.”

We do learn from John’s Gospel that the man was broken physically, for he could not get to the pool in time when the water stirred. He was broken mentally, for with all the evidence around him, his mind did not lead him to believe in Jesus and believe that Jesus would heal him. He was broken morally, for when Jesus found him in the temple later, Jesus said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you” (John 5:14). He was broken spiritually, for as far as we know, he never praised God or thanked Jesus for making him well. To receive all God intends for our healing, the man needed to repent of his sins and resolve to sin no more. But he would only repent if he turned to Jesus with faith in Him and ask Him to help him. Instead, he chose to report Jesus to the authorities.

As children of God, the Bible’s teachings and examples and our own experiences show us how far the love, grace, mercy, and power of Jesus extends. We know that Jesus often comes to those who are so broken physically, mentally, and morally, and spiritually that they have given up all hope of being made well, of finding someone who can help them. We also know that ultimately only Jesus can help them. So, Jesus gave us the command and gives us opportunities to make disciples and teach them to obey all He has commanded (see Matthew 28:18-20).

Let no one wait for Jesus to come to them to be made well, for Jesus is with us and ready to receive us. If we have any interest in Jesus at all, we can know for certain that we have that interest because He has been graciously working upon us. We do not see Jesus with our physical eyes, but Jesus is asking, “Do you want to be made well?” By telling Jesus, “Yes! I do!” we will receive the healing that God knows we need in this world. We may receive the physical healing we seek in this world; but if not, we know that we will be made whole someday, and all our brokenness will be healed when we see Jesus face to face in His Kingdom. Someday, all those who believe in Jesus will receive resurrected and glorified human bodies. Someday, we will know by experience God’s complete forgiveness for our sins and God’s total moral and spiritual cleansing as the Bible promises, and we will never sin again.

Jesus will begin to heal our total brokenness in this world by His love, mercy, power, and grace and through our faith in Him and our receiving Him as our Lord and Savior. He will fill us with the Holy Spirit and empower us to do the will of God, to love God, to know more about God, and to serve God is His child and friend. In John 16:23, Jesus promised that in this world He would come to live with and in every believer: “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

As children of God, by the work of the Holy Spirit and the Truth of God’s Word, God will renew our minds and spirits as we prayerfully study the Bible and seek to do the will of God. When Jesus comes to take us to be with Him and with all those who will love Him forever, He will give us perfect bodies, perfect minds, and perfect lives. In this life, as children of God, we will never give up going to Jesus with our every need and the needs of others, for Jesus loves to make us well as God intends. Jesus will love us forever, and in His Kingdom, He will keep us well forever. For these and other reasons, all of God’s children love and trust Jesus!

Read John 5:1-9, 13-16

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  (John 5:1)

Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes.  (John 5:2)

In these lay many invalids--blind, lame, and paralyzed.  (John 5:3)

One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.  (John 5:5)

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”  (John 5:6)

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 making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.”  (John 5:7)

Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.”  (John 5:8)

At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath.  (John 5:9)

Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there.  (John 5:13)

Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”  (John 5:14)

The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  (John 5:15)

Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath.  (John 5:16)

Ideal for Personal Study, Home and Mid-week Bible Groups, and Sunday Schools!
Proceed at YOUR Own Pace Week-by-Week!