TROUBLED WATER

John 5:1-9a
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.

Jesus Heals a Lame Man

1 Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. 2 Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. 3 Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches waiting for a certain movement of the water,4 for an angel of the Lord came from time to time and stirred up the water. And the first person to step in after the water was stirred was healed of whatever disease he had. 5 One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”

7 “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

8 Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”

9 Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking!


Jesus spotted one man in the crowd and moved in his situation. The man had come to the healing pool, the place where miracles occurred. He had been sick, wanted to get well but his infirmity prevented him from doing that which was necessary to received the healing miracle he so desired.

We serve an all-knowing God. He is aware of the needs, the infirmities of all mankind. While He is omniscient, His response is individual. Jesus saw the crowds at the pool but responded to the needs of this one lame man. Scripture teaches us that healing was an integral part of Jesus’ ministry. He may well have healed others at the pool that day. Someone else may have gotten healed when the waters got stirred up that day.

What is important for you and I to see is that Jesus knows about the one. He knows about you. He knows about me. When you are sick … broken … lonely … angry … unable to get in the pool alone … Jesus knows. Jesus doesn’t need troubled waters. He just speaks a word. “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”