While Jesus was here on earth, He visited a place called Bethesda.

There, camped around a pool, were a multitude of the sick, blind, lame and withered. They stayed at the poolside because they believed that the water had magical powers: from time to time an angel would come down from heaven and stir the waters. Whoever jumped into the pool first would be healed of whatever ailment he had. (The story is recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter 5.)

Pretend that we are with Jesus as He surveyed these people. What a panorama of suffering! We gaze into each face and eyes stare back at us in quiet despair. Some have been ailing and waiting for the pool waters to move for so long that even their strength to groan is gone.

But we see an even sadder thing. These people were pinning their hopes of healing on that pool. They didn’t realize that the Great Healer was in their midst! How the tender heart of our Savior must have ached. Instead of looking unto God, these people have reduced their lives into a few ripples of water.

Suddenly Jesus singled out one man, lying next to the pool. He had been sick for thirty-eight years. Jesus asked him, “Do you wish to get well?”

What a question! We’d think, “Of course he wants to get well!”

We’d also suppose hope would well up inside this man. But he answered Jesus, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Paraphrase this to mean, “Jesus, it’s bad enough I’ve spent the best years of my life lying flat on my back. It’s worse when other people jumped into the pool and stole the healing that should have been mine.”

Before we get to the rest of the story, let’s pause and consider. The world is like that pool of Bethesda. Do we see a multitude of impaired people? Not necessarily physically, but emotionally? How about socially? Or even spiritually? And do we see people staking their well-being on solutions as elusive as water, even though the Savior stands in their midst, ready to give them the solid help they need?

More to the point: are we among these very people?

Going back to the story, the Lord was gracious. Rather than be turned off by the man’s self-pity and defeatism, He told the man, “Arise, take up your mat, and walk.” Immediately the man became well and began to walk. After almost four barren decades, he was in perfect health!

I wonder: if Jesus were to ask us that same question “Do you wish to get well?” what would we tell him?

“Yes, Lord, I wish to get well…
“I wish to end this heartache once and for all…”
“I wish to be released from my past…”
“I wish to trust You, but I continue to be sick with worry…”
“I wish to break this sin that keeps coming back…”

Many times, we live in defeat, sorrow and worry because we depend on career, connections, companions, cash and credit line for our security. But now the Savior comes and offers, “Do you wish to get well?” The wonderful thing is that despite our weaknesses, He still invites us to “Arise… and walk.” Let us get up from our slump. Start walking. Start really living. Simply because Jesus tells us so.

If we want to be free from our past, arise and move on.
If we want to be free from worry, arise and trust God.
If we want to be free from loneliness, arise and connect with people.

As we arise and walk, we’ll be amazed at strength that seemed to come from nowhere. Such is Jesus’ sweet enabling if we’d take Him at His word. Such is the power when the Only Begotten Son makes this possible.