Chapter 26
Change Your Focus
The Reading: John 5:2-9
The Problem:
The Pool of Bethesda was a pool in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate. (The Sheep Gate was the gate used to bring the sheep into the city to the temple for sacrifice.) The pool was surrounded by five porches, each open at the front but protected from the sun and rain on the sides and overhead. It was widely held that when the waters in the pool were “troubled,” an angel of the Lord had stirred the water and was standing by, waiting for someone to get into the pool. They believed the person who made it into the water first would be healed of whatever disease he had.
People who were sick travelled long distances to seek their healing, waiting day after day on the porches, watching for the water to move. In his gospel, John never confirmed whether healings actually happened or not. Clearly, the people believed miracles really did occur, and in ancient times it was also common for the word to spread about hot springs in which people claimed to get healed. Even today, in many parts of the world, people travel to hot springs which advertise healing powers.
The Apostle John said the people waiting by the pool were either blind, lame, or paralyzed. As they waited, they probably quietly visited with one another or with the friend or relative who was bringing them to the pool every day. But then, if someone saw even a ripple in the water, pandemonium must have broken out. Every ailing person there would have been competing with the rest of the crowd to be the first into the water.
Can you imagine the pushing, shoving, and shouting that must have taken place? Obviously none of them could quickly step into the water, and what a pathetic sight it must have been … with people crawling, hopping, rolling, or clawing their way to the water's edge. What chaos there must have been!
If someone was healed, it couldn’t have been the most disabled person there, because a person who was quick enough to jump into the water first must not have been in such bad shape to begin with. Wouldn’t that mean that, almost invariably, the most severely ill people, the ones who needed the miracle the most, would never be healed? That seems to have been the case for the man Jesus met there.
The Turning Point:
The man Jesus met had been paralyzed for 38 years, waiting for someone to carry him down to the pool of Bethesda when the water moved. His eyes must have been so fixed on the pool that he couldn’t even imagine another solution for his problem. Did you notice, when Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be made whole?” the paralyzed man’s focus was still on the pool? Instead of giving Jesus a resounding “YES” to such a leading question, the man told his story about the pool again and how no one would carry him into the water quickly enough.
I believe we still do that today. When I pray about a problem, I have a tendency to want to “help” God by suggesting different scenarios for the solution. I’ve got my eyes glued to the “pool” instead of The Solution.
When you ask God for help, take your eyes off the pool. For example, imagine you have a problem that some extra money could solve. We’ve likely all visualized getting a better job or maybe even winning the lottery, paying off our bills, and ending up in such a good position financially that we never have to work again. But that probably isn’t the solution for your financial problem God has in mind. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. (Isaiah 55:8) Just waiting around to win the lottery, seeing that as the only way to get out of the enormous mess you’ve gotten yourself into, would only blindfold you from seeing several other opportunities around the pool, doors the Lord might be opening for you. Proverbs 16:3 and Psalm 37:5 says “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass”
The turning point for the paralyzed man came when he changed his focus from the pool, his expected solution, and looked to the Lord instead for his healing.
The Miracle That Followed:
Jesus told the paralyzed man to just pick up his mat and walk. He didn’t lay hands on him or say a long prayer over him. Jesus didn’t anoint him with oil. Jesus didn’t even extend His hand toward him, like we do sometimes when we’re praying for someone’s healing. He just gave the man a task, something to do.
Maybe, in the past, you have hesitated to obey God because you fear the consequences of your decision. In this story, Jesus told the man to pick up his mat and carry it. But it was the Sabbath day and, according to Jewish law, he wasn’t allowed to carry a mat on the Sabbath. This would constitute “work” in their eyes, but the man chose to obey Jesus rather than the Jews of his day.
The Lord’s command is for you to fear Him above all else. The same sovereign, omnipotent God who keeps your heart beating and the planets orbiting is more than able to handle the results of your obedience. If you have asked Him for a miracle but He told you to do something first … if you know without a doubt it is His will because it lines up with the Word, then you need to obey based solely on Who is doing the asking.
The Bottom Line:
I always assumed the miracle happened first, in other words - the paralysis left first and then the man got up. And I’ve read several commentaries that put the events in exactly that order. But now, I believe Jesus waited for the man to make an attempt to get up first before the healing came.
The paralyzed man’s obedience set the stage for something great to happen. The Lord’s simple requests often serve as stepping-stones to life’s most wonderful blessings. When you choose to obey the Lord, He will bless you. This is because obedience always leads to blessing.
