A multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting

John 5:1-23 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

² Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. ³ In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters; ⁴ for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted. ⁵ A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?” ⁷ The sick man answered Him, “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.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.”⁹ Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.

Now it was the Sabbath on that day. ¹⁰ So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.” ¹¹ But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?” ¹³ But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. ¹⁴ Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.”¹⁵ The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”

¹⁸ For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

¹⁹ Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. ²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. ²² For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

In Matthew 4:23 it says:  Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.  In Matthew 12:13-14 it says:  the Pharisees went out and conspired to kill Jesus. Aware of this, Jesus withdrewfrom that place. Large crowds followed Him,and He healed them all.    Again in Matthew 15:30, it says:  Large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them.    Very often these and other scriptures will be used to support the idea that Jesus heals every disease, sickness and infirmity, which of course He can and did. In today’s text it says:   In Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted. A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?” The sick man answered Him, “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.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.”  Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.   Would it not have been better if Jesus had healed the multitude that lay at the pool? If Jesus indeed heals every disease, could He not; should He not have healed them all?    2 Timothy 3:16 says:  All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.   It is important, if we truly want to know and understand God’s word and His will, that we consider all scripture; that we see the times that Jesus healed them all and also the other times when some were not healed.

Surely God can heal all diseases, sicknesses and infirmities. Some will question or debate then if at times it is not His will to heal. Others will say that faith is required; that we must have faith to receive what we ask. Perhaps the best, or at least part of the explanation for why some are healed and others are not can be found in Jesus own words from today’s text, when He says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.  For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.”  Jesus, when He was here, only did what the Father was doing. In John 14:12-14 Jesus says:  “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”  Even today, when we see or are part of the greater works that are being done, healings and deliverences, it is still Jesus that is doing it. He still now, as then, it is only doing what the Father is doing. The simple truth is that if God healed every sickness, disease or infirmity, there would be none. We can see from experience that there are those who are sick and that physical death is part of life, even for those who believe.We can question and debate the possible reasons we do not see healing in every instance, but we will never over rule God or change His mind. We should ask believing that He can, but knowing by the evidence of scripture and experience that it will not always be answered in the way we understand.

Jesus taught us to pray saying: Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  That means that we should ask that we would see the realities of what is in heaven manifested here on earth. In John 19:30, when Jesus was on the cross, overcoming sin and death, He said:  “It is finished.”   So, all that Jesus came to do is already accomplished in heaven. Every sickness, disease and infirmity is healed in the heavenly realm. It becomes then only a matter of whether or not we see the manifestation here and now or later. Either way, it is finished. God is infinite and eternal. He is not restricted to time or to this physical realm. 2 Peter 3:8 says: But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.   So, in God’s eternal time, it matters much less whether something happens now or a day from now. Even our entire lifetime is but a twinkling in the scheme of eternity. We are to ask that His kingdom would come and His will would be done; that we would see the manifestation of the finished work of the cross, here on earth as it is in heaven. But in Matthew 6:33 Jesus says:  “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  In today’s text, when Jesus saw the man who was healed later, He said:  “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.”    If we will seek His kingdom and His righteousness, we will see His kingdom, on earth and in heaven.

‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.
Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.’  May I indeed see the manifestations of the finished work of the cross, here and now, but even more, may I seek Your kingdom and Your righteousness that I might know the fullness of Your will in eternity.  Amen.