Key Verse:
“Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’” — John 5:8, New Living Translation
Today’s Reading: John 5
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It’s a Sabbath day, and Jesus is on the move. He knows He will get in trouble with the religious leaders and possibly risk His life, but He is willing to risk it all for one person.
The text does not mention if Jesus planned to perform a miracle that day. It also does not say why Jesus was drawn to this particular man at the pool of Bethesda when there were many other blind, lame and paralyzed people who were present there. Maybe because this man had been paralyzed for a very long time: 38 years.
Thirty-eight years is a long time to carry a physical limitation, or any limitation. I am sure that, along with the physical paralysis, the man also experienced emotional, social and mental paralysis. His whole life was focused on one thing only: to get into the water when the angel visited it so he would be healed and walk again.
In his mind, there was only one way to be healed from his ailment: jumping into the water when the angel visited it. We don’t know how far he was from the pool, but it might as well have been a hundred miles away in his condition. The odds of him getting into the pool to be healed were pretty much close to zero.
A terrible past with no hope for a better future.
But out of nowhere, Jesus appears, walks directly up to him and asks him a very simple question: “Do you want to get well?”
This man knew what he wanted. But Jesus asked the question anyway and invited him to identify his need, and it’s worth thinking about. Do I want to be healed? Do I actually want to be set free?
And just as Jesus ordered the raging storm to quiet down (Mark 4:35-41), He showed His identity as God in ordering the illness to leave this man’s body. Then Jesus invites the man to get up, get his bed and walk. And he did! The blind man’s taking up his bed and walking was a response to Jesus’ work and proof of Jesus’ power.
Jesus enters into our need, provides as only He can (sometimes even miraculously) and then invites us to participate in His work by responding to it. Our response functions as proof to ourselves and others that He is God and we are His.
Reflect:
What need or desire might you need to invite Jesus into today?
Pray:
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your healing power. Thank You that even though we may not see the same physical healing as the lame man, You promise to give us spiritual healing and new life in You because of Your death and resurrection. Thank You for Your promise that You are present with those who have put their trust in You.
Learn more about the miracles Jesus performed to demonstrate His power over sickness, spiritual forces, nature and even death itself.
Layo Leiva, a second-generation staff member, has been with Cru since 1978. He loves ministering to leaders and influencers with his wife Luchy. Currently, he serves as the leader strategies facilitator for Latin America and the Caribbean.
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