John 5:1-9 | Do You Want To Be Healed?
1After this 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, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. (John 5:1-9)
The scene:
1After this 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, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. (John 5:1-5)
Where is verse 4?
The King James version includes verse 4, but it is omitted from modern translations because it wasn’t found in the earliest manuscripts. Verse 4 was likely a foot note that a scribe later put inline with the rest of the text. It certainly give us context for verse 7, but doesn’t change the value of the story. This is also the case with other additions from older translations. In any case, none of the additions by older translations change or effect Biblical theology. They are all consistent with the entirety of scripture or have a neutral bearing.
Observation About Jesus:
1. Jesus knows your (you fill in the blank)
When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” (John 5:6)
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. (Psalm 139:2-4)
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
2. Jesus has great compassion toward you
The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” (John 5:7-8)
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)
3. Jesus has absolute power over everything
And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. (John 5:9a)
…he upholds the universe by the word of his power… (Hebrews 1:3)
