Do You Want To Get Well? Series

Do You Want To Get Well?

John 5:1-15

(this sermon was preached on the first Sunday of the year. The text in parenthesis was added for that occasion.)

Turn in your Bibles to John chapter 5. This passage tells the story of a man who was an invalid. Let's start reading in verse 1.

John 5:1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.

John 5:2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.

Archaeologists have uncovered this pool. It is just north of the temple complex. Picture a rectangle pool with four shelters, one along each side. One on this side. One on this side. One on this side. And one on this side. The shelters have columns along the sides holding up the roof of the shelter. This is what a colonnade is. Each one of these is a colonade.

Do you have that picture? Now split the pool in half and run a shelter between the two pools. There you have it, five covered colonnades.

The Drive Thru History – the Gospels video series that we watched on Wednesday evenings told more about this place in episode 8. It said that this place was an Aesclepion. The Greek empire built many Aesclepions across the empire. The Greek government didn’t like Jews and so they built one here, right next to the temple. These Aesclepions were shines to the Greek god of healing, Asclepius. These shrines were usually built around sacred springs because springs were thought to be places where spirits came out of the earth and places of healing. None of this is in the Bible. And Aesclepions predate the time of our story by about two hundred years.

My theory is that once the Greek Empire fell, the Jews probably changed this place from a pagan place to a holy site, from a spirit coming out of the earth, to an angel stepping down and moving the water. But that's just my guess.

That’s a little background on this.

Let's continue the story.

John 5:3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.

John 5:5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

That's an interesting question from Jesus. Do you want to get well? Of course, he wants to get well. The answer is obvious, but Jesus still asks the question.

(As we enter 2022,) God has the same question for you. You may not be sick. You may not be an invalid as this man was, but the question is still there. Do you want to get well? (2022 can be a year of good health.) That sadness that you hold inside of you. That hurt, that anger, that bitterness, that despair, that disappointment, that worry. Do you want to get well? This sermon is entitled just that, Do you want to get well. It gives four things that we must do in order to get well. These are all found in this story.

1. Stop Making Excuses

John 5:7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

He didn't answer the question. He didn't answer it. A simple yes would have worked here. Yes, I want to get well. But instead, he makes excuses. He doesn't have anyone to help him into the water. Someone else always gets in first. Excuses. Excuses. Excuses. Do you want to get well? Just say yes.

Johnny hadn’t done his homework, but he had an excuse. When he got to school his teacher asked, “Where is your homework, Johnny?” “My dog ate it.” “Why would your dog want to eat your homework?” Because he likes cake.” “What? Cake? What does that have to do with your homework?” the teacher asked. Johnny said, “Yesterday when you gave us this assignment, you said it was a piece of cake.” Excuses.

Do you want to get well? Stop making excuses and:

2. Obey Jesus

John 5:8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”

John 5:9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,

Jesus told the man to do something. Get up. Pick up your mat and walk. He did it. He obeyed Jesus. He was healed. He walked. He had never walked before.