How Did Jesus Treat People with Disabilities in the Bible?
John 5:1-15
The story is about Jesus healing the lame man at the pool. During this timeframe of this event, there were three feasts that required all Jewish males to come to Jerusalem: (1) the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, (2) the Feasts of Weeks (additionally called Pentecost), and (3) the Feasts of Tabernacles. So undoubtedly there was a great multitude of people coming and going near this pool.
A great number of impotent (sick), blind, halted (lame), and withered (paralyzed) people lay either in or near the waters, waiting for them to move. It is muddled whether a heavenly messenger, an angel, really upset or disturbed the water, or if this was exactly what the people accepted and believed. Regardless, Jesus healed a man who had been laying there for 38 years, waiting for an opportunity to receive healing. Following 38 years, this current man's concern had become a lifestyle. Nobody had at any point helped him. He had no expectation of truly being healed and allegedly had no desire to help himself. His circumstance looked sad. Yet, regardless of how confined we may feel in our ailments, God can tend to our most profound necessities. Try not to let an issue or difficulty cause us to lose trust. God may have exceptional work for us to do regardless of our condition, or even because of it. Many have served successfully to those individuals who are in distress since they themselves have prevailed over their own damages.
What a question to ask someone, wilt thou be made whole. I would wonder what was going through that man’s mind at that time. Of course, I want to be made whole, that is why I am here. But let us look at it in another way. The man has been lame for 38 years. He is laying there watching and waiting for the pool to stir up. That has been what all the sick and injured people have been doing, watching the pool. Maybe, just maybe the Lord wanted to get the man to take his eyes from the pool and focus on him. I would think that the man may have looked up toward Christ.
But what did the man say in verse seven? “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.” The first thing we notice in the lame man’s reply is that he Looked at Man. He was not looking for Jesus for he did not know who he was. The second thing we notice is that the man Looked at Time. He was waiting for the waters to become troubled. How long would that take? Could he potentially miss his opportunity if he had fallen asleep? The third thing we notice is that the man Looked at Others. The lame man was too concerned looking at someone else stepping down before, going ahead of him into the pool.
Psalm 72:13, He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.
Matthew 9:6, But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
Mark 2:11, I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.
The problem with many people today, like this lame man at the pool, is that they are busy waiting and watching for something to happen. People are not turning to Christ. They are too busy with their own carnal lives that they do not realize what lies ahead. Unfortunately, too many Christians are also waiting and watching. Now do not get me wrong, we should be watching for the Lord’s return and waiting for that Blessed Hope. But what are we doing in the meantime? There are still so many out there that do not know Christ.
Luke 10:2, Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
As per the Pharisees, carrying a mat on the Sabbath was work and was consequently unlawful. It did not overstep an Old Testament Law, however the Pharisees' translation of God's order to "remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8) This was only one of the many principles they had added to the Old Testament Law.
A man who had not walked for over thirty years was suddenly healed, yet the Pharisees were more worried about their insignificant guidelines than the life and wellbeing of another individual. It is not difficult to get so intertwined in our man-made designs and guidelines that we fail to remember the individuals that may be involved. Are our rules for living God-made or man-made? Is it accurate to say that they are helping individuals, or have they become unnecessary hindrances?
Exodus 20:10, But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Jeremiah 17:21, Thus saith the Lord; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
Mark 3:4, And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
This man had been weak or incapacitated, yet now he could walk. This was an incredible supernatural occurrence, a miracle. Be that as it may, he required a considerably more prominent miracle, to have his sins forgiven. The man was undoubtedly ecstatic to finally be healed, yet he needed to abandon his transgressions and look for God's absolution to receive spiritual healing. God's forgiveness for our sins is the best blessing we will ever receive at any point in our lives. People should not disregard this benevolent and gracious gift. The Lord had healed the man physically at the pool, but what the man needed now was healing spiritually. There in the temple, Jesus told him, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” The man who could not walk, met the Man who walked on water! The man who had be in sin, met the Man who had no sin! The Omnipotent Man cured the impotent man!
John 8:11, She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
There is an old gospel song by Carroll Roberson, “Wilt Thou Be Made Whole”.
Jesus came to Bethesda's pool,?
Where the crippled did wait for the water to move,
?A man had been lame for 38 years,?
He asked Him this question that still rings in my ears.
Wilt Thou be made whole? Do you want a new life?
?Wilt Thou be made whole? And believe in Christ??
Do you want to be washed? As white as the snow??
God's question to you, Wilt Thou be made whole?
There are still many out there that are not only physically sick, lame, withered, blind, (the list goes on and on) but spiritually sick as well. Christians should be concerned for the welfare of all people. But the ones that need it the most are those who are spiritually sick, spiritually lame, spiritually blind, spiritually withered… we should be getting the picture by now.
Luke 19:10, For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Mark 2:17, When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
