Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 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. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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?” “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.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ” So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

When I was a young boy of about seven, I went to a school where many of the kids would make fun of me because of my small hand. They would call me small fingers at recess and I only had one friend to play with. My Mom eventually got me transferred to another school, as the teacher did not have control of the situation and I would come home crying a lot. I will never forget what she told me about my small hand. She said, “Joe, God has a special purpose for you in life, you and your small hand. One day, your small hand will be able to do a task no one else can. Maybe you will be able to reach into a small opening to get something out or who knows? But God made you just as he wants you, and those kids who are making fun of you are really making fun of God. They are going to be in trouble when they get to heaven.” I went from being worried I was different to feeling special and important. My confidence was restored.

Just like the friend who played with me and my Mom, Jesus here has compassion on this man who had suffered for years. Who can we have compassion on today? When no one else would help him, Jesus did. He asks him an interesting question, “Do you want to get well?” At first we might react, “Of course he wants to get well.” But I think Jesus here was not only referring to physical healing, but also to the healing of his soul. We will see later in the passage, Jesus warns him to stop sinning or something worse will happen to him. I believe he was talking about the condition of his heart. And as the teachers of the law were pressing him about who healed him on the Sabbath, he joined them in identifying Jesus, instead of challenging them as to why this mattered.

So today, when we wrestle with unfair illness, disability, and treatment, we know God cares and can heal us. Also know that he is a just God, and when we participate in worldly power grabs or attempts to be popular by fingering those who are doing good, God notices this too. Our hearts must be pure. We live in a world tight with the tension of many topics: political parties, people, and sin issues. We must focus on God’s love and not the issues of the day. Only he can save us for eternity!