At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. John 5:9
A new cause for hope has emerged for people paralyzed by spinal cord injuries. German researchers have discovered a way to stimulate nerve growth to reconnect the neural pathways between the muscles and the brain. The regrowth has enabled paralyzed mice to walk again, and testing will continue to determine whether the therapy is safe and effective for humans.
What science seeks to achieve on behalf of those who suffer paralysis, Jesus did through miracles. When he visited the pool at Bethesda, a place where many who ailed lingered in hopes of healing, Jesus sought out a man among them who “had been an invalid for thirty-eight years” (John 5:5). After confirming that the man did, indeed, wish to be healed, Christ instructed him to stand up and walk. “At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked” (v. 9).
We’re not promised that all our physical ailments will be healed by God—there were others at the pool who weren’t healed by Jesus that day. But those who put their trust in Him can experience the healing He brings—from despair to hope, bitterness to grace, hatred to love, accusation to a willingness to forgive. No scientific discovery (or pool of water) can offer us such healing; it only comes by faith.
Read: JOHN 5:1-9 (NIV)
The Healing at the Pool
5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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?”
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.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
INSIGHT
- Where are you tempted to look for spiritual healing other than in God?
- How are you encouraged knowing that one day believers in Jesus will experience complete physical healing as well?
Because Jesus healed on the Sabbath, “the Jewish leaders began to persecute him” (John 5:16). In response, He told them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working” (v. 17). This so incensed them that “they tried all the more to kill him” (v. 18). In their eyes, Christ deserved death because He wasn’t only breaking the Sabbath but blaspheming by calling God His Father. This Sabbath miracle wasn’t the only one that had the leaders up in arms. He also drove out a demon (Mark 1:21-28), healed a shriveled hand (Matthew 12:9-13), a crippled woman (Luke 13:10-17), and a man “whose arms and legs were swollen” (14:2 nlt). The Jewish leaders were also angry because Jesus’ disciples picked grain on the Sabbath. He told them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28).
PRAYER
Thank You, dear God, for curing my greatest ailment—the plague of sin—and restoring my spiritual health through Jesus. In Jesus Holy name, I pray. Amen!!
Read: JOHN 5:1-9 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: NEHEMIAH 4-6; ACTS 2:22-47
