“Do You Want to Be Healed?”
Indirimbo 193
The question Jesus asked in John 5 sounds simple, but it reaches deep into the human heart.
John 5:6 says, “When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’”
At first, we might almost feel like saying, “Jesus, why ask that? Of course he wants to be healed. He is lying beside a pool. He has been sick for thirty-eight years. Why else would he be there?”
But Jesus never asks useless questions. He was not asking because He lacked information. The Bible says Jesus already knew that the man had been in that condition a long time. So the question was not for Jesus to learn something. The question was for the man to face something.
Jesus was not only asking, “Do you want your body to be healed?”
He was also asking, “Are you ready for the life that comes after healing?”
Because sometimes we want the pain to stop, but we do not want the change that healing requires. Sometimes we want God to remove the suffering, but we still want to keep the habit. Sometimes we want peace, but we still hold tightly to bitterness. Sometimes we want freedom, but we are also comfortable in the prison because at least the prison is familiar.
That is why this question is so powerful: “Do you want to be made well?”
There is a difference between wanting relief and wanting healing.
Relief says, “Lord, take the pain away.”
Healing says, “Lord, change me.”
Relief says, “Lord, make my situation easier.”
Healing says, “Lord, make my heart new.”
Relief wants the symptoms gone. Healing allows Jesus to touch the root.
The man at Bethesda had been lying there for thirty-eight years. His bed had become part of his life. His weakness had become his identity. People probably knew him as “the man by the pool.” His whole routine was built around waiting, disappointment, and dependence on others.
And that is where the question becomes personal.
Can a person become comfortable in a hospital bed? Not because the bed is good. Not because sickness is enjoyable. But because after a long time, even painful places can become familiar places.
A hospital bed is not freedom, but at least you know how to lie there.
A prison cell is not home, but after years inside, freedom can feel scary.
Crutches are helpful after injury, but if you keep leaning on them after you are meant to walk, the thing that once helped you can start holding you back.
That is how some of us are spiritually.
We may say, “I want to be healed,” but part of us still wants to keep the bed.
The bed may be bitterness.
The bed may be lust.
The bed may be pride.
The bed may be unforgiveness.
The bed may be self-pity.
The bed may be fear.
The bed may be an excuse we have repeated for so long that we no longer know who we are without it.
And this is not to shame anyone who is suffering. Jesus did not come to mock the man. He did not stand over him with cruelty. He bent over him with compassion. The question was not condemnation; it was invitation.
“Do you want to be made well?”
In other words, “Are you willing to let Me do more than comfort you in your condition? Are you willing to let Me call you out of it?”
Because sometimes we do not only need Jesus to visit us beside the pool. We need Him to command us to rise.
When Jesus asked the question, the man did not directly answer, “Yes.” Instead, he explained why he could not be healed.
John 5:7 says, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up.”
That answer reveals something. The man was looking at the pool, the water, the people who failed him, and the people who got ahead of him. His mind was locked into one method of healing. He thought, “If I can just get into the water, then I can be healed.”
But the Healer was standing right in front of him.
That can happen to us too. We keep saying, “If only this person helped me. If only my past was different. If only I had more support. If only my situation changed.” Some of those pains are real. Some people really did fail us. Some opportunities really were missed. Some wounds really did happen.
But the danger is when we become so focused on the pool that we miss Christ.
The man was waiting for water to move, but Jesus was calling his heart to move.
He was waiting for someone to carry him, but Jesus was about to give him strength to walk.
This is why Jesus’ question was necessary. The man needed to see that the real issue was not only his legs. The deeper issue was whether he would trust Christ enough to leave the life he had known for thirty-eight years.
Then Jesus says in John 5:8, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”
Notice this: Jesus did not say, “Wait until you feel strong.”
He did not say, “Wait until someone carries you.”
He did not say, “Wait until the pool moves.”
He said, “Rise.”
The command sounded impossible, but when Jesus commands, His word carries power.
This is where faith comes in. Faith is not waiting until I feel healed before I move. Faith is trusting the word of Christ enough to move because He said so.
Ellen White says, “Believe His word,” and she also says, “Put your will on the side of Christ.” That is powerful because healing involves the will. It does not mean we heal ourselves. It means we stop resisting the One who can heal us.
Philippians 2:13 says, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
That means God does not only give the power to walk. He even works in us to give us the desire to walk. So when Jesus asks, “Do you want to be healed?” He is not asking us to create healing from ourselves. He is inviting us to surrender our will to His power.
This also teaches us that sometimes the problem is not only that we are weak. Sometimes the problem is that we have made peace with weakness.
We may not love the sickness itself, but we may enjoy what the sickness allows us to avoid.
If I stay angry, I do not have to forgive.
If I stay offended, I do not have to humble myself.
If I stay in sin, I do not have to surrender.
If I stay wounded, I do not have to trust again.
If I stay on the bed, I do not have to walk.
So yes, sometimes people can become attached to sickness. Not always physical sickness, and not in a way that should make us judge others. But spiritually, emotionally, and morally, we can become attached to broken conditions because they become familiar, and healing means responsibility.
Healing means I cannot keep saying, “This is just who I am.”
Healing means I cannot keep blaming the pool.
Healing means I cannot keep waiting for someone else to obey God for me.
Healing means I must respond to the voice of Christ.
And when the man obeyed, the miracle happened.
John 5:9 says, “And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.”
Before Jesus healed him, the bed carried him.
After Jesus healed him, he carried the bed.
That is a sermon by itself.
The thing that once held him became the thing he held.
The thing that once defined him became part of his testimony.
The thing that once said, “You are helpless,” now said, “Christ has made me whole.”
That is what Jesus can do. He does not only remove shame; He turns it into testimony. He does not only forgive sin; He breaks its power. He does not only comfort us on the bed; He gives us strength to walk away from it.
But the story does not end with the man walking. Later, Jesus finds him again and says in John 5:14, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
That shows that Jesus wanted more than physical healing. He wanted a changed life.
Jesus did not heal the man so he could walk back into the same sin, same mindset, same spiritual condition, and same distance from God. Christ’s healing was not only about legs. It was about the soul.
Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
That is the healing we really need. Not only a better situation, but a clean heart. Not only a changed environment, but a changed spirit. Not only for God to fix what is around me, but for God to fix what is within me.
Ezekiel 36:26 says God will give a new heart and put a new spirit within us.
That is the deeper healing.
Because a person can leave the hospital bed physically and still be lying down spiritually. A person can look fine on the outside and still be crippled by guilt, pride, secret sin, fear, anger, addiction, or unbelief.
Jesus is not satisfied with surface healing. He wants to make us whole.
That is why the question still comes to us today.
Do you want to be healed, or do you only want to be pitied?
Do you want to be healed, or do you only want the pain to reduce while the sin remains?
Do you want to be healed, or have you become comfortable with the bed?
Do you want to be healed enough to forgive?
Do you want to be healed enough to surrender?
Do you want to be healed enough to stop making excuses?
Do you want to be healed enough to rise?
Because Christ is able to heal. Ellen White says, “Christ is able and longs to deliver.”
That means Jesus is not reluctant. He is not standing far away waiting for us to become strong first. He comes near to the helpless. He sees the one everyone else passes by. He speaks life to the one who has been stuck for years.
But His healing question must be answered honestly.
Not with excuses.
Not with “I have no man.”
Not with “someone else always gets ahead of me.”
Not with “this is how I have always been.”
But with surrender.
“Yes, Lord. I want to be made well. Not only comfortable. Not only relieved. Not only helped for a moment. I want to be changed. I want to rise. I want to walk. I want the life You are offering me.”
And the good news is this: the same Jesus who asked the question also gave the power.
He did not say “Rise” and then leave the man helpless.
He gave strength through His word.
So when Jesus asks us, “Do you want to be healed?” He is not exposing us to shame us. He is calling us to freedom.
The question is necessary because healing cannot be forced on a heart that still wants to hold on to the bed.
But if we are willing, Christ is able.
If we surrender, Christ gives strength.
If we believe His word, Christ teaches us to walk.
So today, do not only ask God to make the bed more comfortable.
Ask Him for power to rise.
Do not only ask Him to make sickness easier to manage.
Ask Him to make you whole.
Do not only wait for the pool.
Look to Christ.
The Healer is already standing near, asking with love, “Do you want to be made well?”