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?”
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Jn 5:6.
This man at the pool of Bethesda had been afflicted for thirty eight years. He watched the water in the pool waiting for the angel to stir it. And when it happened he had nobody to help him get to the water. While he watched other people would beat him to the water. His hope of being healed was beyond his reach.
Jesus saw the man and asked him what seems to be a silly question,“Do you want to be made well?”. You and I think, of course he wants to be made well! Why else would he be there, right? God has shown me something in this passage when I look deeper. First, what is your identity based on? The churchy answer is JESUS. The honest answer for a lot of people is their career, their children, their spouse, their money, their circumstances. That’s right. Some people stake their identity in their circumstances. This man had been this way for thirty eight years. He was probably known as that crippled man near the Sheep Gate or the man on the third porch at the pool of Bethesda (just choosing a porch at random). It would be no stretch to think that the man was afraid to be anything else because at least for now people notice him and know who he is. Second, by Jesus asking him a question, He presented him with a choice. God gave Adam the power of free will and He gives us the power of free will. The man, presented with this opportunity that he could not attain alone, could have chosen to simply remain as he was.
Choosing Jesus means choosing life. It means a life of abundance but not necessarily an abundance of earthly and material things. It is an ubundance of grace and love. An abundance of provisions to be used for the glory of God and an abundance of peace that surpasses all understanding. The question to all of us is this: Do you want to be made well and say hello to a new identity or remain where you are?