John 5:8-14 English Standard Version (ESV)

⁸ Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” ⁹ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. 

¹⁰ So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” ¹³ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. ¹⁴ Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”

I want to point out one very important issue here. Verse 13 says the lame man did not know Jesus.

I can relate to this in ways many do not. My first encounter with the power of God happened very much like this. I was angry, I was troubled and I wanted to change. God touched me personally and took away the anger. I was left with this overwhelming wonder. What just happened? I did not know Jesus.

This flies in the face of nearly every sermon I have ever heard. Then just as with this lame man, Jesus found me and talked to me. His words were simple direct and powerful. He did not condemn me for my past condition, my sinfulness, but warned me that sin has consequences that may be worse for me.

Did the lame man obey someone he did not know?

John 5:2-7 English Standard Version (ESV)

² Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaiccalled Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. ³ In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. ⁵ One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”

Here is a question I have been asking and rather unsuccessfully. “Do you want to be healed?”

I see a man who desperately needs to be healed. Does he know that? Here in these verses the lame man knows there is healing to be had in the pool. He looks for a sign as many do for when it is right to enter. Rather than answering Jesus’ question, his lame excuse is that no one is willing to help him.

I have been here to help this lost soul. He doesn’t see the healing waters, he does not see the signs, and he does not know that he needs to be healed. My offer of help is refused. What am I to do?

“Pray my son, pray.”

My words have fallen on deaf ears of that lost one. Perhaps they will linger in his memory if God will be so gracious as to answer my prayers. Decades of lies have conditioned this man to reject the truth when it is spoken. Only God can show him the need to be healed. Only God can show him healing waters. I can only help now if he asks for help.

God have mercy.