John 5:1-8 NRSVue
1After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3In these lay many ill, blind, lame, and paralyzed people. 5One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7The ill man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am making my way someone else steps down ahead of me.” 8Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.”
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Some thoughts on this scripture
Reflection
What a strange question Jesus asked: /Do you want to be made well?/ Yet for
those who have been sick for years, a cure is a jolting change in their
lives, from dependence and care to managing for themselves. Do I really want
to be healed of all the physical and spiritual ailments I complain of? Am I
ready for a change in my life?