Jesus says hello, and then asks, 'Do you want to be healed?' The man who has been unable to walk for decades looks at him with disbelief, and amazement. Finally, what he has been waiting for so long will come into fruition. He will be able to enter into the water, the pool where he has been laying near for years upon years.
'Will you carry me into the water?' the man anxiously asks. But Jesus has another way in mind. He says that the pool means nothing and will not do anything for him. In a way, it can be seen as an idol. The man is forlorn upon these words and then complains that he has never been able to enter into the water because whenever he tries, he is always stepped over and trampled upon by the others getting to the same place.
Jesus strictly and plainly says, 'I'm not talking about others, or who's helping you or not. Look at me. I'm asking you if you want to be healed?' Jesus' gaze, his eyes, his tenderness and touch of emotion in his eyes says it all. And we can see clearly that Jesus goes back to the main point- instead of focusing on false idols, attachments, and blaming others, he goes back to the root, the source- which is healing.
The message I received form this episode, and this scene specifically, is to focus on Him instead of our problems. He knows our deepest and truest desires. We can easily make excuses, or hold on to things that enslave us, attachments, hurts as well as false idols causing us to cloud our vision. But there is life, joy and hope when we go to Him in need of healing, as the man once he was healed was able to stand up, walk and take his mat and Jesus told him to do.
