Please Answer the Question

By Rev. Heidi L. Barham |  May 25, 2025

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Read John 5:1 – 9 (NIV)
 
By way of making a full confession, I have a somewhat irritating habit when someone asks me a simple “yes or no” question... rather than just answering the question, I will give a detailed explanation about whatever the situation may be related to why I think the question is being asked.  (Even more irritating to my beloved hubby, Ron, I am also prone to answer a question with a question.)
 
Now, based on what we read in the text for today, it would seem that I am not the only one that cannot give a simple “yes or no” answer to what seem to be rather straightforward questions. 
 
And it is with that thought in mind that I want to invite us to think on the subject: PLEASE ANSWER THE QUESTION.
 
Our text for this morning contains the story of a miraculous healing... and I want to suggest that it provides us with some food for thought on how we might respond when we encounter certain challenges in our lives. 
 
But before we delve into this story, I thought it might be helpful to provide us with just a little bit of background on this passage of scripture.
 
Now, according to the text, this story takes place during one of the three traditional Jewish festivals that required a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 
 
That means it could have been Passover, the Festival of Weeks or the Festival of Tabernacles.  However, according to the Faith Life Study Bible (p. 1730), it is most likely either the Festival of Weeks (aka Pentecost) or the Festival of the Tabernacles as we read about the Passover having already taken place in one of the preceding chapters.
 
As we examine this text further, we may notice that there is some variation in the name of the pool where this takes place.  Depending upon which version of the Bible you are reading, you may find the pool referred to as Bethesda, Bethsaida, or perhaps Bethzatha. 
 
And upon further examination of this passage, one might discover that, again, depending on which version of the Bible you are reading... you may or may not find verse #4 that reads, “For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.” 
 
It is important to note that the oldest and most reliable manuscripts do not contain this particular verse... some scholars believe it was most likely added at a later point in time to help explain verse #7 which reads, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred.”   This is based on the popular belief, back when this story took place, that an angel would have been responsible for the otherwise inexplicable bubbling of some pools of water. 
 
These background details help us to put things in their proper context as we focus on the central point of the story in our text... which is that a man who had been sick was made well…
 
And his miraculous healing all started with a simple “yes or no” question from Jesus, “Do you want to get well?”
 
However, just as I have been known to do... the man did not give a simple one-word answer.  Instead, he gave Jesus a brief synopsis of what had been happening over the course of his life...
 
And while I believe Jesus would have been justified in telling the man, PLEASE ANSWER THE QUESTION... that is not what He did. 
 
Instead, He gave the man a simple and direct set of instructions, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”  And just like that, the man was cured... and as the text tells us, the man did indeed pick up his mat and walk.
 
So, what does all this mean for us today?
 
Well, I am so glad you asked... because this passage contains several lessons for us to consider as we find ourselves facing difficult situations in our own lives. 
 
The first lesson I want to highlight is that: Misery may love company, but it doesn’t have to become a way of life.
 
According to the text, there were a great many disabled persons laying in the porticoes at the pool... some who were blind, others who were lame and still others who were paralyzed.  And I would imagine that as they were all laying there, there was a fair amount of commiserating going on... because as they say, “Misery loves company.”
 
Maybe you have experienced this phenomenon for yourself... how once someone gets the ball rolling... the mumbling, grumbling, moaning and groaning starts to take on a life of its own. 
 
Perhaps you have been in a group of people when one person starts talking about some ailment or another and then someone else chimes in with descriptions of their own sickness or disease… and before long, everyone is comparing notes on their particular tale of woe.
 
And this is not limited strictly to medical conditions.  It can be job issues, financial hardships, relationship problems… whatever the issues may be... it won’t be long before the misery begins to form a strong and cohesive bond between everyone... because misery truly does love company.  
 
But the key is that it does NOT have to become a way of life.
 
Although the text does not tell us what infirmity this particular man had, it does tell us that he had been sick for thirty-eight years… and that is a really long time.  In fact, for a couple of folks in this room that may be almost as long as they have been alive.
 
And while it is unclear why the particular number thirty-eight was used, scholars suggest that it may have been to indicate the seeming permanence of the man’s affliction... and the reason behind his feeling hopeless and helpless. 
 
But regardless of what his ailment was... his story bears witness to the fact that no matter what situations we may be facing... we do not have to let misery become a way of life.
 
Now the next lesson we can take from the text is that: Some questions only require a “yes” or “no” answer.
 
Jesus asked the man what should have been a straight-forward simple “yes” or “no” question, “Do you want to get well?”
 
But, instead of answering the question, the man proceeded to give Jesus details about his current situation, “Sir, when the water is stirred, I don’t have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in.”
 
In my mind, I get an image of Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh saying, “Oh woe is me… I have been sick for all this time and when the waters are bubbling up and it’s that time for someone to get healed again, there is always somebody else who gets there ahead of me…”
 
Part of me actually wonders how often the waters were stirred so that someone could be healed... which raises the question, once the man got to the edge of the water, why didn’t he just stay there until the next time the waters were stirred so he could be the first in line? 
 
That is just one of those questions that we just don’t have the answer to -- yet.  But what it all boils down to is that once Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be healed, all of that other stuff became a moot point.  All the man had to do was answer Jesus’ simple “yes” or “no” question, “Do you want to get well?”
 
And that brings us to the next lesson for consideration that comes from the text: 
Don’t let excuses block your blessings.
 
How often do we make excuses to keep from doing something... or to keep from going somewhere... or to avoid speaking to someone... even when we feel the Lord is urging us to do so? 
 
Perhaps it is to go and visit someone who is in the hospital... or perhaps it is to have a difficult conversation with a spouse, a friend or a challenging boss or supervisor.  Or perhaps it is just to get up and come to church rather than snuggling in on a cold and dreary Sunday morning. 
 
Whatever the case may be, despite having a sense that God is calling us to go or do or say something... we come up with one excuse after another. 
 
Lord, I just don’t have time to do that or to go there today with all this other “stuff” I need to get done. 
 
Lord, I don’t know what to say or how to say it the right way… besides like Thumper said in the movie, Bambi, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all…” so it is probably better if I just keep my mouth shut.
 
Oh, we can be extremely good at making excuses to avoid doing the things that require us to step out in faith... trusting that God has something greater in store for us if we will just follow His leading.
 
I think back to what might have happened if I had made excuses not to leave my job at the bank when I felt God urging me to take that leap of faith back in 2007.  I would have potentially missed the opportunity to work for Hospice of the Western Reserve and perhaps even missed the opportunity to serve as your pastor here at Ledgewood.
 
Now thankfully, for the man beside the pool in our text, his excuses did not block Jesus from blessing him with his healing. 
 
Although Jesus could have left the man right where he was -- stuck in self-pity mode with a boatload of excuses... that’s not how Jesus operated then and it’s not how He operates now.
 
And that is good news for us... because even in the midst of our difficult circumstances and challenging situations... Jesus has no desire to leave us right where we are either.  
 
Jesus is calling us to stop making excuses so that just like the man, we can get up, pick up our mat and walk. 
 
And that leads me to the last point I want to highlight from this text which is: Any day can be a good day for a healing.
 
The text says that the day that Jesus healed the man was the Sabbath.  Now according to the Pharisees, carrying a mat on the Sabbath was considered work and was therefore unlawful… at least according to their interpretation of the law.
 
But what was more important?  Was it the fact that the man might have been “working” on the Sabbath by carrying a mat... or was it the miraculous healing that had just taken place?  The answer would seem fairly obvious…
 
In fact, if we take a quick look over in Matthew 12, we find the story of Jesus healing another man on the Sabbath.  Beginning at verse 9, we read:

And he went on from there, and entered their synagogue. And behold, there was a man with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath?” so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “What man of you, if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, whole like the other.

It would seem that even Jesus would agree that any day is a good day for a healing... even if that day is the Sabbath.
 
Now, perhaps we don’t need healing from a physical ailment like the man in our New Testament lesson, or the man in the Gospel of Matthew... but there are certainly many other areas in our lives that may be in need of a healing -- whether it is physically, mentally, spiritually, or emotionally.
 
If we are being honest with ourselves, we all stand in the need of some type of healing in some area of our lives. 
 
And the good news is that our healing is closer than we think... because Jesus is right here beside us... asking the same question he posed to the man by the pool, “Do you want to get well?”
 
Do you want to be relieved of the sickness, the suffering, and the sorrow that have been weighing you down for far too long?
 
Do you want to be released from all of the pressures that have been weighing you down and making it almost impossible to function from one day to the next?
 
Do you want to finally be rid of the self-pity, doubt, and fear that have kept you paralyzed and petrified?
 
All of that is possible and so much more... because as the text assures us... misery does not have to become our way of life... we just need to stop making excuses that have the ability to block our blessings... and accept that some of life’s seemingly most difficult questions can be answered with a simple, “yes or no” ...and that is the day when we will be able to rejoice in the knowledge that any day can be a good day for a healing...
 
So, I want to leave you with a word of encouragement today... and it is simply this... when Jesus, who truly is our brother, our Savior, and our friend, asks, “Do you want to get well?”
 
PLEASE ANSWER THE QUESTION.
 
Hymn of Discipleship: What a Friend We Have in Jesus #585.
 

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