The story of Jesus healing the paralyzed man at the Pool of Bethesda is found in John 5:1-15. In this passage, Jesus encounters a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years and asks him, “Do you want to be made well?” This may seem like an obvious question – of course the man wanted to be healed! However, Jesus had a deeper purpose behind asking it.
Here are some key reasons why Jesus asked this question:
1. To reveal the man’s true heart condition
On the surface, it may appear this man wanted to be healed. He was lying by a pool considered to have healing powers and had been there a long time (John 5:5). However, verse 7 reveals that when the water was stirred, the man had no one to help him into the pool. This shows that despite his lengthy time waiting, the man lacked perseverance and resourcefulness in pursuing healing.
Jesus’ question helped expose that this man was not taking initiative to truly seek healing. It revealed sluggishness or apathy in his heart. Though his body was paralyzed, his heart needed healing too. Asking the question helped the man take more ownership of his need for healing.
2. To invite the man to participate in God’s work
Often we can view Jesus’ miracles as something that just happens to people – Jesus acts while they are passive recipients. However, this question shows that Jesus desires our involvement in our healing. It invited the man to express his faith and desire to be made well as part of the process.
By asking the question, Jesus called the man to actively consider his need and to voice his intent. He gave the man a chance to participate in this work of God rather than just being a bystander.
3. To encourage genuine faith, not superficial belief
A person can believe Jesus is capable of healing without truly believing He will heal them. This question forced the man to consider if he had real faith that Jesus would and could heal him specifically.
Jesus did not want the man to have a vague, impersonal faith that Jesus healed people. He wanted the man to express genuine, engaged faith that Jesus would heal him. The question helped shift the man from being an observer to being a recipient due to his own faith in Christ’s power and willingness to heal.
4. To show that Jesus cares about our desires
Asking this question displayed Jesus’ compassionate heart. He could have just declared the man healed. But He cared enough to ask what the man wanted. Jesus did not assume or dictate what the man’s need was.
Though Jesus is all-knowing (John 2:25), He gently invited the man to share his desire. He let the man know that He cared about the man’s will and what he wanted. Jesus was willing to respond to the man’s desire when voiced in faith.
5. To call the man to rise above his circumstances
Thirty-eight years was a long time to be paralyzed. The man had likely settled into a lifestyle of sickness, dependency, and hopelessness about his situation. Jesus’ question challenged those expectations and called the man to consider the possibility of a changed life.
Rather than accepting the status quo, Jesus compelled the man to seek a new reality – to embrace healing despite seeming impossible. It asked the man to set aside limiting beliefs about his condition and what he was capable of.
In summary, Jesus asked this question not just to learn what the man wanted. It also had the powerful effect of engaging the man’s faith, revealing the true condition of his heart, showing Jesus’ compassionate care, and calling the man to seek a new work of God’s power.
Though simple on the surface, the question provided insight into how Jesus ministers to us. He invites us into divine encounters where we participate through faith. His care for each person is evident as He invites us to voice our desires. And He calls us to rise above our circumstances into new works of God we may have never imagined possible.
6. To focus the man on his future rather than his past
This man had been ill for 38 years. That’s a very long time. His identity and life were likely consumed by this illness and limitation. By asking what he wanted for his future, Jesus refocused him from the past.
Rather than seeing himself as 38 years stuck, Jesus pointed him towards the hope ahead. The question compelled the man to express his desire – something he wanted in the future, not something already defined by his past.
Jesus often seeks to free us from the shackles of our past and realign our mindset towards our identity in Him and our God-given future. This question did that work in this man’s heart, opening him up to the new thing God wanted to do (Isaiah 43:18-19).
7. To prepare the man to receive in faith
Faith plays a key role throughout this passage (John 5:5-9). By asking what he wanted, Jesus led the man to express faith in Jesus’ identity and power. Had Jesus just declared healing without any buildup, the moment could have easily missed its full significance.
But by drawing out the man’s desire first, Jesus led him down a path of expressing belief. When the moment of healing came, the man’s heart was already filled with faith in who Jesus was. He was fully ready to receive this miracle, having affirmed his faith just prior.
8. To personalize the healing to the man’s unique story
No two people are healed by Jesus in the exact same way. Jesus’ ministry is personal, not impersonal. By learning a bit of this man’s backstory and asking what he wanted, Jesus tailored this moment to who this specific man was.
Rather than just a random anonymous healing, Jesus connected to the man’s history and situation. This added meaning and made the act that followed relevant to the man’s life narrative. The question helped shape a personalized encounter, not a cookie-cutter one.
9. To create opportunities for interaction and relationship
Healing this man could have simply been a transaction – Jesus dispensing a miracle and going on His way. However, by engaging the man in conversation, Jesus paved the way for relationship.
The question opened the door to interaction beyond just physical healing. It showed Jesus saw the man as more than a body in need of fixing. He cared about his thoughts and heart desires. This personal engagement enabled the seed of relationship.
Even once physically healed, the man remained in dialogue with Jesus and eventually came to see Him as much more than a miracle worker (John 5:14-15). The relational gateway was this initial question drawing out his desires.
10. To set the stage for deeper revelation
On the surface, this question just seems to be about physical healing. But it sets the stage for deeper revelation about who Jesus is.
Not long after, Jesus identifies Himself explicitly as God’s Son with authority to give life and judge (John 5:21-29). This initial engagement with the healing paved the way for the man to have opened eyes to perceive Jesus’ true divine identity.
It began with the physical, but expanded into the spiritual truth. By interacting with this man based on his desire, Jesus prepared Him to receive so much more than just physical strength.
In conclusion, this simple but profound question served many purposes. It engaged the man’s faith and desire, aligned him to God’s future, personalized the encounter, created relationship, and revealed Jesus’ divine identity. It shows that every detail of Jesus’ interactions with us has powerful significance.
Though on the surface a basic question, it exemplified Jesus’ insightful and intentional way of ministering to people. Understanding why Jesus asked this gives us so much more insight into His compassionate and transformative heart.
11. To offer the man dignity and self-determination
After 38 years of paralysis and dependency, this man had little control over his own life. Every day was at the mercy of others’ help and the uncertainty of the Pool’s waters.
By giving him a choice – asking what he wanted – Jesus restored a sense of dignity and self-determination. Rather than Jesus just taking over and declaring what would happen, He put the man in the driver’s seat.
No longer a passive recipient, the question empowered the man to express his own desire. In doing so, Jesus showed He valued the man’s will and choice in this situation. The question gave him a sense of control over his life that disease had long robbed.
12. To extend grace and show respect
This man was an outcast – shunned and forgotten by society. But Jesus treated him with value and respect by engaging him in conversation. Rather than barge in and just start dispensing a miracle, Jesus showed grace and care.
The question recognized the man’s dignity as a human being. It showed Jesus cared about him and his inner world. By asking rather than assuming, Jesus showed this man he mattered regardless of what others thought or how he saw himself.
Though seemingly a simple question, it powerfully extended grace and honored this man as worthy of dignity. It was an act of kindness amid a world that had forgotten about him.
13. To establish common ground and empathy
One of the powerful dynamics in this interaction is how Jesus enters into this man’s experience. By asking about his desire, Jesus established common ground.
Rather than just a distant miracle worker, Jesus engaged on a human level. The question showed He was willing to understand the man’s perspective and experience. It demonstrated empathy and care.
Jesus met this man in his hardship and longing. The question closed distance and aligned Jesus with the man’s suffering in a way mere physical healing could not. It forged connection through a shared human experience.
14. To transform the man’s identity and perception
This question reshaped how this man saw himself. For 38 years, he had identified as paralyzed and hopeless. But now Jesus interacted with him as one dignified and worthy of being asked his desires.
No longer just a paralyzed man, Jesus’ question and action redefined his identity. It empowered him to rise above limiting beliefs about what his life had to be. He could now begin to see himself as Jesus saw him.
In many ways, the transformation of perception was even more powerful than the physical change. The question enabled this inner renewal of identity and hope.
15. To model compassion
This entire interaction models what compassion looks like. Jesus could have kept walking and ignored this man; instead, He stopped and engaged deeply. Every part of how He related modeled acting with compassion.
Asking about his desires showed the man he mattered. Jesus cared about his inner world and will. He saw this man in his vulnerability and responded with understanding and kindness. The question embodied compassion in action.
As followers of Christ, this models to us how we are called to relate to others with compassion and dignity. Jesus set a powerful example by how He cared for this one man.
In conclusion, Jesus’ question reveals so much about His heart of insight, care, and power. It drew the man to faith, offered dignity, built connection, aligned to God’s purposes, and modeled compassion. May we all seek to interact with people in the way Jesus did.