Do You Want To Be Healed?
Tradition should sharpen our vision of Jesus, never obscure it. Discover what true spiritual healing looks like.
“Do you want to be healed?…Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”
—John 5:6, 8 (NIV)
Isn’t it easy to settle into a routine? Some routines are essential. As children we’re taught, “Get up. Eat breakfast. Go to school.” As adults, we still have to get up and show up if we expect to succeed.
Other routines become destructive. We call them bad habits.
But perhaps the most dangerous routine of all is a religious one that continues long after we’ve stopped listening to God.
The Gospel of John repeatedly describes Jesus’ miracles as signs because they point beyond themselves to one unmistakable truth: Jesus is the promised Messiah. The miracles were signs pointing to Jesus.
Moses himself declared, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me… You must listen to him” (Deuteronomy 18:15 NLT). The Law had been given to prepare God’s people for the Messiah—to enable them to recognize God’s Anointed when He came.
Instead, over the centuries, traditions accumulated until many people became more committed to preserving a religious system than looking for and recognizing the Messiah, Jesus, who it was meant to reveal.
John’s third sign illustrates the danger.
Jesus entered Jerusalem during one of Israel’s religious festivals. The Temple, sacrifices, Sabbath, ritual pool, priests, and crowds were all there. Everything looked spiritually alive, yet one man had remained an invalid for thirty-eight years. He had faithfully returned to the same place year after year, hoping tomorrow would finally be different.
He symbolized everyone present.
When Jesus asked, “Do you want to be healed?” the man didn’t answer yes or no. Instead, he explained why the pool had never worked for him. His hope was still fixed on the pool and the traditions surrounding it rather than on the One standing before him.
The problem wasn’t God’s Law or necessarily the traditions. It was that many people had become so comfortable with tradition that their familiarity had stopped them from expecting God to do the unexpected.
The danger hasn’t disappeared.
Church attendance, Bible reading, prayer, and Christian traditions are wonderful gifts from God. But if they become substitutes for listening to Christ and obeying His voice, they no longer accomplish the purpose for which they were given.
Christian traditions should sharpen our vision of Jesus, never obscure it.
Today, Jesus asks you the same question: “Do you want to be healed?” Don’t mistake religious routine for walking with Jesus. Get up, leave behind anything that keeps you from Christ, and walk by faith. Only Jesus gives eternal life, lasting joy, and the healing your soul longs for.
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