Having healed the man beside the pool on the Sabbath, Jesus brings down on himself the full wrath of the Jewish leaders. Why? Because he not only breaks the Sabbath, but he also calls himself equal to God - because just as his Father God is always working, including on the Sabbath, Jesus is now doing the same thing.
Jesus clarifies the relationship:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing…For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him…For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, also the Son gives life to whom he will…Truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (Jn 5:19-24).
This may be the most astonishing passage in the Bible! It vaults healing to an entirely different level. The invalid has believed the word of Jesus and has risen and walked away. Now we see that he received far more for his faith than could have been imagined until this moment – eternal life!
“Do you want to be healed?”
How about living forever? How about never having to face judgment before God?
How about passing from death, as in “dead man walking,” to eternal life?
“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live…those who have done good to the resurrection life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (Jn 5:25, 29).
So what is true healing? A miraculous healing here on earth? Sometimes, yes, but not always. Jesus is saying there is a far more important healing that comes if we are in unity with him and obey his commands while we live on this earth.
Those who live their earthly lives according to the commandments of God and Jesus will sleep in death for what feels like a twinkle of a second, and then will hear his voice.
“Do you want to be healed?”
That is, do you want to hear Jesus calling you to eternal life with the never-ending love of God?
Start every day with the one thing that can trigger this eternal healing. Just as Jesus tells the ex-invalid not to sin again, lest something worse happen to him, we too sin almost every day, sometimes in small ways and sometimes in larger ways. The only way out of the Cycle of temptation, disobedience, disunity, warnings, and judgment is sincere repentance followed by the upward spiral of obeying more and more, while sinning less and less.
“Do you want to be healed?”
Seek perfect unity with the Lord Jesus, even if it is a slow climb of improvement through life.
And picture the moment when you will become one of those little children that Jesus draws into his arms and loves you more than you have ever dreamed possible!