John 5:8-11 "Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. (9) And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. (10) The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. (11) He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk."
In Jerusalem, there is a pool named Bethesda. At certain seasons, an angel
would go into the pool and stir the water. The first person to enter the water
after it was stirred would be healed. A man with a terrible weakness for thirty
eight years had been at the pool waiting to enter the water. Someone would step
into the water before him each time the angel stirrred the waters. Can you
imagine what was going through this man's mind? I have to ask myself if I would
be as diligent to go there as long as he had been going. Would I have given up
and given in to the weakness?
It comes to my mind at this point in writing there is always hope in Jesus
Christ. For this man, he had no idea who Jesus was. After being healed, the
Jews asked him who had healed him and he could not tell them. But he knew a man
had said, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." And he did. There is
power in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The name Bethesda means "house of kindness." Now we come to the
thought of my mind. When the Jews saw this man walking and carrying the bed to
which he had been confined for thirty eight years, you would think they would
rejoice with him. After all, they are in the house of kindness. Surely they
would be glad that he is healed and strength has returned to his legs. What did
they say to him? "It is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed."
There is not much kindness being shown to him, is there?
The bed represented his past life. A life of containment and restrainment. He
had been contained to the bed and restrained from anything outside of that bed
for all those years. In a few words, Jesus released him from the prison of his
bed. The Jews said, "It's against the law for you to carry that bed."
Later, Jesus would see the man in the temple. In very straightforward words,
Jesus told him that his past was past and not to go back to the restraining
forces of past. He had been freed, not by the legality of laying his bed down;
rather, he had been freed by the kindness, mercy, grace, and love of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
We all have a past. The law did not and cannot free you. It merely reminds you
and me of our past. The law was given to point us to the very One Who is able,
in a few words, to free us and release us from that which has contained us and
restrained us in our past. We are to lay it down and not pick it up again. The
flesh may tell us we need to pick it up but Jesus has said, "You are free
from that device that has held you for so long." If the Son has made you
free, you are free indeed!!