When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?"
If Jesus had stood at Keith's bedside and asked him that, I think he would have said, "No."
He had lived in pain and increasing disablement for 30 years. He wanted to be rid of it, an end to it. I can't imagine what healed for him was; I doubt he could either.
The man in the John account had lain alongside the 'healing' pool for 38 years. How could one have any hope after that long? Notice he didn't answer Jesus' question, but instead replied, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going, another steps down before me.”
This had been how his days had gone for his life.
Did someone ever carry him away for a time? Did a physician ever attend to him there? Was medicine brought to him? Who helped him with bathing, feeding, deficating?
Was his hair and beard ever cut in those years? How did he deal with stray animals?
He may have outlived his parents, probably had no wife or children to care for him.
Were there other invalids laying alongside the pool? Who covered him in winter?
Even though the man didn't answer Jesus' question there's a hopeful ending.
Jesus said to him, v8 “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” v9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked."
How much life did he have left...what did he do with his life from that hour on?
As always, I have more questions than answers.
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