John 5:7-9–The sick man answered him, “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.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”  9  And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Before Jesus empowers this man to walk, the man makes an excuse that it is his “competition” that is keeping him from being healed.   His excuse hinges on not being able to outrace others to get what he needs for his life, to be whole and healed.  So for thirty-eight years you can picture this man at times seeing his hope stirred up, to then have it “stolen from him”, realizing others are more capable than he is to get what they need…(John 5:5)  
Imagine the bitterness he probably has with his particular issue, as he sees other lame people getting healed, while he is left wondering why he has been lame for so long?  Which is why Jesus asked in vs.6, “do you want to be healed?”  Causing him to examine whether he has given up hope and settled with his condition…  
All of these thoughts are understandable when struggling for so long, but Jesus comes and puts his excuse in perspective.  That his healing is not going to be dependent on him being able to “beat out” other people, or having a situation that wasn’t so debilitating.   But his desire to be healed was going to come from a testimony of God’s grace and power, showing him that there is not a condition too debilitating for Christ to heal!  
The question is not our “condition”, but having the desire and faith to get up and walk once confronted by Jesus to do so?  Like the man, we may think we need other people and “means” to get what we desire in healing.  But Jesus shows that this man did not have to be “codependent” to be healed, having faith in people who are in the same “lame condition” he is.  Jesus had something specific for him in an experience of Who He is…
Though “the pool” may have been known to heal people, his hope in being healed at all had to be fading.  But in mercy, Jesus confronted him to experience His healing power directly!  Such encounters with God heals us from the resentment of our past “lameness”, because without it we would’ve never experienced the compassion of God to heal, and give us a unique testimony to encourage others.   Keep striving in obedience, because there is healing accompanied by a deeper love walk with Jesus that others need to witness.-In His Love, Ld