The question is a good one and I will answer in a moment.
However, I have never thought of this passage as one about faith. I have thought it more about God's sovereignty. When Christ asks the man "Do you want to get well?” the response is excuses for why he can't. The man has some faith in the healing powers of the water, but not enough to do whatever it takes to receive that healing. If the man is a quadriplegic, maybe I should be more compassionate about his excuse.
Regardless, Christ heals the man without any evidence of any faith in Christ himself. In fact later he says he has no clue who healed him. Still later after Christ rebukes him for his sins, he rats Christ out for having worked on the Sabbath.
To me this passage shows God's power and care in our lives in spite of the state of our faith. It shows me that God acts for the glory of His name in spite of us. To me it is about giving God the glory for everything in our lives because it is really His action, not ours, that is of the highest importance.
As to leaps of faith, the ultimate model of this for me is Abraham and the call to sacrifice Isaac. Do I have the faith to give up what is most precious to me to follow God? I have often questioned this as I take steps and sometimes leaps in directions that benefit me. I question is this really glorifying God? Is my moving to Saddlebrooke going to glorify God? To me this is a financial, social and family leap, but is this a leap that God will honor by having a way to glorify His name in the process? That is my prayer.
Your JournalLeap of Faith
~ John 5:1-9
1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" 7"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." 8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath . . .
New International Version
Like the invalid, is there an area in your spiritual life where you are sitting and not walking? What leap of faith do you need to take?
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