“Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away. (John 5:12–13)
Expanded Passage: John 5:10-14
In a moment, his entire life had changed.
It was impossible—he’d been paralyzed for almost forty years.
It was against the law—healing wasn’t allowed on the Sabbath.
In fact, the One who healed him didn’t even have a name—at least, not one that he knew. He’d slipped away into the crowds, but not before disrupting the religious system and changing the very fabric of the crippled man’s life.
He was no longer the paralyzed man by the pool, the one who couldn’t walk or move or even help himself into the waters that were supposedly able to heal him. He certainly wasn’t the man who was forbidden to enter the temple because of his infirmities. He’d headed straight there as quickly as his restored body could take him.
Now, he was the man who stood (stood, praise God!) before the religious leaders, the “authorities” of the day, who simply couldn’t believe the temerity of Jesus. “Who did this,” they asked. “Who said you could be healed?”
The man had no idea. He didn’t know who it was, where he had come from, or where he had gone. What he did know was he had been lame, but now he could walk. He’d been wasting away; now, his body and his faith were made whole.
All because the Healer, a man with no name, came and found him.
Thank God for finding you before you ever knew him.
Jareb Collins is a senior pastor in Warrenton, Missouri, in the Tri-State District of The Wesleyan Church, and the author of Handbook for the Broken Hearted.
© 2025 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
