Those without Hope

John 5:1

Bethesda was a spring-fed pool, surrounded by five porches, where Jesus healed the man who had been sick for thirty-eight years.  (John 5:2)  This was the area where those without hope came or were brought.  In those five roofed colonnades lay a multitude of invalids – blind, lame, and paralyzed, all waiting for an angel to stir the water and it seems that when this happened the first one able to get in the pool was healed.  When Jesus saw the man and knew that he had been at that pool often over the thirty-eight years; Jesus asked this question of the man, “Do you want to be healed?”  I hope it is not wrong to be cynical, but my first thought is, are you kidding me, sure he wants to be healed, but that was not the action of the man. 

We do understand that the sick man had no understanding of who was speaking to him, and I’m sure that most of these invalids were disregarded much like today.  So when Jesus spoke to the sick man, he may have been shocked that someone spoke to him, and if he looked into the eyes of Jesus it would have been clear that he was not in any way making light of the man or his need.  And the man’s answer was, “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.”  Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”

Have you been in that same line, not at the pool in Bethesda, but where you were in great need, and it seemed before you could get to the place you needed to be or to the one who could help fix your problem, someone else stepped in front of you.  Or you got to the pool, but did not like the question, “Do you want to be healed?”  I believe Jesus is still asking that question, you may have a great hate for someone who did you wrong, it may be that your life is consumed by guilt or you are addicted by some force that is controlling your thoughts and actions.  And the question is, will you look into his face and see the love and the victory over what is destroying you, or will you reject it?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice