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October 8th

The bible reading today is in John chapter 5.

“After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.”

‭‭John‬ ‭5:1-2‬

A multitude of very sick and afflicted people gathered around the pool of Bethesda in the city of Jerusalem, especially during feast times. It could have been Passover, it could have been Pentecost, or it could have been the feast of Purim. Whichever one it was, thousands of Jewish people were in the city...including Jesus and His disciples.

Surrounding the great multitude of impotent people at the pool of Bethesda was a greater multitude of Israelis awaiting the angelic appearance at the House of Mercy...or pool of Bethesda.

The people were looking to the pool or house of grace and mercy for their help or their salvation from any number of maladies. Yet they were about to see grace and mercy, not in the pool, but in the person of Jesus...the ultimate healer.

Something greater than a visit from an angel was about to happen.

“One man was at the pool who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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?”

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.”

‭‭John‬ ‭5:5-7‬ ‭

What hits me in that dialogue?...“Sir, I have no one...”

What a sad statement. ”Sir, I have no one...” “I have “no one” to help me into the pool, should the angel come...“I have no one, human or angel, to save me from this miserable existence.”

But soon the invalid would realize that this day “the One” he needed was there with him. Jesus “saw” this man and his hopelessness.

When someone would ask this man how long he had been waiting for his miracle, he probably said, “...for a long time.” But after Jesus met him and healed him, his “long time” sigh most surely turned to, “I'm so glad Jesus stepped into my “for a long time”...He changed everything!

“Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.”

‭‭John‬ ‭5:8-9‬ ‭

“Get up...and walk”...was the same powerful statement that Jesus would use to address Lazarus, lying dead in his tomb.

Lazarus would rise and walk out of the tomb alive. The lame man...the paralyzed man that Jesus addressed stood to his feet and walked...completely healed...with a story to tell.

That was and is me...spiritually lame, halt, blind, and completely helpless. I could not save myself. But Jesus chose me among the multitude of needy people. I didn't deserve His attention. I didn't deserve His salvation. He just gave it to me and immediately I wanted Him. Immediately I could see Him, and immediately I ran toward Him on spiritual wings of forgiveness and faith.

How awesome the lame man must have felt. How awesome you and I in Christ felt at our conversion to Jesus.

And how awesome we may feel... every day... knowing that the “pool of grace” in Jesus, in which we stand, will always be more than enough for our “long time” seasons of sighs.

Have a great day.