1-6Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem.
Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, "Do you want to get well?"
7The sick man said, "Sir, when the water is stirred, I don't have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in." (The Message)
Jesus is at it again here in the Gospel of John. Earlier he turned the water into wine and only a few people knew what happened. Here Jesus heals a man who has been an invalid for over 30 years waiting by a healing pool and no one seems to notice until the man is seen carrying his bed on the Sabbath day. You might think that these miracles would get a bit more notice but John seems to not want to draw to much attention to them yet. It makes me stop and wonder about the expectations that I have of the way Jesus should work in my life and the lives of others. I wonder how many miracles I've missed because I wasn't paying attention to the right things and was instead looking for all the things that were supposed to happen according to my way of seeing life?
Some thoughts to ponder and share with others:
- The man who Jesus heals has been waiting a long time by the pool. Why do you think he has waited there so long when nothing has happened for him?
- The area around the pool must have been crowed with people waiting to get into the water. What could you image was the reason Jesus focused upon this one man and not all the others?
- What kind of a miracle/healing have you been waiting for to come your way?
- What part of your life might Jesus be asking, "Do you want to be well?"
No comments:
Post a Comment