I’ve started listening to an audio version of the Bible on my car’s CD player these days and I find it very relaxing to have someone read out the life-giving Word of God while I wrestle with traffic, pollution and time-management issues, not to mention fighting the urge to flip my finger at fellow-commuters who insist of getting in my way!
It was during one of these sessions that I came across the healing of the invalid man by Jesus near the pool called Bethesda (John 5:1-15). I have read this passage innumerable times before and have always dismissed it as one more of Jesus’ many kindnesses to pathetic mankind. Somehow though, that particular day, I was blessed to see the entire episode in a totally different light.
Picture this reader – here is this invalid sick man, lying among thousands like him, hoping like all of them to be healed someday. And that hope had lasted 38 years!! That’s half the man’s life gone. Every morning hope would blossom anew in his tired heart that perhaps, just perhaps today would be the day he would be the first to enter the pool as soon as the angel had stirred it. And every morning for 38 years, he was disappointed.
Yet he hoped and persevered……you’ve gotta hand it to this guy for his patience and spunk what say? Maybe it was this that set him apart from the other sick multitudes there. Maybe it was this patience and forbearance that singled him out in Jesus’ eyes for we are told that He enquires and learns of this man’s pathetically chronic sickness.
Now note this - In all these 38 years, the invalid could see only one way out of his problems – that someone would someday show mercy on him and help him get into the pool first. He had lived 38 years for that one day. And that memorable day did arrive, when Jesus came to the feast in Jerusalem, but not in a way this man could have ever imagined.
Jesus did not attempt to race others to the pool carrying the invalid. He didn’t even attempt to advocate that someone do the same. All He did was to look the man in the eye and say "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." And he did! What amazement must have coursed through his body that moment, that every cell of his being snapped to attention at this stranger’s bidding! What joy must have filled his soul at his freedom, his reinstation among the rest of mankind, his restoration to normalcy. What gratefulness he must have experienced that he now had a chance to resume and fully live out the rest of his life! Thrilling!
I wonder though if he every reflected later, that his deliverance came as expected, but in the most unexpected way. He never in a million years would have imagined that the Son of God would be incarnated and choose to heal him out of the thousands who lay near the pool. And yet it happened. In God’s Time. In God’s way – such a simple way.
We are like the invalid sometimes. Our problems engulf us, take all our attention and demand all our problem-resolving resources. So much so, that sometimes we forget that our answers are not the only ones. Turning to God simplifies our lives, solves our issues and enriches our living in unimaginable ways. So what are you waiting for today? Look up (to God), give up (your problems), live up (your life)!!
It was during one of these sessions that I came across the healing of the invalid man by Jesus near the pool called Bethesda (John 5:1-15). I have read this passage innumerable times before and have always dismissed it as one more of Jesus’ many kindnesses to pathetic mankind. Somehow though, that particular day, I was blessed to see the entire episode in a totally different light.
Picture this reader – here is this invalid sick man, lying among thousands like him, hoping like all of them to be healed someday. And that hope had lasted 38 years!! That’s half the man’s life gone. Every morning hope would blossom anew in his tired heart that perhaps, just perhaps today would be the day he would be the first to enter the pool as soon as the angel had stirred it. And every morning for 38 years, he was disappointed.
Yet he hoped and persevered……you’ve gotta hand it to this guy for his patience and spunk what say? Maybe it was this that set him apart from the other sick multitudes there. Maybe it was this patience and forbearance that singled him out in Jesus’ eyes for we are told that He enquires and learns of this man’s pathetically chronic sickness.
Now note this - In all these 38 years, the invalid could see only one way out of his problems – that someone would someday show mercy on him and help him get into the pool first. He had lived 38 years for that one day. And that memorable day did arrive, when Jesus came to the feast in Jerusalem, but not in a way this man could have ever imagined.
Jesus did not attempt to race others to the pool carrying the invalid. He didn’t even attempt to advocate that someone do the same. All He did was to look the man in the eye and say "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." And he did! What amazement must have coursed through his body that moment, that every cell of his being snapped to attention at this stranger’s bidding! What joy must have filled his soul at his freedom, his reinstation among the rest of mankind, his restoration to normalcy. What gratefulness he must have experienced that he now had a chance to resume and fully live out the rest of his life! Thrilling!
I wonder though if he every reflected later, that his deliverance came as expected, but in the most unexpected way. He never in a million years would have imagined that the Son of God would be incarnated and choose to heal him out of the thousands who lay near the pool. And yet it happened. In God’s Time. In God’s way – such a simple way.
We are like the invalid sometimes. Our problems engulf us, take all our attention and demand all our problem-resolving resources. So much so, that sometimes we forget that our answers are not the only ones. Turning to God simplifies our lives, solves our issues and enriches our living in unimaginable ways. So what are you waiting for today? Look up (to God), give up (your problems), live up (your life)!!
Philippians 4:6 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
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