Earthly Pain

In John 5:1-9, Jesus goes to Jerusalem, to a place called the pool of Bethesda. The author, John, who was probably with Jesus at the time, tells us there were “a great number of disabled people†(verse 3) at the pool of Bethesda. Some of these
people were blind, some couldn’t walk, and some were sick. All, apparently, were looking for some kind of miraculous healing by the waterside. John records that Jesus speaks to one man in particular—and heals him!

So why does Jesus choose to heal this man? He certainly isn’t well-connected. He tells Jesus that he has no one to help him into the pool—no friends, no family. He is not a special or “holy†man—in fact, Jesus warns him after he is healed: “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you†(verse 14). Really, we see no obvious reason why Jesus chooses this man for healing instead of others waiting at the pool of Bethesda.

And maybe that’s the point.

This man has nothing at all to recommend him as a “candidate†for grace. He is powerless, sinful, alone in the world and helpless to save himself. But Jesus comes along, finds this man in his misery, and graciously heals him. “At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked†(verse 9).

The ways God works are often mysterious to us, and we may never understand why Jesus healed this particular man on this particular day. But we can see a picture of God’s grace in this one man’s healing. He is like every lost sinner, and every last one of us. Ephesians 2:12 puts it this way: “You were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.â€

Like the man sitting at the pool of Bethesda, we are all hopeless and helpless; there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. But God extends grace to us. He loves us, and He came to be with us. Jesus, God in flesh, brings healing to our brokenness. He died and rose from the dead because it was the only way to save us from our sins. If we’ve put our trust in Jesus, we are no longer separated from God. We are totally forgiven, and we get to look forward to the day Jesus will return and permanently heal all our brokenness. What a picture of grace! • Laura N. Sweet

• Have you ever felt like you didn’t deserve God’s help? How might John 5:1-15 speak into this?

…he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. Titus 3:5a (NIV)

Read Verses:

Luke.22.39-Luke.22.44|John.11.32-John.11.37|Ps.34.18