It’s party time again. In John chapter 5 Jesus heads to Jerusalem for a Jewish celebration. (Side note – Don’t you just love it that Jesus loved and got involved in celebrations? Can’t you just picture His wide smile and deep laugh as He gathers with people He loves for special occasions?) He comes to a place called the Sheep Gate. It was where people would enter the city with their lambs to be sacrificed at the temple. By the gate was a pool of water called Bethesda. Bethesda means place of grace and mercy and was thought to be a pool of healing. I had to just stop at this point and be in a little bit of awe over this. Here was Jesus, the Lamb of God, at the Sheep Gate. The One who would be sacrificed for us was standing where sheep had once stood. And here He is, at the pool of healing, grace and mercy where He would heal a man who had been crippled his whole life. He would heal him physically, but would also reveal to him that He was indeed the Lamb of God who would be the once and forever sacrifice to whoever believed in Him. Temporary and eternal healing. The foreshadowing of this particular event and time and place is crazy!
So picture this…A pool of water that is fed by underground springs, which cause it to “stir up” every so often. Around the pool are people suffering from all types of disabling infirmities. The lame, the blind, the paralyzed. All of them waiting for a chance to the first one in the pool when it is stirred for what they hope will be healing. (The minerals from the spring water may have had some medicinal effect).
Jesus approached a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. His first question to him? “Do you want to get well?” Seems like a strange question for someone you would think would want that more than anything. The man then explains that he has no way of getting into the pool before anyone else, given his condition. to receive the healing. He has come to the conclusion that he will not be healed because he has no one to help him into the pool. Again, look at the analogy here. He realizes he can’t do it on his own. He doesn’t know who Jesus is, but he probably sees him as someone who might be able to help him into the pool to be healed. I can’t help but think of that in terms of our spiritual healing. We need to come to the place where we realize that we can’t do it on our own. We need Jesus’ touch. But Jesus didn’t help him into the pool. He didn’t do the expected. He went way beyond that. He just healed him on the spot and told him to pick up his mat and walk. And the man responded immediately.
Another thought that hit me was that Jesus could have come to the pool and with a word healed everyone there. But in every story I read of Jesus’ healings, it is always a one on one encounter. He asks each of us the question, “Do you want to get well?” He comes to us personally, individually and offers us Himself, His healing. But we have to accept the offer. We need to want to “get well”…
The Lamb of God at the Sheep Gate. The great Healer standing at the pool of “mercy and grace”. Jesus. Bringing forgiveness, healing and restoration. He did it then and He still asks the question today, “Do you want to get well?”
