Devotionals

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John 5: 6 - 9; When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" 7"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." 8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, -NIV

Those guys at Bethsaida had a tough life. They were stuck on the five porches. Every day they waited for a miracle and some days it happened, but always for someone else.


I mean really lets stop and think about it there were probably a few hundred to a thousand people there and only one of them would get a healing and then only every few days. I expect that a few of the richer people hired small armed guards to clear themselves a space right by the pool and had servants watching the waters day and night. The poor knew a miracle would occur but they also knew that they would always have to watch the miracle and never participate. So that day when Jesus stopped to talk to the man on the porch his bitterness was really to be expected. I have read many articles about this story and most are pretty critical of this guy because when Jesus asked “Do you want to get well?” he didn’t say “Yes of course” right away. The critics ignore one important reality of life. The man didn’t know who Jesus was. In real life we frequently get asked questions like this by so many people who do not care about us. This man had probably been offered a few deals over the course of his time here. People offering to move him up closer to the pool… for a fee. Of course we know from having observed Jesus in the Gospels that he loved and cared about this man. I believe he also knew the man was hurting just as much from his bitterness in having no one to stand by and help him, as his infirmity. Now Jesus ignored the bitterness from the man and instead he healed both problems the man had. When we are offering the love of Jesus to a hurting world we frequently will encounter the bitterness of this man. We need to realize why they are hurting. To understand that, even though we are offering them God’s love, they may have been hurt by others offering them healing… with strings attached.


Please do not give up on them, just give them the truth, pray for them and let Jesus do the healing.


By Gethsemene Rose
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