After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. 5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath (John 5:1 – 9).
Sometimes you go through seasons in your life, and you wonder, ”Is this ever going to end?” Some of us look back at this year and we think, I can’t wait for this year to end, the fallout from this global pandemic has been hard. Situations like this can suck hope out of your life. Like Jesus sought out the man at the Pool of Bethesda, He is seeking you out.
Jesus saw something in this man that you and I probably missed. He saw the man not only had a health problem, he had a hope problem, too. Truth be told, a lot of people are struggling, but they really don’t want to do what they need to do to stop struggling. If we are honest, it’s difficult for most of us to make the changes in our lives that are necessary to walk in the will and way of God.
It’s so much easier to stay where we have always been. It’s so much easier to stay in the place of comfort. Unfortunately, the Pool of Bethesda had become the place of comfort. It was there that this man had his poolside posse. He had all his other friends who had lost hope, and they got together day by day and commiserated. They compared who had the biggest problems.
If we’re not careful, we can run with the poolside posse. God wants us to rise above it, and He wants us to be challenged by the question that Jesus asked this man. I ask you; do you want to be made well? Do you want to continue living down in the dumps, or rise above it, and see God do something miraculous and amazing in your life?