John 5:1-6 (NIVUK)
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie – the blind, the lame, the paralysed. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 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?’
Have you ever thought how odd Jesus’ question was; ‘do you want to get well?’ Of course he wanted to get well, that was why he was here in the first place, there was a belief that when stirred, these waters had healing properties. Jesus’ words are usually very deliberate, I wonder if he is trying to reveal an aspect to this man’s suffering that he was unaware of. Sometimes we can allow our struggles to define us, to become part of our identity. Of course they do shape us, but the heart of our identity is not found in them, but in Christ; we are God’s children. Was Jesus’ trying to provoke the man to see beyond the life his condition had confined him to, and to be open to what God may have in store for him beyond that? This reminds me of the worker in Ecclesiastes 2:17-26, who is bowed down, only able to see the grind of their work, rather than looking up and seeing God and the satisfaction he can give us.
Father, help me not to define myself or others by the struggles that we face, but by the love you have for us.
Image used with permission by John Paul Stanley
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