Jan 8: Jesus Heals a Lame Man

Read John 5:1-9

Context: Today's reading comes within a short time after Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well and after he healed a royal official's son without going near the child.

Text:
1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.[b] 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When 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)
Footnotes:
John 5:2 Some manuscripts Bethzatha; other manuscripts Bethsaida
John 5:3 Some less important manuscripts paralyzed—and they waited for the moving of the waters. 4 From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease he had.
taken from http://www.biblegateway.com/

Why did Jesus chose this man to heal? It tells us that there were a great number of disabled people, and there is no record of this man (or any other, for that matter) asking Him for healing. Can you imagine being the one laying next to this man and wondering why he was healed and not you?

Had he been especially faithful and patient in his prayers for healing? Had he been polite and greeted Jesus? Did Jesus take pity on him because he was unable to get to the pool on time? Or did he just happen to be the one in the right place at the right time so Jesus was able to make a significant point about the legalistic society (since work was forbidden on the Sabbath)?

Why do things happen to us today? Do we have any real clue why one is stricken and another is healed? Yet, regardless of our physical state, God can use us just as we are to further His plan. Do you want to be used?