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It was pure chaos! I am talking about the area surrounding the pool at Bethesda. There were people selling their wares; silver, and gold exchange hands as men bartered and sold things—clothes, food, tents; virtually anything needed for all-around-the-year camping at Bethesda. People with strange and terrible diseases were seen staring intently at the pool, waiting for the first sign that the water was stirring. They had eyes that shone with hope, the pool was their focus; they never left the side of the pool. To them miracle was not found at the synagogue, it was at the pool. They had forgotten the prophets who performed wonders, and gave prophecies in the past; they had forgotten God who had promised them a Messiah.
Let’s go back to the chaotic situation at the pool of Bethesda. Business was flourishing, and the wealthy-but-afflicted paid men to keep a spot close to the pool as they went to attend to other things; there were scholars who had spent years by the pool trying to study the time of the angel descent on the pool. People would pay anything to these men to get an audience and a forecast of the stirring of the waters. Charlatans were—of course—rife at the pool, publicans taxed the business. Meanwhile, the Pharisees were trying to monopolize the pool for the synagogue, there was a silent and subtle war ongoing. This is an imaginary illustration of the situation at the pool of Bethesda.
The Man
Now we come to the man, “And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight year” (John 5:5 KJV). He was one amongst many, he had waited by the pool for years, but he was lame and could not get into the pool fast enough. This man had a big problem, he had no hope of getting into the pool, and he still squandered years of his life by the pool. I know, I know, he has hope, but the question is where do we place our hope? He could have gone to the synagogue to worship God, instead, he was both literally and progressively not moving anywhere.
That man represents you and me. Job said the days of man are short and full of trouble, this shows that adversities come in life. We can’t run away from problems, at different stages of life comes different issues, and the Christian race is one of overcoming challenges. I want you to understand that this is the nature of man.
So, the man by the pool was there waiting for a miracle. He has forgotten praises, he had forgotten prayer, he had forgotten what Prophet Isaiah said: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…” (Isaiah 9:6 KJV), AND “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4,5 KJV). This man had forgotten everything.
We may say that this is unfair to the lame man, but what about Blind Bartimaeus who kept his ears to the ground? As he heard that Jesus was passing, he called out, he shouted, he screamed “…thou son of David…” he was a man who knew Jesus; a man who wanted something, unlike the lame man who addressed Jesus as “sir”. The lame man heard never heard of Jesus, he had not heard of the feeding of five thousand, the turning of water to wine, the raising of the dead, and after Jesus healed him, the Bible said “And he that was healed wist not who it was…” (John 5:13 KJV). This is the man (we are that man), unfamiliar with God, overly familiar with his (our) problems.
After coming to an agreement on the faulty ways of the man, we ask ourselves a penitent question, what should the man have done? How should he have lived his life when his problem seems unresolvable? The answer is in Isaiah 43:21: “This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.” (KJV). God formed us to praise literally, and God also wants our very existence to praise. Our existence praises God when we make God’s existence known to those around us, and by our holy living.
What healed the man was not his works, it was the grace and mercy of God. God could see the heart of this man, and Jesus came to rescue him. At times, grace finds us when we are lost, it saves us when we are ignorant, and it delivers us from ourselves; that was what happened to this man. Still, this must be addressed because the scriptures say “…Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid…” (Romans 6:1,2 KJV).
To be continued...
John Oguntoyinbo
Content writer, Answers2Prayer Ministries
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