Living in the Image of God M07S06
The experience of a paralyzed man by the legendary pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem provides a subtle but powerful statement of the limited reach of human interactions and relationships, especially compared to the power of God. The man was paralyzed for thirty-eight years and laid by the pool hoping to attract friends powerful and kind enough to help him get into the pool first after a “stirring of the waters.” The legend was that an angel would occasionally stir up the waters and the first person into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had. The paralyzed man could not find such friends. So, we learn that human interactions and relationships, no matter how strong or powerful, are limited in what they can do for a person. In contrast, the man was healed in one encounter with God, then in human form as Jesus.
A man paralyzed for thirty-eight years laid by the Bethesda pool in Jerusalem hoping to attract friends powerful and kind enough to help him get into the pool first after a “stirring of the waters.” The pool was associated with a healing legend [John 5:4]: “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 they had.” So, the paralyzed man waited by the pool with the expectation that somebody would throw him in to be the first there after a “stirring of the waters.” Nobody did. Even if anybody had thrown him in, he would have found that the legend of the healing power of the pool was simply just a legend.
But Jesus found the paralyzed man [John 5:6]: “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?’” The man at first did not recognize the opportunity that Jesus presented to him. Instead, he thought the opportunity was for him to begin constituting a group of sympathizers that would help him into the pool at the next stirring [John 5:7]: “Sir, … 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.” But Jesus was motivated to heal him by the power of God and not by any legend of the pool: “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk’” [John 5:8]. The man was healed immediately. He picked up his mat and walked.
A lesson regarding the limited reach or power of human interactions and relationships arises from the fact that the paralyzed man waited by the pool for a long time but could not find anyone to help him secure a healing from the legendary pool. His expectation was beyond what any ordinary person could do. That is, beyond the limits of human interactions and relationships. Even if he found people to throw him into the pool at the right time, that action would have been incompetent to heal him because the pool had no healing to offer. Have you ever had occasion to expect more from a person than they could possibly do? Or expect a fulfillment beyond the limits of human interactions and relationships?
The paralyzed man by the Bethesda pool did. He expected healing through his interactions and relationships with ordinary people, in a way that was beyond the limits of human interactions and relationships. But Jesus healed him through the power of God instead.