Helping our friends and family to Spiritually Healing
“Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool,
(The Gospel According to John 5: 2-5 NASB)
which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes.
In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered,
[waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water;
whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water,
stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.]
A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.”
Emotionally and spiritually paralyzed describes a great deal of people alive. Unfortunately, there are so many lying near the pool of healing, only needing to move in faith into the healing waters.
- Does anger come quickly?
- Does forgiveness for others come slowly?
- Can distressing, hurtful actions be brushed off without a thought?
- When faced with the realization of your harmful actions, does humility come rushing into your being?
- Is it embraced with deep realization or pushed away easily?
The man had laid there by the pool for SO MANY days (thirty-eight years’ worth of days), knowing that the only way he could receive healing was to reach the water—first. How distressing this must have felt, year after year.
What depression the people must have felt when the angel of the Lord stirred the water and they remained unhealed. That surely described the man.
“When Jesus saw him
(The Gospel According to John 5: 6 NASB)
[the man who had been there by the pool thirty-eight years]
lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition,
He said to him,
“Do you wish to get well?”
Miraculous as it seems, Jesus sees each person just as he is, held within his sickness, his distress, his emotional turmoil, and his paralysis. Not only does the Savior see individuals just as they are, but he asks them the question—only HE can answer.
“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.”
(The Gospel According to John 5: 7 NASB)
To be healed, action must occur, doors must be opened, steps must be taken, and faith must be embraced. The man had just experienced the most distressful day of the year, the single day when he COULD have received healing BUT was not first to be placed into the healing pool of water. He needed another’s help, someone to assist him with his paralysis, but no one seemed to care that he had been there for thirty-eight years. That is a long time to lay in distress. Surely, he thought his plight was hopeless.
THEN JESUS OPENED THE DOOR, REVEALING THAT ALL WAS NOT LOST.
THE SAVIOR MET THE MAN EXACTLY WHERE HE LAY.
THE LORD SPOKE TRUTH.
“Jesus said to him,
(The Gospel According to John 5: 8 NASB)
“Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.”
Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.”
People surround us, unable to walk in spiritual newness, paralyzed by their sins. They need a stirring of the heavenly waters, and they also need someone’s help to carry them to the place where healing can occur.
- Are you and I willing to be that “someone”?
- Are we cognizant of the lost surrounding us?
- Do we see their utter hopelessness and their eternal plight if we choose to look the other way?
- How can we not help another see the beauty found in knowing Jesus?!
- How can we selfishly hoard God’s mercy and grace, keeping it from those in desperate need?
Paralysis is both a physical and spiritual condition.
Believers know the Great Physician who heals.
Thus, may we help our friends and family see the Lord’s saving grace.