Help Is Just Around The Corner

 John 5 (Msg)

Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem.   Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, "Do you want to get well?" 7The sick man said, "Sir, when the water is stirred, I don't have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in."8-9Jesus said, "Get up, take your bedroll, start walking." The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.

 

Jesus went to the pool of Bethesda. There he found an eager crowd
waiting for the stirring of the water. It was said that when the water
mysteriously moved that whomever was first into the pool would be
healed from whatever malady they had.

At the pool of brokenness Jesus encountered a man that was unable to
reach the "healing" water without help. Others, swifter or more
alert, seemed to always have the advantage. He needed help. But each
was too busy helping themselves. This is the man that gained our Lords
attention.

As we survey the crowds today, through inquest, we soon discover those
that want the healing touch of the master. They long for it. They may
fantasize about what it must be like to be healed, whole, and well.
Lingering near the healing pool but unable to quite make it there.
They need HELP.

Sitting in corners, standing in corridors, laying in a hospital bed,
waving a flag of pity, defeat, and a cry for benevolence.
Through skills of listening and artful inquiry the seeking soul is
revealed, and the seeking Savior waits.

The question; "do you want to get well?"
For 38 years he longed to be well. With each passing year, luck dwindled, chance faded, but faith
grew. Intervention was his only hope. Divine intervention. The only hope of all humanity.

Eagerly he received ultimate healing. With ripened faith, our bed of bondage is rolled up and tucked away as we enter a new and changed world.

Helpless and hopeless, but needing help and having hope. Waiting for
the spirit to move, but waiting more for the miracle of Good News,
"This is YOUR day. Today, salvation has come to your house, for this
too is a child of Abraham"

Go and tell
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