Bethesda means “House of Mercy”. What happened at Bethesda? A crippled man who had been an invalid for 38 long years was also beside the pool, along with multitude of sick people, each awaiting the stirring of the pool by an angel. The first one to get into the water while the water was stirred got healed. This man waited for his turn for 38 long years. Jesus sees him.
Jesus knew that he was awaiting his turn for a long time. Yet he asks “do you want to be healed?”. We also tend to lose focus and hope and “waiting” might become a habitual act, lacking expectation. Jesus stirs in hope into this man by asking this question. When our Hope becomes crippled with the wait and our wait becomes a habitual act, Jesus comes to us and meets us where we are and stirs in hope. The man hoped for a helping hand from Jesus to get to the pool. But with Jesus, a word is all that is needed to put an end to our crippling wait.
Today our wait can also be for many things – healing, deliverance, fulfilling of promise, blessing-the list goes on. Jesus sees us, knows our wait time, comes and meets us where we are, stirs in hope and then with a word, puts an end to our wait.
Just as this man and multitudes of others waited for an angel, today there are multitudes of people who are stumbling in the dark, trying to find meaning in their money, status, power etc. They are as helpless as this man as they do not have anyone to intercede for them in prayer for their salvation. Their life wastes away in despair. As believers, it is our responsibility to intercede for anyone God puts in our path so that God would redeem their soul through salvation and free them from the infirmity.
