Peace, Joy, Mercy

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?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “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” (John 5:6-7).

Jesus loved to ask questions. Some were innocent enough, like “Will you get me some water?” (4:7). Some were asked to encourage people to leave him alone, like the time he asked the Jewish establishment, “Where did John get his authority, from man or from God?” (Matthew 21). Others helped a listener probe deeper into Jesus’ identity, like when he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” Still others, like the one in our text, are a set up.

The question does seem a bit strange, but the setting helps us get a handle on it. Jesus went up to Jerusalem, the city of peace. He went to celebrate one of the Jewish feasts, a joyful event praising God for his work of deliverance. The scene is the pool named Bethesda, which means ‘house of mercy.’ So, the location is peace, joy, mercy.

We are expecting a happy story.

Instead, we are told that this pool is surrounded by a great number of disabled people, but we focus on one person. He has been lying there for 38 years. That’s a long time by anyone’s reckoning. We might want to know about the magical nature of this pool. How is it that only the first person who touches the pool after it is stirred gets healed? Was it really an angel of the Lord who stirred the pool?

But Jesus does not oblige our curiosity. He wants us to focus on this person lying here for 38 years. How many times has he seen the water stirred and he has not been able to touch it because someone else was always faster? Has he given up hope? Has he given in to his condition and expects to live out his life begging for scraps from passing feast goers?

Jesus asks, “Do you want to get well?”

Some suggest that Jesus wanted to know if the man had any hope left; it being a requirement for healing. Others suggest that Jesus was exposing that the man had become comfortable in his paralysis and did not want to get better. He needed to start taking responsibility for himself. These issues are not part of this story. The man doesn’t answer Jesus’ question. He just says, “Hey man, what I want doesn’t really matter. I can’t get to the pool. I won’t get healed.”

The man’s got nothing. Jesus heals him.

His mercy is free. He comes to bring it to those who are without hope. He comes to bring it to those who don’t expect it anymore. He comes in mercy to bring peace and joy.

Are you looking for God’s mercy? Are you trying to figure out how to answer Jesus’ question? The answer is not important; Jesus brings mercy wherever he goes. You don’t need to look elsewhere. Look to Jesus.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May your day end with rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you. May you rest in his provision as he brings night, and then new dawn.