House of Mercy

Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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 5:2-7

Our world is very much like this scene at the Pool of Bethesda. There were broken, hurting people everywhere. But Jesus didn't avert his eyes or walk on by. No. Instead, like a child that is drawn to the runt of the litter, Jesus instinctively approached the man who must have been the most desperate case there that day and He helped him.

This man had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. Think about that. That's longer than most people in antiquity lived. Though we don't know the exact nature of his disability, it is clear from John 5 that he was unable to walk. He and others at that time believed that these pools were periodically stirred by an angel of God, and that when stirred were able to heal the first person who stepped down into them. He complains that he has no friend to help him and he is, of course, unable to drag himself into the pool quickly enough to be healed. How extremely sad it is to think of a man bearing so great a burden for so very long and having no friend to help him. 

Bethesda means "House of Mercy" but this man found no mercy there apart from Jesus. No one else was willing to put his need above their own. There is a lesson here for our churches. We are called to be houses of mercy. That means bearing the burdens of others, placing their needs above our own. May no one within our reach ever be able to say what this man said, that he had no friend to help him. Let this be our church’s mission. Let it be our personal mission. Those in crisis and those in great need are often more open to hearing about Jesus. So, tell them the good news. Offer them help. Be a friend. Carry their burdens.