by Dennis Gladden, By Green Pastures, ©2025
(Jul. 16, 2025) — I love it when the Bible is a mirror where I see myself alongside Jesus.
In those moments, He is not only a figure in history 2,000 years past but also a present, living Savior.
One of these occasions is the account in John 5 of a man who hadn’t walked a step in 38 years. There is so much in this man’s story that we could do several studies, but for now, I want to concentrate on his condition because this is where he and I connect.
John writes as though guided by GPS. He zooms in on the man’s location: from the city of Jerusalem to a particular entrance—the Sheep Gate—and finally to a nearby pool sheltered by five porches.
The name of the place is a paradox: Bethesda, which means House of Kindness. This isn’t a swimming pool where the playful splash. When you see who crowds the deck, the House of Kindness seems a hoax.
A multitude of ailing aspirants lingers close by. Perhaps it is just the bubbling of a mineral spring, but word is that an angel occasionally stirs the pool, and the first one to step into the roiled water is healed, whatever their ailment.
No wonder the sick of all kinds gather here: the blind, paralyzed, lame, and those enduring untold kinds of disability. They wait expectantly. They just might be the first. Next time.
Among them is this man, whose hope, like his legs, has given out. Our Bible translations describe him as infirm, invalid, sick, or ill. Whatever his symptom, the Greek diagnoses his underlying condition as weak, without strength.
He is feeble. His legs can’t support him.
As though a lack of strength isn’t enough, he also has no help. When Jesus asked, “Do you want to be made well?” he answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up.”
Read the rest here.