![[Graphic of Jesus at Bethesda]](https://www.deankwilson.com/Blog_images/Jesus_at_Bethesda.jpg)
| Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 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.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. |
| —John 5:1-9 |
Have you ever tried to do something, but needed some help in doing it? Maybe you wanted a book from a shelf in your room that was higher than you could reach. You stretched and you stretched and you stretched. But, you still could not reach what you wanted to get down. Or, maybe you wanted to put on or take off your snakeskin boots in the wintertime. You tugged and you tugged, and then you tugged some more. But, you still could not get those boots on or off.
When faced with something we cannot do, we most likely yell, “Hey! Can you give me some help?” And, someone answers and comes to help us do whatever we wanted to do, but could not do for ourselves.
In the Bible story at the beginning of this blog post, a man wanted to be healed from some illness that prevented him from moving easily. Jewish tradition had taught hiim to believe that an angel would come and stir up the Pool of Bethesda. If he could somehow get into the pool at the moment the angel stirred up the water, he would be healed. But, he would only be healed if he was the very first person to enter the water.
As the man waits for healing, Jesus comes along. Surprisingly, Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be healed. The man explained that he had no one to help him get into the water. Then Jesus said something that totally surprised the man. Jesus said, “Get up. Pick up your mat and walk.” The Bible tells us that the man was immediately healed.
That day this man learned a very valuable lesson. And, we can learn this lesson, too. The man learned that when he really needed help, all he had to do was ask Jesus.
As we get to know more and more about Jesus, we will also learn that whenever we really need help, all we have to do is ask Jesus. His help is the most powerful, the very best help we can find.
