MEMORIAL BRONZE SCULPTURE BY CONNIE BUTLER
Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool called, in Hebrew Bethzatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many –blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thrity-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.”
Jn 5, 2-8
Jesus must have been puzzled by a man who had been lying by the water for thirty-eight years. “Do you want to be made well?” was an appropriate question. One might think the man was too lazy to hurry to the water, or maybe enjoyed his plight. Someone must have been bringing him food and water to survive for years. Perhaps he liked not having to work or care for himself.
His answer was none of the above, and it made me stop. “I have no one to put me into the pool…” He had no one to help. Jesus took care of that with a word. He had no need of the water; his word had the power to heal.
I think of so many people in our world “lying in the portico” like those suffering from the earthquakes in Haiti or from famine in those in Africa enduring famine. In our own country, many people suffer from lack of affordable or available healthcare. They have no one to help. As St. Theresa of Avila said, we must be the hands and heart of Jesus in this world.
Those suffering tell us they have no one to help.
What will we do?
© 2010 Mary van Balen
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