Last week I (Michael Greaney) was reminded of the Crimson Paradigm song based upon John 5:1-18 entitled "Pools of Bethesda" when I saw a disabled man stuck in the rain. Perhaps he had a long way to go to get home.

The Gospel records that Jesus deliberately approached a certain man who had been a paraplegic invalid for thirty-eight years and asked, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:5-6). Out of that miscellaneous group of sick people He chose the one with the greatest need of the Great Physician. Jesus did not wait for the man to approach Him. He took the initiative to help the helpless man.

Can you imagine the effects of thirty-eight years of helplessness on a person’s physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being?

The response of the lame man was, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me” (v. 7).

This man was absolutely derelict. What do you do when you have no one to help you? If you look only to men you are desperate indeed.

Jesus told the man to do the very thing he couldn’t do. He told the man to do the impossible. That is what He always says. He brings the soul face to face with the one thing that seems impossible and commands us to act at that point. He brings us to the one thing that paralyzes us, and then enables us to do that thing we cannot do. This is still the way God does things. Go ahead, do the thing you fear the most.

 I thought to myself, "Would Jesus let a handicapped man walk all the way home, or would He assist him to his destination?" It seems that in today's world many people are turned away out of fear or callousness or selfishness. I pray that God continues to help me address my fears and selfishness so that I might do my best to be more like my Lord and Savior Jesus.