Good morning, Jesus. For so many years I have been lying here, by my own pool of Bethesda. It is not necessarily a pool of water; sometimes it is my sickness, my wounds, my weariness, or simply the feeling of being stuck.
I am waiting for a movement, for a miracle, for someone to push me toward healing, but there is always someone faster, stronger, more important. And so I remain here, paralyzed.
And then You come. You do not wait for me to call. You see me in the midst of the crowd. You know my story; You know how long this powerlessness of mine has lasted.
You do not offer me easy pity but confront me with a question I am afraid to hear because it demands an answer.
“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?’” (John 5:6)
Lord, I do. I truly do want to. But immediately, my excuses surface: I have no one, others are ahead of me, the circumstances are not right. Yet You do not stop at my excuses.
You do not ask me why I fail, nor do You analyze my powerlessness. Your word is creative; it is a command that gives strength.
“Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’” (John 5:8)
Give me the strength to get up today. To pick up this mat of mine—this mat of excuses, fears, and self-pity—and simply begin to walk in the freedom You give me.
Free Me from Judgments and Rules
But as soon as I rise, other voices speak up. The guardians of the Sabbath, the supervisors of the rules. Those who see only the transgression, not the miracle.
Those who are bothered by my mat, but not gladdened by my walking. Because of You and Your love, which transcends all rules, they persecuted You.
“So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.” (John 5:16)
I, too, so easily become entangled in a web of rules, expectations, and judgments—my own and those of others. Teach me to live according to Your Spirit, where there are fewer rules and more love, for You came to set me free, not to burden me.
“Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.’” (Mark 2:27)
Your love knows no rest; it does not follow a calendar or heed regulations. You are always at work. Your Father is always at work, acting for You and through You.
“In his defense Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.’” (John 5:17)
Lord, thank You for being at work even today, in this moment, within me. May I walk in Your healing and not fear the judgments of those who do not understand Your ways.
And when You find me in the temple of my daily life, remind me to sin no more, lest something worse happen to me—lest I forget who it was that healed me.
Amen.
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