It can be tempting, when we come across a Bible story we are familiar with, to gloss over it rather quickly, thinking we have already learned all it has to teach us. For me, one such story was that of Christ Jesus’ healing of the impotent man who was waiting for the “troubling of the water” at the pool of Bethesda (see John 5). Recently, though, I looked with fresh eyes at these verses, and several specific, healing lessons struck me. In healing this man, Jesus saw through a number of material lies and false beliefs; instead, seeing man’s innate wholeness and spirituality.
Jesus must have seen in this individual a receptivity to healing. As the story relates, there was a multitude waiting for the moving of the water; yet Jesus addressed this particular man, knowing that he had been waiting a long time to be healed. To me, the impotent man demonstrated qualities of persistence, perseverance, and patience.
However, it seems he also felt a helplessness. He believed healing would come only if someone helped him into the water at the right time, but he had “no man” to do that. Actually, this had nothing to do with healing as Jesus demonstrated it. He changed the point of view, looking away from matter and beholding the spiritual fact that man can never be separated from his true, spiritual identity as the image and likeness of God.
