This is one of the workings of God that I did not understand. Why would God send an angel to stir a particular pool? Why stir it only at a certain time? Why is it that only the first guy who went into the pool will be healed? I thought the work of God cannot be analyzed in a test tube. If so, why is He showing such a trend at the Bethesda pool?
It seems unlikely of God’s character to show grace sparingly. Why dangle candy at a multitude of people, but choose to heal only one at a time? There was a man who had an infirmity for 38 years (John 5:5), but someone always beat him to it whenever the pool was stirred.
I didn’t understand this working of God. Until I watched Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" late at night on Christmas Eve.
It occurred to me that events similar to the stirring of the pool at Bethesda still happen today. Every year, people wait for that special day to come.
It is only on that day when the soup lines are open. The poor can get a bowl of soup for free. It is only on that day when the church doors are open. The homeless can keep warm for a short while. It is only on that day when donations are collected for charity. The needy suddenly get a windfall. It is only on that day when food is given for free. Some people get a warm meal only once a year.
That day is Christmas Day.
The Bethesda pool is a place when rules were broken. God broke the laws of natural biology to make some people happy. The sick can hope for magic.
Christmas Day is a day when the society's rules are broken. People go against the law of personal benefit to make someone else happy. The helpless and unfortunate can hope for unmerited generosity for a change.
Christmas Day is also a day when the bond of sin was broken. God broke the law of punishment for sin when He sent Jesus Christ to forgive them. The guilty and heavy-hearted can hope for pardon and eternal life.
As the Bethesda pool is a place for law-breaking, so is Christmas day. God set the example when He first broke the rules: He didn't give us what we deserve, and He gave us what we do not deserve.
So go on, and make someone happy. Show some charity. For charity itself is a work of God.
Uncle Scrooge!
3 comments:
-For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.-
I always thought that the angel coming to stir up the water every now and then might not actually have happened, it was just what people around there rumoured and believed, and John was reporting it.
But the gist of the point can still be made - Jesus only healed one paralytic at the pool, or that was the only one that was reported in the Gospel account.
How will that affect the way we view the rest of Jesus' biographies?
True, John doesn't say it was rumoured or it was reported that an angel would stir up the water, he says it as a matter of fact. So I should take his word for it that such really happened, and was not just the locals' explanation for it.
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