Thursday November 26, 2020

Begin this new day by praying this prayer out loud. As you are able, consider kneeling as a physical expression of your commitment to Jesus as Lord of your life and the one you desire to lead you this day. Alternatively, you might consider placing a hand over your heart as you pray this prayer.

God of rescue and restoration, thank You for Your great and beautiful mission in the world. Here I am Lord, fill me with Your Spirit and send me.

Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
John 5:1-9

Recently, I was involved in a bible study that focused on this passage. Everyone had various opinions about the man who was afflicted, but what occurred to me is all of us, at some point, have been the man at the pool called Bethesda. Christ confronts us in our afflictions, asking if we want to be well or whole. We tend to think that it’s the “pools” of our lives that can make us whole—the right job, a bit more money, or the right connections. Christ, however, shows him and us that it isn’t the pool that heals; it’s the one who can stir the waters. If we have the faith to trust him, wholeness is already ours.

Are you trusting in the pools or the one who can stir the waters? Today, do you want to be whole?

When you are finished with your time of reflection, close out this time with this prayer.

Father, help me to live this day to the full,
being true to You in every way.
Jesus, help me to give myself away to others,
being kind to everyone I meet.
Spirit, help me to love the lost,
proclaiming Christ in all I do and say.
Amen.