John 5:1-3,5-9 NRSVue

¹After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

²Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. ³In these lay many ill, blind, lame, and paralyzed people. ⁵One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” ⁷The ill man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am making my way someone else steps down ahead of me.” ⁸Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” ⁹At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a Sabbath.

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Further reflection

Someone once said, ‘I ask God for answers and God sends me people to help me walk with the questions’. I wonder did Jesus walk with the man to lead him into the freedom of his new life? Jesus walks with us always on our journey, and comes to us when, like the man, we are stuck. He walks at our speed and is always near.