Growing up for one year near Washington D. C., I became familiar with Bethesda Naval Hospital as a place of healing. Bethesda is still the colloquial name for Walter Reed Hospital. Wounded soldiers, sailors, and airmen often go there to receive medical help.
Bethesda was also named a place of healing in ancient Jerusalem. There beneath colonnades, the sick and injured gathered in Jesus’ day. One lame man had been there for thirty-eight years. Then Jesus came, asked him if he wanted to be well, and healed him. Imagine his joy as he took up his mat and walked. It likely did not occur to him to ask, “Now what day of the week is it? Am I allowed to carry my mat today?”
The Pharisees noticed, though. Never mind that a man, lame for nearly four decades, had been healed. He was carrying his mat, working on the sabbath. They proved it is possible to miss the point. Instead of rejoicing in his healing, they took him to task for working on the Sabbath.
Later, Jesus found him and encouraged him to stop sinning. The man turned Jesus in to the authorities and they descended on him to criticize him. Jesus used this opportunity to explain his ministry. He came to give life, not to harm life. May this be our identity as well: having received life from the Father, we give life to others. May our church and our homes be places where others may be healed.
