John 5: 1-15
This is the Gospel of John Revered for its high theology, created at the behest of the faithful to refute hearsay. This Gospel is the gospel represented as an eagle soaring high above the other gospels to enlighten theological truths. And look at what is written, look at the truth that John puts before us.
This is the store of a personal God. A god who knows us by name. A God who does not just come to us; He seeks me. He seeks you. He seeks you, and calls out your very name, your name. How many, sick waited in patients at Bethesda, waiting for the waters to be stirred? How many persons flocked to those waters seeking salvation from their illness by it’s stirring, and yet our Lord comes to this one man.
And what are we to say about our Lord? Is He a God of partiality only showing love to a few? Of course not, here it is neither said if Jesus healed others, or if he didn’t heal others. But just because there is an omission of detail doesn’t mean that there is a lack of action from our Lord; for in the very same gospel John says at the end:
“There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written. John21:25”
But this is the very point of this passage, all the other details fade way, because here we see the Lord seeking an individual among the masses. Look at the beauty of our Lord. Look and see the type of person that our God is seeking out.
This is not a man who is righteous. This is not a man who is on the good path to our Lord. This is the lost sheep. This is a man who is far from God, and it is God who seeks him out. He has done nothing to garner our Lord‘s favor and attention. He has done nothing for the Lord, and yet our Lord seeks him, and so we see there is nothing that we need to do for our Lord to love us and seek us.
Look up at Saint John Chrysostom has to say about this man:
"Yes, Lord, he says, but I have no man ...to put me in the pool. Do you see a heart crushed through long sickness? Do you see a violence subdued? ...He did not curse his day ...But replied gently ...Yes, Lord; yet he did not know who it was who asked him"
Beautifully, He seeks this one man out, not for his ministry, but out of the unfathomable well of His great love. For he does not use this man’s miracle to gain popularity in Jerusalem, and does not reveal himself until after the masses disperse from the man. Then, after the man is alone again, then Jesus reveals himself and departs.
Oh selfless seeking love of God, which warms the hearts of men. Love that has died for us while we were still wicked. Love that has seen every evil we will commit, and seen all harm we could do to thee;?committed us to life that we may be. Love that gives fully and freely before ever asked. Love that holds me, that I may be sustained, and sustain until thee bid me to see thy most loving and beautiful face.
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