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b'In John 5:1-9, Jesus goes to Jerusalem, to a place called the pool of Bethesda. The author, John, who was probably with Jesus at the time, tells us there were \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153a great number of disabled people\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d (verse 3) at the pool of Bethesda. Some of thesepeople were blind, some couldn\\u2019t walk, and some were sick. All, apparently, were looking for some kind of miraculous healing by the waterside. John records that Jesus speaks to one man in particular\\u2014and heals him!\\nSo why does Jesus choose to heal this man? He certainly isn\\u2019t well-connected. He tells Jesus that he has no one to help him into the pool\\u2014no friends, no family. He is not a special or \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153holy\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d man\\u2014in fact, Jesus warns him after he is healed: \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d (verse 14). Really, we see no obvious reason why Jesus chooses this man for healing instead of others waiting at the pool of Bethesda.\\nAnd maybe that\\u2019s the point.\\nThis man has nothing at all to recommend him as a \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153candidate\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d for grace. He is powerless, sinful, alone in the world and helpless to save himself. But Jesus comes along, finds this man in his misery, and graciously heals him. \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d (verse 9).\\nThe ways God works are often mysterious to us, and we may never understand why Jesus healed this particular man on this particular day. But we can see a picture of God\\u2019s grace in this one man\\u2019s healing. He is like every lost sinner, and every last one of us. Ephesians 2:12 puts it this way: \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153You were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d\\nLike the man sitting at the pool of Bethesda, we are all hopeless and helpless; there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. But God extends grace to us. He loves us, and He came to be with us. Jesus, God in flesh, brings healing to our brokenness. He died and rose from the dead because it was the only way to save us from our sins. If we\\u2019ve put our trust in Jesus, we are no longer separated from God. We are totally forgiven, and we get to look forward to the day Jesus will return and permanently heal all our brokenness. What a picture of grace! \\u2022 Laura N. Sweet\\n\\u2022 Have you ever felt like you didn\\u2019t deserve God\\u2019s help? How might John 5:1-15 speak into this?\\n\\u2026he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. Titus 3:5a (NIV)\\n\\xa0\\nRead Verses:\\nLuke.22.39-Luke.22.44|John.11.32-John.11.37|Ps.34.18'