John 5:7
“The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, another steps down before me.””
What does John 5:7 mean?
This man has been ill for thirty-eight years, waiting by a healing pool in Jerusalem where legend says the first person into the water after it stirred would be cured. His answer to Jesus reveals the painful loneliness of his condition, not just physically but socially, too, because he has nobody. Even when opportunity comes, he's too weak to seize it, and others always get there first. What makes his response so human is that he's not complaining about God or demanding fairness, he's simply stating his reality, describing what it actually feels like to be stuck and forgotten. When we're suffering or stuck, we often feel exactly this way, as though the world moves on without us and we lack the strength or support to keep up. Jesus asks him this question knowing full well he's powerless, which makes what happens next all the more gracious, because Jesus doesn't require the man to jump into the pool or fix his situation himself.