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OUTCASTS INSIDE GOD'S CIRCLE
Today we find Jesus visiting a place of healing. A pool of miracles. A place of intense loneliness.
One reading of the pool’s name, Bethesda is ‘house of mercy or grace’. Another reading of the Hebrew word hesda is ‘shame, disgrace’ referring to the disgrace that came with living with a disability. The sick were outcasts and isolated.
Jesus, the radical interpreter of God’s love on earth once again seeks out the lonely and isolated to wrap them in His love. When Jesus meets the man, He asks, ‘Do you want to be healed?’ Odd isn’t it. Standing by a man in a place of healing asking if he wants to be healed? For thirty-eight years, this man has been waiting for healing.
Instead of an exuberant ‘Yes Lord!’ the man replies, ‘I have no-one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred.’
What alienation this man must’ve felt. Even among other outcasts, he was alone. Jumped over, jostled, knocked down and left behind as all around him surged forward for healing. Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath. A holy day designed for mankind to come together in community to rest and be restored.
If you’re feeling jumped over, jostled and left behind today, continue to wait on Jesus. In Him there is rest and restoration. With Him you are never alone.
written by DWAYNE JEFFRIES
Scripture
About this Plan
You can feel lonely by yourself or in the biggest crowd, surrounded by people and still feel lonely. It is a feeling that doesn’t discriminate and can come upon us at a moment’s notice. But how do we cope with it? Can we see God in these moments? This plan aims to help us consider our response to loneliness and how we can seek God in these moments.
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