Historians tell of a legend about the pool at Bethesda. According to this legend, an angel of the Lord occasionally went down into the pool and stirred up the water. Whoever stepped into the pool first, after the waters were blessed, would be healed. It even made it into some of the ancient copies we have of John’s gospel, and it is based on that text that our church in Palm Beach was named.
One day as Jesus was passing by the pool, he noticed an invalid who had waited by this pool for thirty-eight years (John 5:2-15). He kept trying to be first into the waters, but because there was no one to help him, he never made it. Thirty-eight years of trying.
Simply because we’re human, all of us deal with brokenness. Some of us deal with broken bodies, others with broken relationships, broken hearts, broken dreams or broken spirits. We would love to have an angel fix whatever is broken.
In the text, Jesus asked the man: “Do you want to be made well?” Of course the man wanted to be healed. He has been trying for years. But there is a difference between being worried about brokenness, becoming accustomed to our illness, and wanting to be well; there’s a difference between physical health and being made well.
At Bethesda-by-the-Sea, we have on-going prayer and healing ministries. In addition to our prayer life during worship on Sundays and Wednesdays, the Daughters of the King have an active, daily prayer ministry for our congregation. And beginning on Wednesday, September 14, at the 12:05 p.m. Eucharist we will re-instate the healing rite following the administration of Communion.
Join us in worship, prayer, healing and service.
Bob Dannals
Interim Rector