Sir, I have no man

Joh 5:7  The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. 

Poor fellow. His answer reveals the ideas that prevailed. He needed help but none was willing to help him. Every man cared only for himself. For thirty-eight years, he had wished someone would carry him into the water. The water would be agitated at intervals and the first person to enter the pool would be cured of any disease he had. Only one could be healed at a time. But being a crippled, this man could not move unless someone helped him. But none came to his aid; not even from those who had been healed. One would think that those who were once crippled and were healed would have some compassion. Sadly, they didn’t take notice of him either. No one had pity on him. He was lame longer than most who live.

“Sir, I have no man.” His answer to Jesus is a sad state of mankind even today. Today, when someone met an accident, one would expect those around him to rush to his aid. But not so! Many would stand and watch. Even more would quickly whip out their phones and start to record or take pictures.

“Sir, I have no man.” Think about those words for a moment. What did it tell us? Apathy, unsympathetic, inhuman, lack of compassion and lack of love. Pathetic is the word to describe the sorrowful sight. There were hundreds who pushed and crowded their way through Bethesda’s porches. Many were all around this man but none had enough concern to care. “I have no man,” does it include you? What about me?

We see two kinds of sick people in this story. This crippled was physically sick while those standing around were spiritually sick. Which sickness is more deadly?

The world we live in today is sick, in fact, very sick. Sin is the very disease the human race is struggling with. Forget about cancer and other heart diseases; the soul needs more healing than the body.  The society at large cares very little for the helpless. Selfishness, greed, unmerciful, unloving, pride, pleasure loving, and self-love are some of the reasons for this apathy. Who needs healing more than this crippled man?

This sick man had no friend but he found a friend in Jesus. Jesus saw him and asked him: "Do you want to be healed?" (John 5:6). It is a question for all of us: "Do you want to be healed?"

The sad thing is that many who are sick do not know they are sick and needed to be healed. On one occasion, Jesus was eating in the house of a tax-collector. The Jews hated the tax-collectors. Immediately they charged Jesus of eating with sinners. Our Lord replied to their accusation: “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17).

The Pharisees condemned the tax-collectors and labelled them as sinners. The Lord’s reply indicates that the real sinners are those who are self-righteous. The Pharisees needed healing more than the tax-collectors. Which category of sinners are we? The physical or the spiritual kind? "Do you want to be healed?"

                                                                             

“Sir, I have no man.” Will you answer the call? Will you go? Will you get involved? The world needs the healing power of Jesus: “Sir, I have no man to bring your healing into my life, to show me what I must do to go to heaven.”  

You have been healed; will you show others how they too can be healed?

Jimmy Lau

Psa 119:97  Oh how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.