A letter to the men at the pools

{Based on John 5 - Pool of Bethesda and John 9 - Pool of Siloam}

It was a Sabbath day (March 8, 2020) when I visited the Pool of Bethesda and on a Sabbath day when your life was changed. You were 38 years old on this day. I was 42 on this day. You had been coming to this pool for years in hopes that someone would help you down into the waters for its healing powers. This was my first day at the pool and of course it looked quite different for both of us. 

Pool of Bethesda

On this day you came, you were surrounded by other invalids and this area just outside the Temple was overcrowded. I’m sure you had camaraderie here. I think of the tent cities where I live and the homeless people who live together. Then Jesus showed up. He came up through the Sheep Gate and the Pool of Bethesda was right inside and to the right. He asked you if you wanted to be healed. 

You said, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the water. While I am going, another steps down before me.”

My response” “What? All these people around you and no one helped you?”

Jesus didn’t take you to the pool. He didn’t sprinkle or dump water on you. Jesus did better than that! He performed a miracle. He spoke a word to you:

Get up. 

Take up your bed.

Walk. 

Sir, you were then mobile, healed, free from the belief of the mystical waters. Your narrative changed! The answer wasn’t found in the pool, but in the power of Jesus. 

I ask my friends, what are you hoping changes in your life? 

This wasn’t the end of your story. It’s not the end of our stories either. 

Days later, you were found by Jesus in the Temple. You still didn’t know the name of the man who had healed you. (Verse 13) Jesus introduced Himself and from then on when people asked about your story, you replied, “It was Jesus who healed me!” 

I ask my friends, do you talk about what Jesus has done for you? 

I’m curious if the multitudes of invalids changed their minds about the pool water that day as well? I like to think you returned often to this pool to offer comfort and to point your friends and others to Jesus. Isn’t that what we all do who have had our stories changed by Jesus? We want the people we spend the most time with to know His Name is Jesus. 

*The Pool of Bethesda was up and close to the Temple Mount. The Pool of Siloam was down by the Ancient City of David where Hezekiah’s Tunnel empties. 

Pool of Siloam

Sirs, both of you needed healing. Both happened on the Sabbath. Both of your stories involved pools. After you were both healed, Jesus finds you out and about. (John 5:14 and John 9:35)

Sir at the Pool of Siloam, I find your sense of humor quite dry and sarcastic, at least among the Pharisees. If I’ve read your wrong, forgive me, but let’s be honest, it makes for quite a story! 

You were blind since birth and were a beggar. I gather you didn’t have a great relationship with your parents. One, you were begging as an adult. Two, they didn’t come to your defense when questioned by the religious leaders for fear they’d be cast out of the synagogue. 

Why Jesus chose a mud mask, I don’t know. But John tells us that Jesus anointed your eyes with the mud and told you to go and wash in the pool of Siloam which means Sent. This couldn’t have been an easy act of obedience. I imagine you had quite a walk of faith. 

You didn’t know much about this Man, but obeyed. When the Pharisees asked about your encounter, you were very much to the point. They asked you where He was. You gave a direct answer. “I don’t know.” Then you said, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 

By the way, do you know this part of your story has been sung for centuries? Yes! It’s called Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see.”

This is proof that our stories can outlive us!

I’ve had a faulty theology that one has to know much about God to believe in Him or to be worthy to be His son or daughter. This just isn’t so. All you knew was the other day you couldn’t see anything and now you could see everything and Jesus made it all possible! 

Friends, when we encounter Jesus, according to the accounts in Scripture and stories I hear, we cannot keep this good news to ourselves. 

The Pharisees were livid. What should have been a celebration remained a curse to them. They couldn’t be happy. They refused to believe. I love, love your response to them after they kept asking you the same question over and over.

“I have told you already, and you would not listen….Do you also want to become his disciples?” (Verse 27)

Brilliant, sir! You already considered yourself a disciple! And all you could say about Jesus in the moment is He opened your eyes. 

Friends, we need not say everything or know everything. Just say what Jesus has done for you. 

*Jesus had come up to Jerusalem and entered through the Lion’s Gate, also known as Stephen’s Gate, where it is believed Stephen was stoned to death because of his confession of Jesus Christ as Lord. 

(Facts shared come from the Scriptures and from the tour with Insight for Living Ministries. Imagination from my own heart.)

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tale of the two pools. These two locations were definitely ah-ha moments for me. As we left the Pool of Bethesda and were gathered for a restroom stop, I had to run back. I knew God had something else to show me. It was what I shared with you here. We visited the Pool of Siloam after we spent time at King David’s Palace and down at Gibon Springs. This place wasn’t discovered until the past 20 years. What was believed for so long to be the Pool of Siloam was the pool that emptied out after Hezekiah’s Tunnel. In 2004, parts of the original Pool of Siloam were accidentally discovered when digging a sewer line. (www.waynestiles.com)