Do you wish to get well?

 Good morning. After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. It does not say which one, but it must’ve been one of the major ones that expects all males to go up to Jerusalem. The beginning of the next chapter has the Passover at hand; so unless John skipped a whole year, this was not the Passover. There is in Jerusalem a pool, which is called Bethesda. Because he said “is” and not “was”, some argue that the gospel of John was written before the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. However, John likes to use what is known in the Greek as the historical present. He uses the present tense instead of the past tense to describe an event - to draw you into the scene. It’s like someone telling a joke and saying, a man goes into a bar and… instead of a man went into a bar and…. You feel like you’re right there in the bar. So this very well could have been why John used the present instead of the past tense. There was a multitude of people around the pool waiting for the moving of the waters. Whoever stepped in first was healed. There was a man who had been ill for 38 years at the pool waiting for the stirring of the waters. I can’t even begin to imagine what that was like. There is no way that you would have any hope left, as is evident by the discussion that follows. Do you wish to get well? Are you serious, dude? I am here, aren’t I? I don’t have anyone to help me, so everyone beats me into the water. Get up, pick up your pallet and walk. Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Some people say that a person was not healed because he did not have any faith. It is obvious that this man had no faith at all. He had a little bit of hope, but it was more like someone hoping to win the lottery. He must’ve felt something, otherwise he would not have gotten up and started to walk. Now it was the Sabbath that day. We’ll see next time the problems that causes. Father, help the reader to have a safe, happy time with his/her family.