# No One *Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred.* By [Reborn Jem](https://paragraph.com/@rebornjem) · 2026-08-23 christianity, faith, daily devotional, john 5, healing, lời chúa --- John 5:1-14 (NIV) ----------------- 1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie — the blind, the lame, the paralysed. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" 7 "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." 8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat." 11 But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'" 12 So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?" 13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. 14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." Why John Wrote This Down ------------------------ Near the end of his Gospel, John tells us plainly why he picked the stories he picked. "Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." John saw far more than he wrote. He chose a handful of signs and built his whole book around one question: who is Jesus? This is the third of those signs, and the obvious truth in it is not hidden at all. Jesus healed a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years, and he did it miraculously. If he did that then, he can do it now. But John does not want us to close the book merely informed. He says these are written so that we may believe, and so that believing, we may have life. That is the test of any Bible truth we take in. It is not meant to fill our minds with knowledge. It is meant to lead to life — to bring us life, and then to give life to others. If a truth stops at our head, we have not finished with it yet. He Went Up for the Festival --------------------------- Verse 1 is the kind of line we read past. Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Why did he go? Because God had commanded the Jews to gather at the temple for the festivals, and Jesus was a faithful Jew who kept God's word. Year after year, up he went. The Son of God, of all people, did not need the gathering the way we need it. He went anyway, because his Father had said to go. That habit did not die with the festivals. The writer of Hebrews tells the church to consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together. Paul tells the Corinthians that on the first day of every week, each of them should set aside a sum of money in keeping with their income. A weekly rhythm was already part of the life of the early church, and it was handed down to the churches that came after. That is why we still meet weekly — to worship, to encourage one another, and to give. Notice there is no fixed sum in Paul's instruction. It is in keeping with our income. Those with more give more; those with less give less. The widow put in two small coins and Jesus called it the greatest gift in the room. What God asks for is faithful, cheerful generosity, not a figure — and he blesses us in the abundant seasons and the lean ones alike. Online services connect us, and there are seasons when that is a mercy. But it was never meant to become the more convenient version of church. To abide in Christ is to abide in his word, in worship, in prayer, in service, in acts of faith — and with the body of Christ. Knowing God's word matters enormously. So does showing up, worshipping, and giving. The House of Mercy ------------------ Then Jesus comes to the Sheep Gate, and to a pool called Bethesda. The name means house of mercy. Lying under those five colonnades were a great number of sick people — the blind, the lame, the paralysed. The local belief was that when an angel stirred the water, the first one in would be healed. Read that again and feel how cruel it is. A house of mercy where the rule was whoever gets there first. The strongest of the sick had a chance. The weakest had none. One man there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. Longer than many people in that crowd had been alive. Long enough that the mat had stopped being a temporary thing and become his address. I Have No One ------------- Jesus sees him, learns how long he has been like this, and asks a strange question. "Do you want to get well?" The man does not say yes. He explains. "Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." That answer tells us the man had two problems, not one. His body was the first. The second was that in thirty-eight years, nobody had ever carried him to the water. Every time the surface moved, someone with more strength or more family or more friends got there first, and he watched. "I have no one to help me." That is the sentence to sit with. Not everyone who is stuck is stuck because they lack faith or willpower. Some are stuck because there is no one. Only One Man That Day --------------------- Here is the question that has stayed with me. How many people did Jesus heal at that pool that day? One. He could have healed all of them. He walked past the blind and the lame and the paralysed, and he went to one man. That was not a shortage of compassion or of power. It was a plan. God has already given us healing in more forms than we usually count. The ordinary healing built into our bodies, which closes a small cut and clears a flu. The healing that comes through knowledge of healthy living. The healing of our inner being, the part of us that carries the old wounds. Healing through spiritual gifts and graces. And the eternal healing still ahead of us, which is the only complete one. Jesus answered this man's "I have no one" by being the someone. He is in heaven now. His body is here. He did not heal the whole colonnade because his plan has always been to bring in the church of Christ to do this work — he left it to the apostles, and they left it to us. Which means the question "who will help this person get to their healing?" now has our name in the answer. Doctors help. Prayer helps. A friend who drives someone to an appointment helps. The work of the body of Christ is to have our eyes and hearts open to the people around us who need healing — physical, emotional, mental, spiritual — and to bring them to the God who heals. Stop Sinning ------------ Later Jesus finds the man at the temple and says something that sounds harsh. "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." Why give a warning like that to a man who has just been healed? In the Old Testament the pattern of sin and its consequence is often direct and immediate. In the New Testament it is less direct. Plenty of people suffer through no fault of their own — caught in the general damage sin has done to the world, not punished for something they did. Jesus says as much elsewhere. But hold two things together. If sickness is the state — the disease, the pain, the suffering — and sin is one of the causes of pain, judgement, sadness and separation, then a man who is made well and walks straight back into the same cause will end up in the same state. Jesus is not threatening him. He is warning him the way a doctor warns a patient who has just come off the operating table. Which raises the obvious question. Is there a way to be supported so we do not go back? Support is what most of us need and few of us ask for. But who does the supporting? It is the same answer as before. Not willpower on its own. A body. Walk On ------- Two honest questions from this passage. The first is about how we come to church. Are we in it more for what we can get than for what we can give? Is our faith one of convenience or of conviction? The man at the pool needed someone to show up for him for thirty-eight years, and for thirty-eight years the crowd was busy getting itself to the water. The second is about who is near us. Somebody in your circle has already told you, in their own words, that they have no one. Perhaps not in a sentence that clear. Think of who it is. And a word about the church itself, because it needs saying. Sometimes the church does not do well. The two issues are always the same — sin, and obedience. People hear God's word and choose not to do it. If you have been let down at a low point, that is real and I will not talk you out of it. But the answer to a body that failed you is not no body at all. It is still the body of Christ who strengthens us. You have been made well. Now go and be someone's someone. All glory to God — forever and ever. Amen. 🤍 If this reflection spoke to you, consider subscribing to follow along my journey of faith, meditation, and rebuilding — one day at a time. Your support truly means more than you know. ❤️ --- *Originally published on [Reborn Jem](https://paragraph.com/@rebornjem/no-one)*