In Jesus, we are the first one in the water

John 5: 5. One who was there had been an invalid for 38 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.’ ”

Jesus and the Disciples came into Jerusalem for one of the Jewish feast. When they passed by the sheep gate, near was a pool called Bethesda. There many who were sick would come and lay by the pool waiting for the Angel of God to come down and stir up the waters. The first one in the water would be healed.
I can only imagine what it was like to sit staring at the water waiting for it to move. Everyone was there, but only one would receive a healing. This man had been coming to the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years. Each time he came there was no one to help him into the pool! The disappointment must have been unbearable at time, to see those whom were first, rejoicing at their healing. The days turned into nights and the nights years. All he wanted, was to walk and to live a normal life.
The paralytic man didn’t know that the Healer was passing by that day. His life would forever change. When Jesus saw the man, He asked how long had he been in this condition? Then Jesus said: “do you want to be healed?” A rhetorical question, after all the man was at the pool waiting for the Angel to be healed. The man replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. Although he had no help from man, he was in a good position for Jesus to demonstrate HIS authority and power to heal.
Jesus gave him a command; “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” Immediately the man was healed, he picked up his mat and walked! What he prayed for, for so long, had now come to pass! Jesus healed him, because He loved him. Don’t give up, have faith in God, continue to look for a miracle.

At the Temple, the religious leaders were so blinded by religion that they could not see the miracle. They believed in legalism, for the Law forbid working or carrying his bed on the Sabbath. Many will try to talk us out of our miracle, saying we are foolish to believe in the supernatural of the Lord. I want God’s SUPER to mix with my NATURAL because in Jesus we are the first one in.