By the Waters

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.'” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” John 5:1-15 

By the healing waters we lay
helpless, vulnerable surrounded
the ache and need so very great
the water stirrings so very rare.

We wait so long we only see
our daily and momentary failure
there are others in weakened state
who get in before we are able.

The pain and ache are known
old friends and old garments
we let these define who we are
fail to hear the voice calling us.

Stand up and walk he says
as if I wouldn't have if I could
yet this time, this new hope
trembles my heart with joy.

So we care called to rise up
in our long known brokenness
believing in a new possibility
living life upright, helping again.