Me, First!
John 5:3-4 NKJV
"In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had." John 5:3-4 NKJV
One of the most glaring things to be noted about the situation at the pool at Bethesda is the "me, first" attitude the pool inspired. The story goes that occasionally, an angel would stir the waters of the pool, and whoever got into the pool first after the waters were stirred would be healed. Can you picture the scene? Here are all these ailing people - blind, crippled, diseased - lying near the pool waiting for the angel to stir the waters. Now, I'm sure the wind blows in that part of the world, so it's certain that the waters would stir occasionally, angel or no angel. Then all these desperate people would push and shove - and probably fight - to be the first into the water. And the people most in need would never even get close. It brings a very ugly scene to mind, doesn't it?
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Now, think about Jesus. Who did He go to first? The pretty. the healthy. the physically whole. the morally straight. the rich.? No. Jesus went first to the sick. the hungry. the poor. the people the world would call "the scum of the earth". Did He do this because the pretty, the healthy, the physically whole, the morally straight and the rich don't need Him? No, again. We all need Him, no matter what our circumstances. But He wanted to illustrate to us by His actions what we are to do in our lives. He wanted us to put away our prejudices and revulsion for those who are in need, to stop isolating ourselves only to those people with whom we feel most comfortable, to stop putting ourselves first.
Ask the Lord to help you to see others through His eyes, and to learn to put others before yourself.
"But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first." Matthew 19:30
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