Great Physician

In the Great City, near its gate, there was a pool of water. Around it lay many who were sick, blind, or crippled, all waiting for the water in the pool to stir. The people believed that when the water moved that the first one to step in would be healed. Among them was a man who had been unable to walk for 38 years. Everyday he waited, but there was always someone faster. One day, a man approached and saw him lying there. He asked, "Do you want to be healed?" The man explained his problem—he had no one to help him into the pool when the water was stirred. Then the man standing before him spoke words that would change his life: "Get up, get your things, and walk." Immediately, his legs were strengthened. He stood, gathered his stuff and began to walk—healed after nearly 4 decades of waiting. Now, it was the Sabbath day, and some of the religious leaders gave strong disapproval. They saw the man carrying his stuff and told him that it was against their laws to do so. When they learned what the man who healed him had told him to do, their focus shifted to the healer himself. Later, the healer found the man in the temple and said, "See, you are healed! Make sure that you sin no more, so nothing worse happens to you." This man had not only been healed—he had been called to live a renewed life.