Scripture: John 5:7 (ESV)
“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 going another steps down before me.’”
The man responds to Jesus’ question not with a request, but with a lament. He doesn’t directly answer “Do you want to be healed?” Instead, he reveals his despair: “I have no one…” For thirty-eight years he has waited, hoping that someone would help him. But every time the opportunity came, someone else got there first. His words are heavy with resignation, not hope.
J.C. Ryle sees in this answer a picture of how helpless we are apart from grace. “The man was waiting, watching, and hoping—but hopeless without a helper.” Ryle reminds us that this is the human condition in spiritual terms: sinners lying near the very means of grace, yet unable to reach it on their own. The tragedy is not that the man was lazy—it’s that he was utterly unable to save himself.
John Calvin reflects on the kindness of Christ in listening to such an answer. “Christ does not reproach his ignorance or superstition,” Calvin notes. Instead, Jesus shows patience, mercy, and power. Calvin also points out that the man had his mind fixed on the pool, not on the Savior standing before him. But Jesus does not scold him for looking in the wrong direction—He simply prepares to act.
This verse confronts the loneliness and helplessness that suffering can bring. The man’s cry—“I have no one”—is the cry of many. Yet standing before him is the One who comes precisely for the helpless. Jesus does not step back when He hears this cry—He steps in.
Reflection Questions:
- Where in your life have you felt like the man at the pool—waiting, unable, alone?
- Are you looking more to the “pool” (a method, a routine, a system) than to the Savior?
- How does Jesus’ nearness to the helpless man encourage you in your own weakness?
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You that You draw near to the helpless. When we have no one, You come to us. When we cannot lift ourselves, You speak life. Forgive us for looking to other means for hope instead of turning first to You. Meet us in our weakness, and teach us to depend wholly on Your mercy. In Your name, Amen.
Covenant Presbyterian Church 