"My Father is still working, and I am working also." John 5:17

His eyes were on the waters.

He waited. For 38 years. With his eyes on the waters.

He wasn't alone. Many people--sick, blind, lame, paralyzed--all watching the waters.

They waited and watched for the waters to stir. The one who had help and made it into the water first was healed.

He had no one. Even so, he waited. And he kept his eyes on the waters.

This pool of water was in Bethesda. The Bible describes it as having 5 colonnades. It must have been beautiful in its day.

The man's eyes were on the waters. But Jesus' eyes were on the man.

"Do you want to get well?"

The Messiah is speaking. And the man is looking at the waters.

"I have no help. No one will take me to the waters."

"Get up! Pick up your bedroll and walk."

By the end of the day, this man had healing. Both physical and, vastly more important, spiritual.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if all illness and forms or torment could be healed and no longer present on earth? Well, it would be ... heavenly.

A few verses later, we read how angry the religious leaders were. Jesus healed the man at the pools on the Sabbath.

His response was simple. "My Father is still working, and I am working also."

His eyes were on the waters and he waited. Until the day he looked at Jesus instead of the waters.

The pools at Bethesda are no longer there. We still have our eyes on something other than Jesus.

Self.

Education.

Money.

A person.

A dream.

A goal.

Our healing--healing of the heart, healing of the mind, healing of our pain--comes when we keep our eyes on Jesus.

The removal of cancer, addictions, sorrows, and loss on earth isn't going to happen. I look forward to heaven. I look forward to these things gone from memory.

Until then, I will believe with all my heart "My Father is still working, and I am working also."

I love you, Jesus.