John 5:5, Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 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. Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.6, When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.
A system is a structure of interacting parts that produces outcomes, good and bad.
Navigating systems requires:
Knowledge, patience, perseverance, willingness to adapt, and courage to challenge when necessary.
In this text, we see the convergence and collision of different systems:
1. The system of the man and the people at Bethesda.
2. The system of false hope
3. The system of how disabled people were treated
4. Religious systems
5. The system of Jesus & the Kingdom of God
