I’ve had a lot of trouble deciding on the focus for today’s message. At first, I thought the issue was that I could not get a handle on the scripture texts, then I realized on Thursday that the real issue was the state of the world. I’ve felt this week that the world seems to be "going to hell in a hand-basket" as the old saying goes. Early in the week we began to hear about prison abuse at Abu Greg; then the next day it was the gruesome news of the death an innocent young man who seems to have been on mission of mercy. And more Jewish soldiers died in retaliation for Palestinian deaths and then Palestinian soldiers died in retaliation for those deaths. News piped into our living rooms and delivered to our doors bring the state of the world into our homes and cause me to wonder what’s humanity coming too, where’s it going to end.

When the fabric of life tears, when we feel the world rupture, God is the one who mends and heals our brokenness. We are the perishing, God is our rescuer, our life saver, our redeemer. This week we know all too well that we are broken and in need of healing. In a sense we are paralyzed with fear, just as paralyzed as the man sitting by the pool of Bethsada in our gospel lesson

Today’s gospel lesson is an alternate lesson assigned for this day. As I mentioned, I was struggling with what I could say this morning in the face of all that has happened throughout the world this week. Actually these kinds of things happen frequently throughout the world, it’s just that for some reason this week we seem more aware. The abuse that we’ve been learning about happened months ago, yet it seems so fresh in our minds. What and how are God’s words speaking to us this week?

And then I realized that there was an alternative gospel lesson suggested for this Sunday. It is a healing story of a man who has been waiting for 38 years to be the first to enter a pool. Jesus comes along and asks the man if he wants to be healed. The fact that this man has been waiting for 38 years calls into question his desire to be healed in the first place. "Of course I do, " the guy responds "why do you think I’ve been waiting to be the first one into the pool?" How long would you be willing to wait before you decide to try a new approach?

Sometimes our waiting gets in the way of our seeing another alternative. One of the most helpful words of advice that was shared with me by someone years ago was the suggestion to look for another alternative. If you are trying to decide between action A and action B, and neither seems to be the right choice, then look for another action. Discovering a third option always opens up the possibilities.

Instead, this man has sat for thirty-eight years putting all his faith into the healing waters of that pool. He was so focused on the one option that he knew he was unable to recognize Jesus. Even after he was healed he didn’t know the one who had healed him. This is one of the unique aspects of this healing; it did not happen as a result of faith. The man did not even ask Jesus to heal him; he had no room for the thought of that possibility.

All too often we expect God to act in one way and we are incapable of recognizing that God is going in another direction.

The images that we have seen on television and in the newspapers make one want to avoid any contact with the media.