Unlike other people who receive Jesus' healing in the gospel accounts, the man we read about in today's text didn’t even know who Jesus was, and he was placing his hope in some kind of superstition in a pool of water. It doesn’t even seem like he responded well once he was healed; rather than expressing his gratitude and allegiance to Jesus, he reports Jesus to the authorities in an act of betrayal of his own benefactor here. He clearly does not demonstrate commendable faith, but Jesus heals him. Why? There were many there that needed healing. Why did Jesus choose to heal this man? Why didn’t he choose someone more worthy? That’s the point… He takes the lost--the unworthy--and pursues them with his tenacious love and grace. This is a story about a God who pursues the unworthy and tells us that we are counted as worthy by his grace. The gospel is, therefore, not a story about the quality of our faith but the object of our faith: Jesus Christ.

What are we failing to believe about our Father in heaven being this loving and gracious? Are we failing to believe this about ourselves—that we are loved so much that Jesus died on a cross to achieve forgiveness of our treacherous sins? Or are we failing to believe that Jesus is pursuing the lost with the same radical grace and tenacity as he did for us? Once we truly believe in this Saviour, we will be able to fully participate in God's mission to pursue the lost ones in this world.