I’ve found many Wounded~Healer~Warriors in this blogging world and today I want you to meet my brother in Christ – Pastor Bryan Lowe

Without a Wound?

The subject of “the pool at Bethesda” alludes to the following excerpt from the Thorton Wilder play, “The Angel that Troubled the Waters”. The play is based on the biblical verses of John 5:1-4, but it changes the end of the parable. I first encountered this excerpt within the book “Abba’s Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging“, by Brennan Manning.

The play tells of a physician who comes periodically to the pool of Bethesda, hoping to be the first in the water and healed of his melancholy when the angel appears and troubles the water. Everybody at the pool also hopes to be the first in the water and thereby healed of his malady.  An angel appears and blocks the physician at the moment he is ready to step into the pool and be healed.

Angel: “Draw back, physician, this moment is not for you.”

Physician: “Angelic visitor, I pray thee, listen to my prayer.

Angel: “Healing is not for you.”

Physician: “Surely, surely, the angels are wise. Surely, O Prince, you are not deceived by my apparent wholeness. Your eyes can see the nets in which my wings are caught; the sin into which all my endeavors sink half-performed cannot be concealed from you.”

Angel: “I know.”

……………Interlude………………

Physician: “Oh, in such an hour was I born, and doubly fearful to me is the flaw in my heart. Must I drag my shame, Prince and Singer, all my days more bowed than my neighbor?”

Angel: “Without your wound where would your power be? It is your very sadness that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men. The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In Love’s service only the wounded soldiers can serve. Draw back.”

***

Later, the person who enters the pool first and was healed rejoices in his good fortune then turns to the physician before leaving and said:

“But come with me first, an hour only, to my home. My son is lost in dark thoughts. I — I do not understand him, and only you have ever lifted his mood.

Only an hour . . . my daughter, since her child has died, sits in the shadow. She will not listen to us but she will listen to you.”

For me, this story has made an incredible difference and, because the message of this excerpt—“Without your wound where would your power be?“—carries so much meaning for me.

This has taught me that its through my weakness I can see others like Jesus does. 

I believe, for me, it is my whole foundation for ministry.

ybic – Your Brother In Christ,

Pastor Bryan

A repentant rascal with definite issues, but who is seeking to be authentic in his faith to Jesus Christ.
An avid reader and a hopeful writer. Husband and father. A pastor and Bible teacher. A HCV and brain tumor survivor. Diagnosed  with clinical depression, epilepsy and now disabled.
Enjoys life, such as it is, in Alaska.

Pastor Bryan blogs at

www.BrokenBelievers.com   Dedicated to Every Struggler, Rascal, the Mentally Ill, and  All Who Follow Jesus With a Limp

and at www.PsalmsLife.com  “The Entire Bible is Contained in the Psalms.”  -Martin Luther

and www.CrossQuotes.org