Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem stood a pool called Bethesda.
The name means:

בֵּית־חֶסֶד — “house of grace.”

And yet the scene around it looked nothing like grace —
a great crowd of sick, blind, and paralyzed people waiting for a moment they probably wouldn’t reach.

“…whoever stepped in first… was made well.”
John 5:4

Grace doesn’t work like that.
But the Law does.

The Law demands strength.
Grace supplies it.
The Law says “first place gets healed.”
Grace says, “even the last man matters.”

The man Jesus healed had been sick for thirty-eight years.
He wasn’t fast.
He wasn’t strong.
He wasn’t impressive.

But Jesus approached him first.

“Rise, take up your bed, and walk.”
John 5:8

It wasn’t the water that healed him.
It wasn’t his speed.
It wasn’t his effort.

It was the presence of Grace standing over him.

Bethesda wasn’t a place where the strong won.
It became a place where Grace found the one who couldn’t move.

And that’s still how Jesus works today —
He doesn’t wait for you to reach Him.
He reaches you.

Grace always walks toward the one who has nothing left to offer.