Miracles are not God’s intention toward us; love is. Though he might withhold a miracle from us he does not withhold his love. In fact, maybe not getting the miracle is proof of his love, the way parents sometimes know it is more loving not to rescue their children from certain situations. It doesn’t escape me that the story of the invalid’s healing at Bethesda is recorded only in the book of John, the gospel most frequently associated with the magnificent love of Christ. And so I must read the account in that context.