The Healing at the Pool of Bethesda

Key Verse:
"Do you want to get well? "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!" (John 5b-8)

Here is an amazing story of Jesus healing a man who had been lame for many years! Read the story in John 5 verses 1-14.

1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"

7"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."

8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, /"It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."

11But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "

12So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"

13The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

14Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Fred's Comments:
Three things strike me about this story! This man has been sitting at the pool of Betheseda (house of mercy) for many years, waiting for his healing! When he was finally healed by Jesus, the man had no clue who had healed him until afterwards! It required no faith on his part but was a total act of mercy on Jesus part.

Secondly, Jesus didn't mince word with the man. He had one question and one command! Do you want to be healed? and Rise,take your bed and walk!

Thirdly, Jewish leaders were more concerned about the man violating the sabbath than the fact that he was miraculously healed after 38 years.

Questions for Personal Reflection:
As a Christian leader, are you more concerned about the needs of the people than follwing religious rules? What questions and commands have Jesus spoken to you? Do you question Him or argue with Him or just respond in obedience?
Do you know people who are(spiritually, emotionally or physically blind, paralyzed or lame and need to be healed by Jesus? Have you invited them to Jesus, the ultimate healer?

Personally, in what areas of your life are you blind, paralyzed or lame? Do you want to be healed? Do you think that healing is always for someone else, not you? Have you asked Him to heal you? Do you expect Him to heal you?


Let's Pray:
Lord help me to be keen to see the people, waiting by the pool of mercy to receive the healing touch of Jesus, whether that touch is spiritual, emotional or physical. Lord help me to see the areas in my life where I am physically, emotionally or spiritually"
Blind (can't see)
Lame (can't walk) or
Paralyzed (can't move).
I ask for your healing in my life and the lives of others around me. In Jesus Name, Amen!

For more information on the pool of Bethesda, cut and past these links into your browser.
Online Exposition of passage:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:4fVJh_7Iu5IJ:www.biblebelievers.com/Pink/John/john_17.htm+pool+of+bethesda&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Reference to Pool of Bethesda:
http://www.bible-history.com/jerusalem/firstcenturyjerusalem_pool_of_bethesda.htm

John 4:27-54 My Meat is to Do the Will of My Father

Key Verses: 32But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." 33Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. John 4: 34-35 NIV

Have you ever been so passionate about a project that you were working on that you "forgot to eat"? As much as I love food, it has actually happened to me a few times. This is how Jesus felt about the mission that he was sent to do on earth!
Read the account below:
“
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"
28Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29"Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."
32But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."
33Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"
34"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
35 Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.
37Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."
39Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41And because of his words many more became believers.
42They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."
Fred’s Commentary: Jesus lays out for us a wonderful example of passion to do the will of God. Jesus first priority was to do the will of God and to finish his work. Everything else paled by comparison, even his need for food. This passion to do God’s will allowed him to cut through cultural norms and religions barriers and delay his need for food. He even changed his schedule in order to get the Gospel to the Samaritan woman and her people.

Questions to Ponder:
1-Do I think of myself as being sent by God?
2- What am I passionate about? How hungry (passionate) am I to do the will of and the work of God. What passions do I put before God’s will and God’s work?
3-Do I think about the fact that I have Living Water (eternal life) to offer unbelievers??
4-Who are the Samaritans (the social and religious outcasts in my life who need Living Water?
5--Am I willing to be misunderstood in order to take the Gospel to people different from me?
6--Am I willing to change my schedule in order to stop by Samaria to share the Living Water?

Prayer: Lord, make me hungry to do your will. Make me " hungry" to do the work you sent me to do! Help me see the fields ready for harvest. Help me go into the fields and reap! In Jesus Name!