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