The Gospel of John 5:1-15 (Healing through Faith)

We continue to Chapter 5:1-15 and Jesus's healing of the disabled man at the Sheep's Gate pool. It is a good example of faith and waiting for God's timing.

Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 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 Jewish leaders 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 Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Questions for discussion:

Why do you think that the healing of one paralyzed man is important here? Others were waiting at the pool side for an angel to stir the water, so that they could jump in and be cured. Why didn’t Jesus just use the angel and push the man in?
Why do you think Jesus warned the man about sinning? He said that worse things can happen.
Have you relied on other people to help you, only to be disappointed? Are you relying on God now?

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1 comment

Rick says July 20, 2023

Rick’s thoughts:
1. Why do you think that the healing of one paralyzed man is important here? Others were waiting at the pool side for an angel to stir the water, so that they could jump in and be cured. Why didn’t Jesus just use the angel and push the man in?

Jesus’s credentials to being the Messiah was stated in Isaiah 5:4-5 “Behold, your God will come with vengeance. With divine retribution He will come to save you. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer and the mute tongue will shout for joy.” He primarily did not do these miracles in Jerusalem at this time, but only in Galilee because the Pharisees would have persecuted him and his “time had not yet come.”

2. Why do you think Jesus warned the man about sinning? He said that worse things can happen.

Being lame is small compared to living eternity without God because of sinning. Jesus spoke to the man’s heart which is more important. You will see that he also commanded the woman caught in adultery not to sin again. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11) So when Jesus forgives someone, he doesn’t place a lifelong guilt complex on them but forgets and tells us to do better. This is important in our lives, also, where the enemy will burden us for the rest of our lives for sins we did earlier. As one person put it, Jesus died for that sin. When you dwell on sins you have asked forgiveness, you are crucifying Jesus over and over again..

3. Have you relied on other people to help you, only to be disappointed? Are you relying on God now?

I guess I have been disappointed at times from other people, but I have learned that no matter what happens, God is in control. He can take one of the most disappointed situations and turn it into a positive outcome.

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