Jesus at the Pool of Bethesda

Jesus at the Pool of Bethesda
(John 5)

At the time when there was a feast of the Jews, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. There is at Jerusalem by the sheep market, a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, which means "House of mercy", and it had five porches. Those are places where a great many people who were blind, or were limping, or had other things wrong with them, gathered and waited for the water to move.

Because at a certain time, an angel went down into the pool, and disturbed the water, and whoever was the first person to step in the water after that, this person was healed of whatever disease he had.

And there was a certain man that had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been that way for a very long time (because Jesus knows everything about everyone), he said to him "Would you like to be made whole?" And the man answered him "Sir, I have no man that can put me into the pool when the water is disturbed: and when I am coming, another steps down into the water before I do. And Jesus said to him "Rise, take up your bed, and walk." And immediately the man was healed, and he took up his bed, and walked.

Now this was on the Sabbath day and so the Jews said to the man that was cured that it was not lawful for him to carry his bed on the sabbath day. And so the man answered them "He that made me whole, the same said to me, Take up your bed and walk." So they asked him what man told him to take up his bed and walk.

And the man that was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had taken himself away because there were a great many people in that place. After that Jesus found in the temple the man that had been healed, and Jesus said to him "Look! you are made whole: sin no more, unless a worse thing comes upon you." And so the man left the temple, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. And so the Jews persecuted Jesus, and desired to have him killed because he had done those things on the sabbath day, which was the day of rest. But Jesus answered them, "My Father works and I work" Therefore the Jews sought even more to kill him, because no only had he broken the sabbath, but he also said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Memory Verse: John 5:18 "Therefore the Jews desired ..to kill him because..he said also that God was His Father, making himself equal with God."

Questions:
1 What does "Bethesda" mean?
2 Before Jesus came, how was a person at the pool healed?
3 The man had been coming a long time to the pool. Why wasn't he healed?
4 What did Jesus say to him after he had healed him?
5 What was the biggest reason the Jews wanted to kill Jesus?

Answers:
1 House of Mercy
2 At a certain time an angel came down and disturbed the water, and the first person who stepped into the water after that was healed.
3 Because he had no one to take him, and always someone stepped in before he did.
4 Rise, take up your bed and walk.. and after that when he knew who Jesus was, Jesus said "sin no more, unless a worse thing comes to you."
5 Because Jesus also said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Vicki C. Gross/Jan'04

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