Lent Sermon Series: “Jesus and The Crowds”

“Jesus Heals a Crippled Man at the Pool of Bethesda” * John 5: 1-15

The Pools of Bethesda (“House of Mercy”)

he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” John 5: 5-6 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When 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?”

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one John 5:7 “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.”

John 5: 8-9a 8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”  9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

John 5: 9b-12 The newly-healed man is quickly found and interrogated by Jewish leaders who see him carrying his mat on the Sabbath. The man said his Healer gave him instructions to do so, and simply obeyed.

Mark 2: 27-28 27 Then [Jesus] said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

14 Later Jesus found him at the temple… John 5: 13-14a 13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. 14 Later Jesus found him at the temple…

Although this is not always the case for us, Jesus’ words to this man give us the strong indication that it was his own sinful choices that either delayed his healing or led to him becoming afflicted.

John 5:15 “The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.”

Poolside Ponderings: 1.) Jesus is able to heal the deepest pain, no matter how long the time. 2.) “Do you want to get well?” This involves freedom from our sin, as well as our pain. 3.) Live gratefully for Jesus.