Pool of Bethesda

Making Excuses of Making It Happen

By Rick Bayer, February 12, 2023

John 5:1-11

1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 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?”

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.”

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.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

We’re in and of ourselves V. 1-5

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?” John 5:6

Question: Do you get well? V. 6

“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 5:7

Do you want to get ?

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” John 5:8

Command: Believe and . V. 8

Do you want to get ?

Get up! Pick up your mat and walk. V. 8

Questions for Discipleship group and/or personal study:

Opener:

  • What is a funny excuse that you have used or heard someone use?

Go to the Source:

  • Read John 5:1-11
  • How do you picture the setting of this pool? What do you see? Smell? Hear? What is the atmosphere like?
  • Are you uncomfortable in settings like this? Why or why not?
  • Why do you think Jesus asked the unusual question in v. 6?

Live it out:

  • Do you want to get ? What word do you think Jesus would put in the blank for you?
  • Jesus gave the man the command: ‘get up, pick up your mat and walk.’ What action is Jesus calling you to take?
  • What excuse in your mind is holding you back?
  • How can your group help you?