Basic Questions

1. Identify as completely as possible the person in need (e.g., age, ethnic origin, religion, gender, social status).
   A man was an invalid for 38 years (one of the most helpless).

2. What was the immediate, obvious need?
   The man was an invalid.

3. Who took the initiative in effecting the healing?
   The person in need? Others? Jesus?
   How was it expressed?
   Jesus said "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." The man didn�t even know who Jesus was - he didn�t ask Jesus for healing.

4. Describe the actions or process leading to the healing; that is, what was said (e.g., questions, requests, commands) and what was done (e.g., approaching, following, touching, publicly/privately), and by whom?
   Jesus asked "Do you want to get well?" The man said, "I have no one to help me."

5. Did the person in need or someone else verbally express faith? Non-verbally? Describe how and by whom faith was in involved in this healing.
   The man thought if he could be first in the pool after it was stirred that he�d be healed. He didn�t have faith in Jesus - he didn�t know Him.

6. What were the evidences that the person was healed?
   The man picked up his mat and walked.

7. What were the reactions to the healing?
   The Jews told the man he broke the law. The Jews persecuted Jesus because He healed on the Sabbath.

8. What in this narrative led Jesus to minister healing to the person in need?
   God�s mercy. V2 is significant. "Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda."

   John 10:7 Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.
   Some translations of the word Bethesda mean "mercy".

   Eph 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not works, so that no one can boast.

Digging Deeper

Note 1: You may notice that verse 4 is missing from the text. Because verse 4 and the last part of verse 3 are not present in the earliest manuscripts (prior to the fourth century), the NIV and other recent versions omit these, believing that they were subsequent additions. In the KJV, verses 3a-4 read: "waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season in the pool, and troubled the water; whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had."
Note 2: The Greek word hygies (of hygiene) in v 4, 6, 9, 11, 14 & 16 is translated "well" or "whole", it could also be translated "cured".
1. When did this healing take place?
   On the Sabbath.

   Do you think the invalid was a recent visitor to the healing pool or had he been coming to the pool daily for years?
   You really can�t tell - but you can guess that he may have been coming for years since it seems it was well known among the ill.

   Are you familiar with contemporary "waters" that are believed to have curative powers, and to where people travel for healing?
   Lady of Lourdes.

2. The passage says "a great number of disabled people used to lie there". Of all the disabled people there, it seems that Jesus singled out one man. How did Jesus "learn of", or "know" the man had been an invalid "for a long time" (38 years)? Since the man made no overt request for Jesus' healing, why do you think Jesus picked a man who didn't even know who Jesus was? Why not heal "a great number"?
   Jesus probably just knew what the man�s condition was - He is the Son of God. Jesus may have picked a man who didn�t know Him to show that this healing was about God�s grace. It wasn�t dependent on anything the man did or following any rules. Maybe Jesus picked one man to heal here to show that each healing is individual.

3. What does the man's response in v 7 to Jesus' question say about the man's attitude? V 9b-16 are an epilogue to the healing at the pool: when the Jews accuse the man of dishonoring the Sabbath, he says a man told me to pick up my mat and walk, so I did; but he had no idea who the man was.
   Look at What Really Matters.
   The man may have been very close to giving up - he was focused on needing someone else to help him. He almost lost sight of his desire to be healed.

4. Was the cause of the man's problem stated or implied? If so how?
   The cause was not stated. The man�s heart may have needed to be stirred. The Holy Spirit seems to "move" where there is action. A "still" pool tends to stagnate.

   John 7: 37-39 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

5. In your experience, does every sick or disabled person want to get well? Why might some prefer to remain as they are?
   It may be hard to focus on the desire to be well. Society had been telling him that it was his fault - his sin that made him ill. Any change is hard.

6. Jesus "found" the man at the temple. Was Jesus looking for him? What does Jesus mean when he says, "stop sinning or something worse may happen to you"? Why do you think the man went to the temple after having been healed? What does this say about the man that you didn't know earlier in this story?
   This exchange may have been included to show that the belief that the man�s sin must have caused his illness is false. The man was healed even though he was still sinning. This is grace.

7. How did Jesus express love, counseling or encouragement?
   Jesus healed a man who didn�t know who He was - even after the healing.
   Jesus healed a man who was still sinning.
   Jesus healed on the Sabbath showing authority over the law.

8. What lesson(s) have you learned about healing from this account?
   God�s grace/mercy may be all that�s required for healing to take place.
   Jesus sometimes heals those who don�t know Him.
   Jesus came to show us that sin is not the reason for illness or lack of healing.
   Jesus has authority over the Sabbath and the law.
   Read God is Love.

   Read More:
   Christ at the Pool of Bethesda