Series: Questions From Jesus – Part 3
Speaker: Scotty Priest, Lead Pastor
Date: October 15, 2023
Read John 5:1-15
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 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.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
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 and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
1. The question from Jesus, “Do you want to be healed?”, at first seems very odd…who would not want to be healed after being in the situation this man had been in for 38 years! Why do you think Jesus asked this question? What did he mean by this?
2. After Jesus asks this question the man does not reply with a direct ‘yes’. How does he answer and why do you think he answered that way?
3. It can be easy to make excuses, get impatient with God or turn to other things for healing and hope even when we know Jesus is right there. When do you tend to get impatient with God and what do you turn to?
4. Jesus’ questions always come from a place of love and a desire to lead His people back to Himself. He loves you unconditionally! Is there something in your life that you are asking for healing from? What can you do this week to lean into God and trust Him?
