Episode 2169 - Lesson 1 - Tuesday October 1 - The Miracle at the pool of Bethesda

The next sign John records took place at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1–9). It was believed that an angel caused movement in the water and that the first sick person to enter the water would be healed. As a result, the porches of the pool were crowded with those hoping to be cured at the next occurrence. Jesus went to Jerusalem, and as He passed by the pool, He saw the waiting throng. What a sight it must have been, too! All these people, some surely quite ill, waiting and waiting by the water for a cure that surely will not come. What an opportunity for Jesus! Read John 5:1–9. Because anyone by the pool obviously wanted to get well, why did Jesus ask the paralytic if he wanted to be healed (John 5:6)? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ When one has been sick a long time, the sickness becomes the norm. And strange as it may seem, it can sometimes be a bit disturbing to leave the disability behind. The man implies in his answer that he wants healing. The problem is that he is looking for it in the wrong place—while the One who made man’s legs is standing right in front of him. Little did the man know who was talking to him; although after the healing, he might have started to understand that Jesus was, indeed, Someone very special. “Jesus does not ask this sufferer to exercise faith in Him. He simply says, ‘Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.’ But the man’s faith takes hold upon that word. Every nerve and muscle thrills with new life, and healthful action comes to his crippled limbs. Without question he sets his will to obey the command of Christ, and all his muscles respond to his will. Springing to his feet, he finds himself an active man. . . . Jesus had given him no assurance of divine help. The man might have stopped to doubt, and lost his one chance of healing. But he believed Christ’s word, and in acting upon it he received strength.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, pp. 202, 203. Jesus later encountered the man in the temple and said, “ ‘You have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you’ ” (John 5:14, NKJV). What is the relationship between sickness and sin? Why must we understand that not all sickness is a direct result of specific sins in our life? _________________________________________