lesson 29~ Jesus heals a man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath

John 5:1-29

Jesus went to Jerusalem for a Jewish feast. While there he walked by the pool near the sheep gate called Bethzatha. The pool had five covered porches. It was believed that when an angel came down and stirred the water, whomever was the first to go into the water would be healed. Because of this many sick, blind, & crippled people laid near the pool waiting for the water to be stirred. Jesus saw a sick man who had been laying there for 38 years. Jesus asked him, "Do you want to be well?"

 The man told him, "Yes, but while I am trying to get into the water someone else gets there before me." 

Jesus tells the man to to get up pick up his bed and walk. The man obeyed and did so. 

Jesus just happened to heal the man on the Sabbath. The Jews told the man, It is against our law for you to carry your mat on the Sabbath."

The man tells them, " The man who healed me told me to pick up my mat and walk." 

The the Jews asked him who it was that healed him. But the man did not know who it was that healed him & Jesus had left the area. 

Later, Jesus went to the man and told him that he was the one who had healed him. Then he told him to stop sinning or something worse could happen to him. 

The man went back to the Jews and told them that it was Jesus who had healed him. This made the Jews mad so they started doing bad things to Jesus. Jesus told them that his Father worked on the Sabbath, so he was going to do the same. This made the Jews even madder, so they started making plans on how they would kill Jesus. This was because they felt that Jesus had made himself equal with God the Father, and that was a no-no in their book. That is when Jesus told them that he could do nothing by himself, but only what God the Father told him to do. Jesus went on to tell them that he and God the Father loved each other and that he was sent by God the Father. And if they loved the Father they would listen and obey Jesus. Jesus said many other things that day also.