"Rise Up and Walk!" (John 5:1-9)

“Rise Up and Walk”

John 5:1–9

 

Thirty-eight years is a long time but that’s how long the lame man we are told about in John chapter 5 had spent waiting at the pool of Bethesda. Here in this place of suffering resided the outcasts, the helpless, the sick, the blind, the lame, the withered, the desperate, and the forgotten.

The tragedy of this scene is that these sick and desperate people were waiting for the “moving of the water” and the water wasn’t moving. Many people today find themselves in a similar situation. They are hoping that things will get better, that their situation will improve, that someone will care. The good news is that when Jesus showed up, this pool of misery would become a “house of mercy.”

This Sunday, we are continuing our sermon series, “Reset: Changed Lives, New Beginnings” with the story of the lame man who was healed by Jesus. You can read the story of this encounter from John’s account below. When people encountered Jesus, miraculous things always happened. What “New Beginning” could take place in your life this year?  

You are invited to join us for worship this Sunday at Carrollwood Baptist Church where all are welcomed. Worship begins at 10:30 a.m. and we are conveniently located one mile east of the Veterans Expressway at 5395 Ehrlich Road. For more information, check us out online at carrollwoodbaptist.org.

Looking forward to a great day of worship!

Pastor Joe

John 5:1-9New International Version (NIV)

The Healing at the Pool
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. ^{[4] [b] 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,

Footnotes:

1. John 5:2 Some manuscripts Bethzatha; other manuscripts Bethsaida
2. John 5:4 Some manuscripts include here, wholly or in part, paralyzed—and they waited for the moving of the waters. ⁴ From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had.