Sarah Barry
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Gospel and Acts
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John 5:1-18
GET UP! PICK UP YOUR MAT AND WALK
- by Sarah Barry
- Nov 06, 2000
- 736 reads
Question
GET UP! PICK UP YOUR MAT AND WALK
John 5:1-18 Lesson #12
Key Verse: 5:8
1. Where did this event take place? Who are the people involved? Why had Jesus gone to Jerusalem?
2. What kind of crowd was waiting by the pool? Why were they waiting? (3,4) In what way does this multitude resemble the world in which we live?
3. To which sick person did Jesus speak? What did Jesus ask him? Why did Jesus ask him such a question?
4. Did the sick man answer Jesus' question? What reasons did the sick man give for his failure to be healed? Why does he blame others for his failure to find healing?
5. How did Jesus heal the man? How was this man's life changed by Jesus' word?
6. Why did the Jews rebuke the man who had been sick? What does this show about them? What was the man's excuse?
7. Did this man know Jesus? When did he recognize him? Where did Jesus meet him a second time? What warning did Jesus give the man? Why?
8. What do we learn here about this man's character? (Think about his answer to Jesus in verses 7, 8 & 9 and about verses 14 &15. What was his good point? What were his weak points?
9. Why did the Jews persecute Jesus? (16) What reason did Jesus give for healing this man on the Sabbath? (17-18) Why did the Jews try to kill him?
10. Why should Jesus help a man like this? Is there anything in this man that reminds me of myself? Of someone I know? What is important in the method Jesus used to heal this man?
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Message
GET UP! PICK UP YOUR MAT AND WALK
John 5:1-18 #12
Key Verse: 5:8
Many men spend their lives waiting for someone else to help them. They expect people to help, but no one can really solve another man's basic problem. Friends or family may give temporary help, but when it becomes a question of who gets to the pool first, everyone pushes the other fellow aside, because only the first man in the pool is healed. Sinful men wait for other people to help them and then become bitter when no one does. God is not pleased with a beggar's mentality. Jesu warned this man to quit his sins. But it seems that he continued his habit of blaming all his troubles on someone else. When it looked as if he were going to get in trouble, he blamed Jesus for making him break the Sabbath Law.
In this event, Jesus begins showing to the Jewish leaders his grace and truth. The Jews, religious and political leaders, saw the power of God working in Jesus to heal a man. But they did not love God or man. They saw in Jesus' actions a challenge to their own power. They didn't thank Jesus for healing this poor man. Instead, they persecuted him for working on the Sabbath. Jesus used this opportunity to teach the truth about God's love and power. He said, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." Jesus did not work on his own. He participated in what God was doing. Jesus made it clear that he is the Son of God. He came into a world filled with sickness and sin and envy and hatred. He came to solve man's basic problem problem. Man cannot help himself, but God can help him. Man is foolish to look at other weak men for help. Only the love and power of God in Christ can free men from sin and law and make men whole.
Jesus came at great personal cost. He came and challenged the evil power of corrupt leaders. He challenged evil with acts wiich revealed God's love and power. In him was grace and truth. The Jewish leaders tried to kill him--and they finally did. He died to make men truly free. When he healed this sick man, he spoke with a word of power. He challenged the man's laziness and dependance on others--he said, Get up! Pick up your mat and walk. He made this man get up and carry his own burden and walk by himself. Jesus is the Son of God. He is the Word who became flesh and made his dwelling among us. He is full of grace and truth.