Healing - Pool of Bethesda

Next to the lions gate you will find the church of St. Anne, it was built by the crusaders in 1140. According to tradition the virgin Mary was born in a grotto over which the church was built and is named after her mother.


In the same compound are the excavated pools of Bethesda. This was a large public reservoir in use during the 1st century BC and the first century AD.


The actual bathing pools were the small ones and the Crusaders built the church over the bigger pools to the east.


Faith lesson...

After this, Jesus went to Jerusalem for a religious festival. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool with five porches; in Hebrew it is called Bethzatha. A large crowd of sick people were lying on the porches—the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. A man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. Jesus saw him lying there, and he knew that the man had been sick for such a long time; so he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
The sick man answered, “Sir, I don't have anyone here to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am trying to get in, somebody else gets there first.”
Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.” (John 5:1-3, 5-8 GNT)

Jesus asks what to me is a very intriguing question, "do you want to get well?" In Luke's gospel Jesus had another encounter, this time with a blind beggar...

As Jesus was coming near Jericho, there was a blind man sitting by the road, begging. When he heard the crowd passing by, he asked, “What is this?”
“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by,” they told him.
He cried out, “Jesus! Son of David! Have mercy on me!”
The people in front scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David! Have mercy on me!”
So Jesus stopped and ordered the blind man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
“Sir,” he answered, “I want to see again.”
Jesus said to him, “Then see! Your faith has made you well.” (Luke 18:35-42 GNT)

You will notice that Jesus asks him pretty much the same question: what do you want me to do for you...

Now this is interesting to me because I would have thought that it was pretty obvious...they needed to and wanted to be healed!

Could Jesus perhaps have asked this question because he understands that the inner person (the eternal) is far more important than the the earthly body (the temporal). God looks at the heart...and so I am reminded of an earlier conversation Jesus had with a woman in Luke's gospel. She said that blessed and happy must be the woman who gave birth to Him. Jesus replied no - happy, blessed (healed) is the person who hears and obeys the word of God.
So Jesus asked, "what do you want me to do for you?"

I think that we must understand that our healing, true healing is and always will be closely connected to hearing and obey the word of God, for a healthy soul is more important than a healthy body (not saying that a healthy body is not important).



Posted from my iPad

Location:ג'ורג' וושינגטון,Jerusalem,Israel