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After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. Within these lay a large number of the disabled — blind, lame, and paralyzed.
John 5:1-3

 

One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?”
John 5:5-6

 

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity.
Philippians 2:5-7

 

“Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.” “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.
John 5:7-9

 

What can we learn about the character of God?

• He’s present
• He’s powerful
• He’s purposeful

 

How can we follow the example of Jesus?

How does God’s grace cut through the same we all experience in our own lives?

 

Now that day was the Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.” He replied, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. But the man who was healed did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. After this, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.”
John 5:9-14

 

For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2

 

For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame
Romans 10:11

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Webster’s defines shame as a “painful feeling of humiliation, sometimes caused by the consciousness of wrong behavior.” What has been your experience with shame? How have you handled the shame in your life?

Read John 5:1-14. What strikes you or interests you about this story? What observations or questions do you have?
What can we learn about the character of God from the way Jesus interacts with the paralyzed man?

Jesus stepped out of heaven in order to represent God’s glory in a broken world, and then He stepped to the other side of the pool of Bethesda to enter the brokenness of the paralyzed man. How can you personally follow the example of Jesus? What specific people (or people groups) can you intentionally engage with in their brokenness?

How does God’s grace cut through the guilt and shame we inevitably experience in our lives?

How are you enjoying the “Jesus and the…” series? What are you learning about God? How are you being encouraged / challenged to live differently?

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