There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate
a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.
In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,
"Do you want to be well?"
The sick man answered him,
"Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up;
while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me."
Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk."
Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.
Now that day was a sabbath.
So the Jews said to the man who was cured,
"It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat."
He answered them, "The man who made me well told me,
'Take up your mat and walk.'"
They asked him,
"Who is the man who told you, 'Take it up and walk'?"
The man who was healed did not know who it was,
for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.
After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him,
"Look, you are well; do not sin any more,
so that nothing worse may happen to you."
The man went and told the Jews
that Jesus was the one who had made him well.
Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus
because he did this on a sabbath.
REFLECTION
There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate
a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.
In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.
Why did Jesus enter the temple through the Sheep Gate?
I have come to learn that everything that Jesus does is intentional. I learned this through studying the Gospel readings in a study session called FACE ZBS (Face-to-Face -Zoom Bible Study). Our sessions are led by a theologian and we have learned about the purpose of each of the evangelists writing the Gospels.
In the Gospel of John, John's purpose is to explain the "signs" that reveal who Jesus is and what he is teaching us. The fact that Jesus enters Jerusalem during the Passover through the Sheep Gate is a sign. The Sheep Gate is used by the shepherds who bring in the sheep and lambs to be sold for sacrifice in the temple. It is the place where the sheep and lambs enter and which they will not return through.
Inside the Sheep gate is a series of pools at which the sheep and lambs are washed before they are sacrificed.One of the pools is known as Bethesda, which is where many sick, crippled, blind and abandoned people wait for a chance to enter into the water when it is stirred in hopes to be healed. Again Jesus is intentionally showing his disciples that he is the one who can wash away sins. He is the Messiah who comes to heal us. That is why he heals the paralyzed man.
In John's gospel, chapter 1, verse 29, John the Baptist sees Jesus and says, "Behold the Lamb of God. Behold, he who takes away the sin of the world." Who was John the Baptist telling this to? He was speaking to his disciples who will leave him and follow Jesus.
Again this is why Jesus enters through the Sheep Gate because he will be the sacrifice on Golgatha, where he will be crucified for our sins. His sacrifice will heal our relationship with God, the Father. This is also why Jesus cures the cripple at the pool of Bethesda because He is the "Lamb of God"... "who takes away the sin of the world."
I am grateful to be a student at FACE ZBS. Join us this Wednesday at 12:00 pm CST. Here is the link to our last session.
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