1. Re-read John 5:1-18. Is there one detail that jumps out as significant? Why?
2. When Ryan suggested we are 'all hanging around Bethesda,' what did he mean? What 'pools' in our society promise healing that fail to deliver on the promise? Are there specific ones you often run to when you need to find healing?
3. Jesus tells us that our biggest problem is sin (verse 14). Are there problems in our lives that often seem much bigger? More threatening? Why is it comforting to remember that Jesus has taken care of our biggest problem ?
4. Why were the Jews furious at Jesus? What did He say and do that offended them?
5. The Irish poet, Thomas Moore, suffered from a multitude of problems throughout his life: he lost his fortune through mismanagement; he lost all five of his children to disease; and he lost his physical and mental abilities due to a stroke late in life. His best-known hymn contains these words:
Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel:
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish:
Earth has no sorrows that heav’n cannot heal.
Joy of the desolate, light of the straying,
hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure!
Here speaks the Comforter, in mercy saying,
“Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot cure.”
How do these words shed light on the meaning of this passage?
2. When Ryan suggested we are 'all hanging around Bethesda,' what did he mean? What 'pools' in our society promise healing that fail to deliver on the promise? Are there specific ones you often run to when you need to find healing?
3. Jesus tells us that our biggest problem is sin (verse 14). Are there problems in our lives that often seem much bigger? More threatening? Why is it comforting to remember that Jesus has taken care of our biggest problem ?
4. Why were the Jews furious at Jesus? What did He say and do that offended them?
5. The Irish poet, Thomas Moore, suffered from a multitude of problems throughout his life: he lost his fortune through mismanagement; he lost all five of his children to disease; and he lost his physical and mental abilities due to a stroke late in life. His best-known hymn contains these words:
Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel:
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish:
Earth has no sorrows that heav’n cannot heal.
Joy of the desolate, light of the straying,
hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure!
Here speaks the Comforter, in mercy saying,
“Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot cure.”
How do these words shed light on the meaning of this passage?
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