The Pool of Bethesda

Sharper Iron from KFUO Radio

Rev. James Yonkers, pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Danville, IL, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study John 5:1-18.

When Jesus travels up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish feasts, He goes to the pool of Bethesda. There were many who were disabled at the pool, hoping to be the first one into the water after it was stirred. When Jesus engages a man who has been unable to walk for thirty-eight years, the man seems to think that perhaps Jesus will help him into the water. Jesus redirects his attention from the water to Himself when He commands the man to get up, take his bed, and walk. The man does, but the Jewish leaders are more interested in why the man is carrying his bed on the Sabbath than in finding out how he was healed. As they begin to investigate Jesus, they think that He is breaking the Sabbath and consider His claims about God to be blasphemy, and so they desire to kill Him, even as He begins to teach them the truth.

“The Word Made Flesh” is a series on Sharper Iron that goes through the Gospel according to St. John. The disciple whom Jesus loved wrote his Gospel account as an eyewitness to Jesus’ life and ministry. As we read the Word of God recorded by St. John, the Holy Spirit works in us so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and so have life by faith in His name.