Boys Life Application Study Bible Gospel of John Sampler - Flipbook - Page 76
John 5 // 1251
WHAT
NOW?
WHO’S
DIFFERENT—YOU
OR ME?
R
ecently some kids from another
ethnic group called Derrick
names as he walked home from
school. Derrick got angry. He
decided he didn’t like “those kinds”
of people. Then he got an invitation
to a party. Derrick wanted to go to
the party, but he knew that “those
kinds” of kids would be there. What
would you do if you were Derrick?
How should you treat people whose
skin color or cultural background is
different from yours?
READ JOHN 4:1-26 TO SEE HOW
JESUS RELATED TO A WOMAN
WHO WAS FROM A DIFFERENT
ETHNIC GROUP.
This woman (1) was a Samaritan, a
person of mixed heritage whom the
Jews normally avoided, (2) had a bad
reputation, and (3) was in a public
place. No respectable Jewish man
would talk to a woman under such
circumstances. But Jesus didn’t let
these excuses stop him from talking
to the woman. Would you have done
the same? Is there someone you normally avoid for various reasons? Like
Jesus, are you prepared to cross all
barriers to share the Good News?
BoysLASB_repk.indb 1251
asked them when the boy had begun to
get better, and they replied, “Yesterday
afternoon at one o’clock his fever suddenly disappeared!” 53 Then the father
realized that that was the very time J esus
had told him, “Your son will live.” And
he and his entire household believed in
Jesus. 54 This was the second miraculous
sign Jesus did in Galilee after coming
from Judea.
JESUS HEALS A LAME MAN
5
Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusa
lem for one of the Jewish holy days.
2 Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was
the pool of Bethesda,* with five covered
porches. 3 Crowds of sick people—blind,
lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches.*
5 One of the men lying there had been
sick for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus
saw him and knew he had been ill for a
long time, he asked him, “Would you like
to get well?”
7 “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I
have no one to put me into the pool when
the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”
8
Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up
your mat, and walk!”
9 Instantly, the man was healed! He
rolled up his sleeping mat and began
walking! But this miracle happened on
the Sabbath, 10 so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was
cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath!
5:2 Other manuscripts read Beth-zatha; still others read
Bethsaida.
5:3 Some manuscripts add an expanded
conclusion to verse 3 and all of verse 4: waiting for a
certain movement of the water, 4for an angel of the Lord
came from time to time and stirred up the water. And
the first person to step in after the water was stirred was
healed of whatever disease he had.
TRAPPED
(5:6) Jesus’ question to a sick man, “Would you like
to get well?” might have seemed strange. Of course
he would want to get well . . . wouldn’t he? But after
thirty-eight years, this man’s problem had become
a way of life. He had no hope of ever being healed
and no desire to help himself. Have you ever felt
trapped like that? Many have. Unfortunately, a loss
of hope has led some people to wonder if God cares
at all. But God wants his people to keep on asking
(Matthew 7:7) and to be willing to stick with him
(John 15:4-8). God may have special work for you to
do in spite of your condition, or even because of it.
Many have ministered effectively to hurting people
because they have triumphed, with God’s help, over
their own hurts.
2/28/2018 2:45:32 PM
