Teen Life Application Study Bible - Gospel of John - Flipbook - Page 10
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boy had begun to get better, and they replied,
“Yesterday afternoon at one o’clock his fever
suddenly disappeared!” 53Then the father realized that that was the very time Jesus had told
him, “Your son will live.” And he and his entire
household believed in Jesus. 54This was the
second miraculous sign Jesus did in Galilee
after coming from Judea.
5
JESUS HEALS A LAME MAN Afterward
Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of
the Jewish holy days. 2Inside the city, near the
Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda,* with
five covered porches. 3Crowds 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. 6When 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, 10so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who
was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath!
The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”
11
But he replied, “The man who healed me
told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
12
“Who said such a thing as that?” they
demanded.
13
The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. 14But afterward Jesus
found him in the Temple and told him, “Now
you are well; so stop sinning, or something
even worse may happen to you.” 15Then the
man went and told the Jewish leaders that it
was Jesus who had healed him.
JESUS CLAIMS TO BE THE SON OF GOD 16So
the Jewish leaders began harassing* Jesus for
breaking the Sabbath rules. 17But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am
I.” 18So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder
to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke
the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby
making himself equal with God.
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. 5:16 Or persecuting. 5:27 “Son of
Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
JOHN 5
19
So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the
Son can do nothing by himself. He does only
what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the
Father does, the Son also does. 20For the Father
loves the Son and shows him everything he is
doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to
do even greater works than healing this man.
Then you will truly be astonished. 21For just as
the Father gives life to those he raises from the
dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants.
22
In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority
to judge, 23so that everyone will honor the Son,
just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does
not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the
Father who sent him.
24
“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my
message and believe in God who sent me have
eternal life. They will never be condemned for
their sins, but they have already passed from
death into life.
25
“And I assure you that the time is coming,
indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear
my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And
those who listen will live. 26The Father has life
in himself, and he has granted that same lifegiving power to his Son. 27And he has given
him authority to judge everyone because he
is the Son of Man.* 28Don’t be so surprised!
Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead
in their graves will hear the voice of God’s
Son, 29and they will rise again. Those who have
done good will rise to experience eternal life,
and those who have continued in evil will rise
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 38 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. Ever
feel 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 (Matt 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.
JUST LIKE HIM
(5:19-23) Jesus told a crowd of people that he did whatever he saw the Father do. In other words, he imitated the
Father’s actions. Many people imitate the actions of their
parents. For example, some may play a musical instrument or have the ability to fix cars because their parents
have done so or encouraged them to do so. But Jesus’
example encourages us to imitate the actions of another
parent—our heavenly Father. The questions “What would
Jesus do?” and “What would Jesus have me do?” can help
us make the right choices.
