John
Check out all the previous John readings here.
John Reading Plan | Week 5, Day 1
Prayer
As you spend time with Jesus, allow your mind and body to settle until you feel fully present. Ask Him to help you learn more about Him today.
Bible Reading: John 5:1-9
Read these verses three times slowly.
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk. ”At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath…
Chosen Scene
Watch this scripture come to life in this scene from “The Chosen”: :
Reflection & Questions
This story is amazing, and the more you allow yourself to meditate on it, the more powerful it becomes. This man was an invalid for 38 years. We don’t know if he was born that way or maybe it was a workplace accident, or something happened when he was a child. But 38 years is a long time. That is 13,870 days of pain, helplessness and holding on to hope that life might be different.
He has laid by this pool for what we assume is a long time (we’re not told how long) and day after day after day he hopes to get in before the others, but each time failing. “I have no one to help me,” he tells Jesus.
Little did he know that the man he was speaking to could do much more than help him into a pool. But there was a crucial question from Jesus first: “Do you want to get well?”
It’s a strange question to ask, but the more you meditate on it, the more understanding comes. Getting well would mean a completely different life – a life of the privilege and responsibility of living. As pastor and author, Ray Steadman puts it: “I know many people today who do not want to be healed. They do not want to receive divine help in their problems. They do not want to be helped out of their weakness. They love their weakness, their helplessness. They are always craving the attention of others through their helplessness. They sometimes flee assuming responsibility for their own lives. I have even seen people turn their backs on a way of deliverance they knew would work because they did not want to be healed.”
So the question for us today is just that. As you look at the problems in your life, do you want to be helped? Do you want to go the Jesus way and follow His prescription? Or would you rather stay in your helplessness.
- Do you know someone who does not want to be helped? What does that mean for their lives?
- What problems do you need help in? Do you want Jesus’ help whatever His prescription is? Talk to Him about that.
Prayer
Pray in response to today’s reading.
Worship Song
You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:
Check out more Bible Reading Plans here.
Questions?
Ed Applegate
John Reading Plan | Week 5, Day 1
Prayer
As you spend time with Jesus, allow your mind and body to settle until you feel fully present. Ask Him to help you learn more about Him today.
Bible Reading: John 5:1-9
Read these verses three times slowly.
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk. ”At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath…
Chosen Scene
Watch this scripture come to life in this scene from “The Chosen”: :
Reflection & Questions
This story is amazing, and the more you allow yourself to meditate on it, the more powerful it becomes. This man was an invalid for 38 years. We don’t know if he was born that way or maybe it was a workplace accident, or something happened when he was a child. But 38 years is a long time. That is 13,870 days of pain, helplessness and holding on to hope that life might be different.
He has laid by this pool for what we assume is a long time (we’re not told how long) and day after day after day he hopes to get in before the others, but each time failing. “I have no one to help me,” he tells Jesus.
Little did he know that the man he was speaking to could do much more than help him into a pool. But there was a crucial question from Jesus first: “Do you want to get well?”
It’s a strange question to ask, but the more you meditate on it, the more understanding comes. Getting well would mean a completely different life – a life of the privilege and responsibility of living. As pastor and author, Ray Steadman puts it: “I know many people today who do not want to be healed. They do not want to receive divine help in their problems. They do not want to be helped out of their weakness. They love their weakness, their helplessness. They are always craving the attention of others through their helplessness. They sometimes flee assuming responsibility for their own lives. I have even seen people turn their backs on a way of deliverance they knew would work because they did not want to be healed.”
So the question for us today is just that. As you look at the problems in your life, do you want to be helped? Do you want to go the Jesus way and follow His prescription? Or would you rather stay in your helplessness.
- Do you know someone who does not want to be helped? What does that mean for their lives?
- What problems do you need help in? Do you want Jesus’ help whatever His prescription is? Talk to Him about that.
Prayer
Pray in response to today’s reading.
Worship Song
You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:
Check out more Bible Reading Plans here.
Questions?
Ed Applegate
