John 5:1-14
New Living Translation
5 Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem 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 peopleâblind, lame, or paralyzedâlay 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, âWould you like to get well?â
7 âI canât, sir,â the sick man said, âfor I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.â
8 Jesus told him, âStand up, pick up your mat, and walk!â
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, âYou canât work on the Sabbath! The law doesnât allow you to carry that sleeping mat!â
11 But he replied, âThe man who healed me told me, âPick up your mat and walk.ââ
12 âWho said such a thing as that?â they demanded.
13 The man didnât know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. 14 But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, âNow you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.â
Music: "Rest in the Shadow" by Julian & Melissa Wiggins,
Used with permission.