Step 1: Opening and Introduction to the lesson – Personal Testimonies from last week’s study and Reflection: When you get sick, what are you like: Oscar the Grouch? Superman? Rip Van Winkle? When you were a child, what was the home remedy for a cold? What do you do to stay healthy?
Step 2: Hear – Read: The Healing at the Pool. John 5:1-15.
Step 3: Explore – Discover the Passage
- How do you picture the setting of this story (vv.2-4)? What is the smell? The noises? The atmosphere? How do you think the man in this story who had been disabled for 38 years felt prior to meeting Jesus?
- How would you picture the invalid (vv. 5-7)? What does Jesus mean by his question in verse 6? Initially how do you think the man felt? What did the invalid hope Jesus might do?
- As the invalid, what would you feel in verses 8-9? In verses 10-13? In verse 14? What happens between these two commands in verse 8 and verse 14?
- For what action is the man reprimanded by the Jews? Why were the leaders so upset? How do you suppose they responded to the healed man’s testimony (v. 15)? How does Jesus explain and defend his healing on the Sabbath (look ahead to verse 17)?
Step 4: Connect – Apply the Passage:
- In what ways do people today try to be healed without Christ?
- How would you respond to someone who said all sickness is a result of sin? Why?
- Why would Jesus ask, “Do you want to get well”? Describe a time when you would have said, “No.” Describe a time when you would have said, “Yes.”
- If Jesus were to drop in on you today, what would he ask you? When you go through something that leaves you feeling like a cripple, what have you found helpful?
Step 5: Reflect: See you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.
