Celebrating Your BaptismSample

In today’s chapter, you’ll read about the man at the pool of Bethesda awaiting healing. It was widely believed when the pool was stirred up, the first person who went into the pool would be healed. Sadly, it was nothing more than wishful thinking and a local pagan belief in a god who could not restore health.

Jesus approached the man and asked if he wanted to be healed, and he did. Jesus tells him to “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk.” He did! The Pharisees were upset because the man carried his mat on the Sabbath, God's commanded day of rest from all work. The Pharisees considered carrying a mat a form of work that they outlawed on the Sabbath. Instead of witnessing a miracle, they focused on rules and lost the awe of what God could do because of what they believed about Jesus.

What are some things you have believed about God? What have the last four chapters of John taught you about the character of God that was different from what you thought?