Title: Scars
Author: Aaron Blank
Date:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:40 — 29.9MB)
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How do we handle the wounds in life that leave us with scars? Can we forgive ourselves when it’s our own fault? Can we forgive others who genuinely hurt us?
Do we let life make us bitter or do we invite our gracious, loving Lord to make us better?
Some time after that, Jesus went to Jerusalem, because it was time for one of the Jewish festivals.
2 There is a pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. Its name in the Jewish language is Bethesda. Round the pool, there is a building with five places that have a roof over them. 3 A large number of sick people were lying in these places. Some of them were blind. Some of them could not walk properly. Some of them could not move their legs or their arms. [[a] They were waiting for when the water started to move. 4 An angel would go down into the pool at certain times and move the water about. When that happened, all the sick people tried to get into the pool. The first person who got into the water became well, whatever his illness was.]
5 One man who was lying there had been ill for 38 years. 6 Jesus saw this man. He knew that the man had been ill like this for a very long time. So he asked the man, ‘Do you want to get well?’ 7 The sick man said, ‘Sir, I do not have anyone who will help me. I need somebody who will put me into the pool. When the water starts to move, I try to get in. But someone else always gets in before me.’ 8 Then Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ 9 The man became well immediately. He picked up his mat and he walked.
The day when this happened was a Jewish day of rest.[b] 10 Because of this, the Jewish leaders spoke to the man that Jesus had made well. They said to him, ‘You must not carry your mat on our day of rest. You are not obeying the rules.’ 11 The man replied, ‘The man who made me well said to me, “Pick up your mat and walk.” ’ 12 So they asked him, ‘Who is this man? Who said to you, “Pick up your mat and walk”?’ 13 The man did not know who had made him well. Jesus had gone away and joined the crowd that was there.
14 Some time after that, Jesus found the man in the temple. Jesus said to him, ‘See, you have become well. Stop doing wrong things. If you do not stop, something worse may happen to you.’ 15 Then the man went to the Jewish leaders. He told them that it was Jesus who had made him well.
John 5:1-15 (EASY)
