The Healing at the Pool

In the city of Jerusalem there was a pool of water called “Bethesda”. It was a beautiful pool with porches built around it so that people could sit and rest. Sometimes the water in the pool was very calm. But sometimes the water would bubble up.

Many sick people liked to go to the Pool of Bethesda. Some were blind or paralysed. Others could not walk. They came to the pool and waited for the water to bubble up. People believed that if they touched the bubbly water before it stopped bubbling then they would be made well.

One day Jesus passed by the pool and saw one of the men lying down beside the pool all alone. He noticed that the man was very sad so he stopped to talk to him.

The man could not stand or walk because his legs did not work properly. He was sad because he had been unable to walk for thirty-eight years. Every time the water bubbled up the man tried to get to it and touch it but he could not. He was also sad because he had no friends to carry him to the pool. Jesus asked the man, “Do you want to get well?”

The man told Jesus that he really wanted to get better but there was no one to carry him to the bubbly water. He was very sad. He thought that no one cared that he was sad.

But Jesus cared that the man was sad! He listened to the man and then he said something very surprising: “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”

As soon as Jesus said this to the man, the man was cured. For the first time in thirty-eight years he was able to stand up. He did just as Jesus said and picked up his mat and walked.

People asked the man who had made him well. The man could not answer because he did not even know the name of the man who had healed him. The man was so excited that he had not noticed Jesus slipping back into the crowd.

Later he saw Jesus at the temple, and Jesus told the man to always be good. He was so happy to see Jesus. He was glad to see the man who had made him well.