SCRIPTURE UNION DAILY DEVOTIONAL – DISCOVERY (USA)
Scripture Union Discovery 11th February 2025 Devotional Message for Tuesday
TOPIC: Get Up And Pick Up!
Opening Prayer
Jesus, there is no one who walks more closely to me than you, there is no love for me greater than yours. Thank you for abiding with me and for your care that never fails.
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Read JOHN 5:1–15
The Healing at the Pool
1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Reflect
Is there something on your heart that you have been asking of God for a long time? Bring it to him before reading this passage.
Thirty-eight years is a very long time to be ill (v. 5). In a world without modern medicine, people will go to any lengths to find healing. The pool of Bethesda seemed to attract sick people seeking healing, in much the same way as some modern spa towns do.
We don’t know why Jesus stopped beside this particular man. Perhaps he saw his despair. Perhaps, as with the man born blind later in the gospel (ch. 9), the healing of such a severe illness is intended to bring glory to God. His question, ‘Do you want to get well?’ sounds strange to us. We might answer, ‘Obviously!’ But Jesus does not enforce his healing on anyone. He respects this man’s identity and integrity and is not here to show off his healing power.
In fact, the healing is rather understated. Jesus simply tells the man to ‘get up’ and ‘pick up your mat’ before slipping away into the crowd. Jesus demonstrates that power lies in God and not in supposedly magic waters. It is the person before him that is important.
Apply
Imagine that you are by the pool of Bethesda, and you see Jesus walking toward you. What will he ask you, and how will you answer? If your prayers are answered, will you tell others of Jesus’ love?
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you—there is no request I can bring you that you will not answer, always for my good and for your glory. Help me to tell others of your love and faithfulness; use me to draw others to faith in you.
Scripture Union Discovery 11th February 2025 Devotional © 2025 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved
