Week Six - Baptism/Confirmation Weekend - Trinity Kimberly Way

May 1, 2016 Speaker: Series: Following Jesus Through Easter

Scripture: John 5:1–17

This story is an interesting one because it stands in direct contrast to the healing of the blind man in John 9. Here we meet a man who is healed by Jesus without even asking for it and, what’s more, actually betrays and turns in Jesus after the fact. When we first meet the lame man, he seems defensive and has some excuses for Jesus when Jesus asks him about healing. Jesus asks a “Yes” or “No” question and receives a defensive response in reply. This man has internalized his reality (being lame) so much that he cannot see an opportunity for healing when it is right in front of him. But what is so incredible is that Jesus gives this man an amazing gift of grace. He heals him anyways! Yet he responds not with gratitude, but with further unbelief. He turns Jesus in to the religious authorities.