ENCOUNTERS: The Man by the Pool (Small Group Study)
Small Group Study, week commencing 13th July
Click here for a PDF version of these questions.
Read John 5: 1-15
1. Ellen said special places are understandably important to us. The Celts coined the phrase ‘thin places’ where heaven and earth seem near, and God seems close. Ellen’s ‘thin place’ is on a particular beach. Do you have thin places to share together about?
2. In the absence of meeting with others in our church building are you finding surprising or new ways of meeting with God?
3. The man in John 5 is lying by a pool that was well-known for healing. His encounter with Jesus shows that it is Jesus, not a particular place, that makes the difference. We don’t have a theology of ‘sacred spaces’ - WE are the church, not the building. How can understanding this help us at a time when access to our building is limited?
4. Re-read verses 8-12. Why do you think did Jesus chose to heal on the Sabbath?
5. Ellen didn’t have time to talk about the tricky verse 14 which you might want to look at in your groups. We don’t believe that all sickness is caused by sin so what does verse 14 mean?
Note.
This verse seems to be saying that this man’s sickness was caused by his sin.
We have to be very careful here. People have been hurt in churches in the past by being told that the root of their illness is some sin that needs repenting of.
In a general sense, all sickness is a result of sin because we live in a world that’s fallen, that’s permeated with sin.
But it’s important to stress that not all individual sickness is caused by individual sin. It may be the cause – a drunk driver who is hurt after crashing his car; his sickness is obviously due to his sin. But as a rule, we can’t link sickness with sin.
Nevertheless, for this man, that probably was the case. It’s not the case for most people, but for him it was. In fact, this verse 14 helps to explain why Jesus picked this man out for healing in the first place. Why him when there were so many people lying around?
Perhaps because Jesus knew there was a particular sin in his life which needed dealing with, one which had led to his sickness. We don’t know what the sin was or what it caused but Jesus makes the link – see you are well again, now stop sinning.
So, the natural reading of the story is just that; a man who has been paralysed for 38 years because of sin is spotted by Jesus and healed and then told to stop sinning.
Jesus wanted to restore this man spiritually, to make him whole in spirit, to point him to repentance, to make him right with God. The point of the miracle isn’t just healing but wholeness.
It would be good to spend some time in your groups sharing and praying about the future for us at CBC as we navigate what it looks like to interpret the government guidelines and reopen our building slowly.
Pray too for each other to encounter Jesus in meaningful new ways during this season of physical restriction.
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