“What Do You Really Want?”

^[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 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] [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. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright &copy 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.&reg Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.