Give an account of the miracle of healing at Bethzatha and indicate the two reasons why Jesus was criticized by the Jews.

Answer Details

The miracle of healing at the pool of Bethzatha (Bethesda) - John 5:1-18

Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. By the Sheep Gate there was a pool, called in Hebrew Bethzatha, which had five porches (porticoes). In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame and paralysed, waiting for the moving of the water; for it was believed that an angel of the Lord came down at certain times to trouble the water, and whoever stepped in first after the troubling was healed of whatever disease he had.

One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been in that condition for a long time, He asked him, "Do you want to be healed?" The sick man answered, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going, another steps down before me." Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your pallet (bed), and walk." At once the man was healed, took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you." The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

The two reasons why Jesus was criticized by the Jews:

1. He healed and told the man to carry his bed on the Sabbath day. The Jews accused Him of breaking the Sabbath law, since carrying a burden and healing were regarded as work forbidden on the Sabbath.
2. He called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. When Jesus said, "My Father is working still, and I am working," the Jews sought all the more to kill Him because He was claiming a unique relationship with God and thus blaspheming in their view.