Pools of Bethesda

Yesterday, I spent some time at the Pools of Bethesda, where Jesus heals a lame man (see scripture below). Connected to the pool grounds is a church called St. Anne's, a 12th century Crusader church erected over the birthplace of Anne, who is the mother of Mary. 

Since I am not Catholic, the Pools interested me more than Anne's tomb. I still don't quite understand the pools, they are above a huge cistern and they seem to be incredible deep. It was kinda neat to think about an angel of the Lord coming down the stir the water and even more neat to think about a paralytic man walking after Jesus healed him. 

After the pools, I went to a Jewelry shop in the old city and spent time with a guy named Ibrahim and his nephew Kiwi. They tried to help me fix my watch and it took so long that I have to pick it up tomorrow. When you walk around the Old City several times, you used to seeing the same people and yesterday, I sorta felt like a regular. 

Today, we went to Hebron and visited a Mosque with the top Sheikh and then we visited a settlement (which is when Jews take over Arab land). Let me write for now-- the whole thing was depressing and sad.  

John 5

The Healing at the Pool

 ¹Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. ²Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda^{a]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]} and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ³Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.^{b]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[b]} ⁵One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶When 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."

 ⁸Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." ⁹At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. 
      The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, ¹⁰and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."

 ¹¹But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "