Jesus Without Language

This is the second craft for the Healing at the pool story, and both are very similar. Sometimes though it’s much more helpful o have a flatter version of a craft for kids to store or take away. This craft again features Bethesda pool and has a great story prompt by using the picture of the invalid before Jesus arrived printed on his mat ready to unfurl and tell his story.

 
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This worksheet about the healing at Bethesda pool, it looks at the key question Jesus asks the invalid and how getting what we want can have consequences. It’s a sheet designed to use in small groups though it would be possible to complete independently. The sheet gets the kids to unscramble, identify, ponder, imagine, reflect, and finally solve the maze at the end.

To complete the worksheet you will need something to write and draw with as well as a bible or copy of the story.

The PDF can can be downloaded by clicking on the image.
 

Here are the images you need for the hero’s attributes linked to The Healing at the Pool.
Each hero set contains a high quality graphic of the character, a take home bible card and a colouring page.

The images are displayed small here, click on the image you wish to have, then save the image that loads.
(Please note : these images have no watermark but are not copyright free, they are only intended for classroom use.)

English

Extra Graphics

Some crafts open our eyes to a point in the story we sometimes forget to really examine. This little scene shows Jesus finding the yet to be healed invalid by the pool. It opens us to questions about the other ill people who witnessed this encounter, to questions about how the pool was seen to be healing and how we sometimes give up on our dreams. It’s also a rare JWL craft that’s best printed without colour so the children can add their own details in.

 
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Healing is an odd theme to base games around, illness isn’t usually a fun topic. these games therefore concentrate on the pool, the question, and the social position the invalid may have felt he held.

In the mat – you’ll need some towels or bedding rolls for this game as well as a box of objects. In was usual for beggars and the ill to sit on a thin mat which would have rolled up easily, but inside this roll you could hide things. demonstrate this by using a piece of paper and show how it doesn’t drop out. tell the children that they each have a mat (towel or bedroll) and that they must take an object from the box, roll the mat and transport the object safely to the other side of the room. you can either make this competitive or a team task. talk about how little the invalid would have been able to carry with him each day.
 
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If you want the teachers page then please click on the image for the pdf.

Today’s hero is the invalid by the pool because he shows us the gift of wanting.

Essential Teachers notes:
Bethesda’s healing pool had five colonnades, four to surround it and one through the centre. It’s safe to assume the man having been there so long would have held a social position as well as a ‘better’ spot for observing the crowds that passed through. While the healing can be overshadowed by the breaking of Sabbath rules and the leaders to persecution I’d deliberately not gone in that direction. Equally I’ve shied away from Jesus’ inference that his illness was caused by his sin. Rather than dwell on the surrounding elements this story focuses on the healing itself and the desire or ‘want’ the un-named hero has for being well.

Main Passage : John 5:1-14

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