It is at the Pool of Bethesda that Jesus healed a paralytic man who longed to enter the healing waters of the pool but had no one to help him into the waters. Many people sought the healing waters of the pool (at the time it was common in both Jerusalem and the Greek world for the waters of certain pools to be considered to possess healing powers) and the belief at Bethesda was that the first person to enter the 
pool when the waters were stirred up would be healed. When the paralytic tells Jesus he can never get into the water quickly enough Jesus heals him. (Jn 5:1-15)
There was a long history of healing at the site and the Romans developed medicinal baths at the Bethesda Pool until two centuries after Jesus. Later the Christians of the Byzantine and Crusader controlled period of Jerusalem built a chapel and church over the Bethesda Pool complex.
Due to the site being covered by later chapels and churches, the Bethesda Pool site is a complex site. However, two basins have been excavated and it appears to have been a mikveh, or ritual bath. Archaeological evidence shows that the southern basin had broad steps with landings, (indicating that it was indeed a mikveh) while the northern basin provided a reservoir from which fresh water flowed south into the mikveh. John recording of the healing indicates that the Bethesda Pool is described as having five porticoes which suggest a five-sided pool. This was considered by most Biblical historians as being so unlikely that they dismissed the story of the healing as an unhistorical literary creation. When this site was excavated, not only was it discovered that the corners of the pool were more than 90 degrees but also that the pool had two basins separated by a wall making it a five-sided pool with a portico on each side.
Pool of Bethesda Video
Pool of Bethesda Video
Pool of Bethesda Video
Pool of Bethesda, Jerusalem Video
The Bethesda Pool, Site of One of Jesus’ Miracles Video
Pool of Bethesda: Lame Man Healed Video – See the place and hear the amazing story about how Christ healed a man who had been lame for 38 years!
The Bethesda Pool, Site of One of Jesus’ Miracles Article from Biblical Archaeology Review
philip howarth 