5 1Sometime 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 is surrounded by five covered porches. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.
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.’” —hey…not my idea—
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 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple…
Starting in Chapter 5 and going through Chapter 7 of John’s gospel there is a noticeable shift in Israel’s attitude toward Jesus…ranging from “I’m not sure” to outright rejection.
Chapters 5 and 7 describe the opposition that Jesus faced in Judea…while chapter 6 records the opposition in Galilee.
The first 16 verses of chapter 5…describes Jesus’ healing of a sick man on the Sabbath…this starts the beginning of that hostility…intensifying in chapter 6 when many of Jesus’ followers…unwilling to accept His teaching, abandoned Him. [6:66]
We see in Scripture that Jesus frequently chose to do miracles that alleviated people’s suffering…theologians believe that during the 3 1/2 years of Jesus’ ministry that He practically eliminated all disease from Israel for the duration of His ministry… ‘great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all’ [Matt. 12:15] Jesus did so many miracles that the Bible doesn’t record them all.
Chapter 5 starts off with Jesus going “up to Jerusalem” where he encounters a sick man in Jerusalem at the pool called, in Hebrew, Bethesda.
5:5 – “A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.”
Jesus sees Him and asks him
5:6 – “…Do you wish to get well?”
This is the same question Jesus has been asking for over 2000 years…but He’s altered the question a bit…do you wish to get spiritually well…some people have not yet reached the place where they’re ready to accept Jesus’s help.
They’re not helpless enough yet…they’re not ready to give up on their human efforts to solve their problems…they’re not ready to stop what they’re doing… they’re not ready to admit they cannot make it on their own…they’re still determined to get into the water on their own.
Jesus is asking this question of every person who has ever lived…that requires an individual response…you have to answer that question…if you say, “Not yet,” or, “No, I don’t,” then there is nothing more Jesus can do for you.
LOOK what the man answers…he completely fails to grasp the significance of Jesus’ offer…instead of saying…yea, I’d like that…instead of asking Jesus for healing…the man’s reply is more of an automatic well-rehearsed response without really hearing what has been asked.
He’s had 38 years of practicing his reply which is designed more at making people dig in their pockets for coins rather than being healed…telling the same story he’s been telling for decades…he isn’t expecting healing…he’s expecting pity or charity. He expresses his belief in the healing power of the pool over the possibility that Jesus can heal him…completely ignoring Jesus’ request of ‘do you wish to get well’
5:7 – “…Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up…”
We hear little hope in the man’s sad reply…the possibility that Jesus might heal him never entered his mind…in fact…he didn’t even know who Jesus was [13] …
this man’s only concern was finding a way to be the first one into the pool when the water began stirring. Like many people today…this man’s expectation of what Jesus could do for him was limited to what he believed was possible.
At times we hamper God as well… HOW…couple ways: 1) we restrain God in what He can do based on our limited understanding of what we think He can do…and 2) we limit God by our disobedience and disbelief.
For this man, his belief was in what the Jews believed was the secret to healing:
5:4 – From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had.
[[John 5:4…most reliable Greek manuscripts omit the last phrase of verse 3 and all of verse 4…was apparently added as a note to explain the stirring of the water]].
What seems clear is this stirring of the waters by an angel was a superstition that was believed by many…this man had more faith in a superstition about the stirring up of the waters healing him than he did that Jesus could heal him.
BUT Jesus exceeded his expectations and gave the crippled man far more than he could have ever expected…it’s God’s desire to do the same for us today…Paul writes ‘Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.’ [Eph 3:20]
God is unlimited in His abilities…we’re the ones that limit God…we restrain Him in what He can do based on our narrow understanding of what we think He can do… He’s only limited because of us…at times we find ourselves like the man at the pool forgetting that his power can exceed my expectations and do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.
5:8 – “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk…”
Jesus doesn’t ask him if he has the faith to be healed…Jesus doesn’t debate with the man about his superstitious system for being healed…instead…He tells him… ‘Arise’… ‘take up’ …’walk’ …in the Greek all these are in the imperative voice…all are commands…not a suggestion …Jesus is telling the man to…stand…carry…and walk… Jesus’ healing was always complete and instantaneous…with or without faith.
5:9 – “Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk”
The man had a choice…to be made ‘well’ required obedience and a willingness to take Jesus at His word…the man had to take a risk…a belief in who Jesus was.
That was not even a consideration in Jesus’ decision to heal him…Jesus didn’t ask the man about his faith or his beliefs…Jesus heals this man without the man showing or demonstrating any faith that Jesus could actually heal Him.
In fact…he doesn’t even know who Jesus is…we’re not even sure why Jesus randomly picked this man out from among the many that were gathered there.
We need to know something about this story…like the story last week of Jesus healing the official’s son…if we just look at this story on the surface, we come away with a distorted understanding of how God works in the lives of people today.
What’s unique about the story last week as well as this story is that neither story has anything to do with salvation…in fact…the man at the pool had more belief in the healing power of the pool than he did in Jesus.
As you read this account you are so eager for this man to ‘see the light’ and come to the realization of who Jesus is…you’re almost willing to accept this as proof that he does believe…but the man exhibited absolutely no saving faith in Jesus at all.
If he had become a believer why doesn’t John mention it…because this man’s healing has nothing to do with salvation…yet he was healed instantly…Jesus is demonstrating His divine power as the Messiah.
Here’s the difference between then and now…we cannot expect…based on Scripture, that Jesus works the same way in the world today…without a belief that Jesus is God’s Son…you are in essence rejecting Him and as a result have automatically disqualified yourself from receiving anything from God.
The response of ‘well I guess I’ll give God a try’ …or ‘well I guess it never hurts to ask’ is not the attitude you can have in approaching God and expect to be heard.
FOUR REACTIONS
FIRST REACTION—was towards the healed man — when they (the Jews) saw him…either at the pool…or as he walked through the streets…or in the Temple with his bed on his back…look at their reaction…WHOA what’s this…hey pal it’s the Sabbath day…don’t you know…you new around here or maybe you’ve just forgotten?
It was forbidden by the law to carry any burden on the Sabbath day [Nehemiah 13:15] carrying out and bringing in anything, from one place to another, is said to be work…and therefore was forbidden by the law.
Violation of the sabbath meant you could be stoned to death so you can imagine what this guy is thinking…having gone 38 years of not being able to walk I’d really like to hang around long enough to enjoy it.
Remember Jesus’s instruction to the man…rise up…pick up your pallet…and walk …now the man could have thought to himself…what I’m doing is in violation of the Sabbath…and since I really don’t know who this guy was that healed me…I’m betting he might be a stranger and he’s probably not familiar with Jewish laws…so how-about I do this:
I’ll have a friend put up my pallet tomorrow…or
It’s time to celebrate…I’ll come back and get it up later…or
I’ll just give it to the man next to me…his is kind a worn out.
The man was told to: “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk…” which he did.
Said it last week and I’m going to repeat it again this week…we see repeatedly throughout Scripture, see the importance of obedient faith…if we have true faith, we will be obedient to what God’s Word says and will respond with appropriate action …you can’t claim to have faith if you’re not obedient.
This is critical in understanding the importance of obedient faith…if a person professes to believe in Jesus as Lord of their life…but there’s only a scant evidence in their life that reflects that belief…that faith is not genuine.
SECOND REACTION – was towards Jesus.
5:16 – “For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.”
Actually…Scripture records seven miracles that Jesus performed on the Sabbath.
For the Jews…they don’t care that this man’s healed… all they know is this man has been a local fixture by the pool for thirty eight years…the priests couldn’t do anything for him…they didn’t have any power to help him…now he’s healed…but they don’t care about that…they only want to know when they can start chucking rocks.
For the Jews Jesus was not the God they wanted…they knew what to expect…but Jesus was not the Messiah they expected or wanted…people today are like that… they want a “god of my understanding” a homemade god…who fits their expectations.
Their views are not the views of any standard religion…for them…there is no judgement…no such thing as sin…if it feels good do it…he’s a god who treats everyone the same…where everyone gets saved…a god who is independent of Scripture…if that’s your god… then you have no god.
THIRD REACTION – Is the reaction of the healed man.
5:14 – “afterward Jesus finds him in the temple…
Why does Jesus find the man in the temple?
We’d like to think he’s there praising God and worshipping…I’d like to believe he’s showing gratitude for what has been given him…BUT…do you assume that just because someone goes to church that they’re there to worship God…that they’re there to worship Him in spirit and in truth…really?
People go to church for a lot of different reasons…just because people are in church is not proof of piety…people go to church out of duty…obligation…because going to church is what it means to be a Christian…to get their physical needs met…for personal gain…people go to church for a lot of reasons that don’t include worship, that’s the reason Jesus drove people out of the Temple.
For those going for the wrong reasons…worshiping in spirit and in truth is not one of them…when only 20% of professing Christians make it to church 3 out of 8 Sundays…for them I’m not sure worshiping in spirit and in truth is even a priority. https://churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/139575-7-startling-facts-an-up-close-look-at-church-attendance-in-america.html
In last week’s sermon I talked about the five stages of faith…the last stage was a ‘witnessing faith’ that includes not only telling others what God has done…but thanking God for what He has done…for a Christian there is no greater sin than ingratitude…not thanking God for what He has done…and for what He is doing.
I would like to believe that the man was in the Temple praising God and showing gratitude for what had happened in his life.
FOURTH REACTION – is of the Jews.
The Jews ignored the miracle…remember last week we talked about [John 4:48] – “…Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe”…why is it that the Jews would not believe…even after seeing the miracles Jesus performed?
Jesus said this as a prophetic utterance…not only of the Jews but as representing a whole class of people whose faith rests solely on outward signs and miracles as a confirmation of Christ being the Messiah.
Most of the world’s peoples…including here in the U.S., are power-oriented…they respond more readily to Christ through power…demonstrations…through healings …signs and miracles.
People are primarily curiosity seekers who come for the excitement…healing…and free food instead of hearing about faith…love… forgiveness…and redemption… because people on a whole are likely to have more response to demonstrations of power…than preaching.
This type of power had few if any lasting conversions…they saw the miracles but ignored them…WHY…because they were not devoted to Him as Lord…a prophetic statement that is just as accurate today as it was 2000 years ago.
SO…why is there no faith healing today…just mentioned one…this type of power had few if any lasting conversions…in Jesus’ case here’s how this works…one healing leads to many healings…once word gets out…by evening a horde of sick people are assembled outside His house…the more He heals the more come for healing…the emphasis switches from salvation to meeting people’s physical needs.
SO…where are all the TV faith healers of today…in times such as these why aren’t they up in New York City healing people…people are dying by the hundreds… where’s the faith healers…NO WHERE…because they can’t heal people…never have been able to heal people.
The only thing they’re good at is taking your money…these prosperity charlatans keep counting their money and there are plenty of people being duped into giving them money…they serve no purpose.
So does Jesus care about these people dying from coronavirus…of course He does …BUT…He also knows dying…for whatever reason…is a never-ending problem.
It’s easy to look at this story and see the excitement of a man being healed after 38 years of not walking…Jesus has meet the man’s physical needs…it’s a problem I’m having with Somerset apartments…giving them food but not giving them spiritual guidance.
It’s important to remember that Jesus’ primary mission was not to heal…but to proclaim the good news of the Gospel…His healing ministry was secondary…His mission for coming to earth was to meet man’s basic problem of sin.
Said it earlier…without a belief that Jesus is God’s Son…you are in essence rejecting Him and as a result have automatically disqualified yourself from receiving anything from God.