Jesus' Fourth Sign Series

Introduction

Carolyn Weber has written a book that is titled, Surprised by Oxford: A Memoir.

Weber grew up in Canada and was awarded a graduate scholarship to study Romantic Literature at Oriel College of Oxford University in England.

She arrived at Oxford as a feminist from a loving but broken family, suspicious of men, and intellectually hostile to all things religious.

Her memoir chronicles her encounter with the Jesus of the Bible and her eventual conversion to him.

One of the chapters in her book is titled, “Signs, Signs, Everywhere Are Signs.” She tells how one of the welcome events for new graduate students at Oriel College was a day trip to the famous Stonehenge monument.

Carolyn (or Caro, as she is known to everyone) was assigned to ride in a car with a British girl named Hannah. Hannah had grown up in India and was not very familiar with the British countryside.

They traveled for a long time. Realizing that they needed help, Caro and Hannah decided to ask a toothless farmer for directions to Stonehenge.

“Why, it’s at least twenty kilometers back, love.” He coughed as he pulled a pipe from his pocket. “Didn’t you see the signs?” Then he added with a wink, “The countryside’s covered in them” (Carolyn Weber, Surprised by Oxford: A Memoir [Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2011], p. 38).

I enjoyed reading that section in her book because it reminded me of my struggle to read the road signs when I came to the United States from South Africa.

Some signs are universal. Other signs are local.

It is often hard to understand the local signs.

The Apostle John wrote The Gospel According to John. Jesus had done thousands of miracles. John selected just seven of these miracles, which he called “signs,” to help his readers “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing [they] may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

Each of the seven signs points to a different truth about Jesus.

The first sign was in John 2:1-11, where Jesus turned the water into wine in Cana in Galilee. That sign showed that Jesus is the Christ who initiates the new covenant.

The second sign was in John 2:12-17, where Jesus cleansed the temple in Jerusalem. That sign showed that Jesus is the new temple.

The third sign was in John 4:43-54, where Jesus healed the official’s son in Capernaum (although Jesus was in Cana in Galilee at the time of the healing). That sign showed that Jesus is the Son of God who grants life by the word of his power.

Today, we are going to look at Jesus’ fourth sign, the healing of the invalid.

Scripture

Let’s read John 5:1-15:

1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.”

Lesson

The fourth sign in John 5:1-15 teaches us that Jesus is the Son of God who makes people spiritually whole.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. Jesus Went to Jerusalem (5:1)

2. Jesus Healed an Invalid (5:2-9a)

3. Jesus Provoked a Controversy (5:9b-15)

I. Jesus Went to Jerusalem (5:1)