Help For The Helpless

Help for the Helpless

John 5:1-14

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

In the first part of John chapter five we are told of a miraculous event that happened when Jesus was on His way to one of the Jewish festivals. Which great feast of Israel Jesus was heading too, the Feast of the Tabernacles, Feast of Weeks of some other one, was not the focus of this story but instead a miracle that He performed near the Sheep Gate at two pools called Bethesda. Located at the “northeast corner of the old city Jerusalem,” the high priest Simeon had two large pools constructed in c. 200 BCE to supply water to the temple. “Each pool was trapezoidal in shape, and the overall length of the two pools (north to south) was about 318 feet. The smaller pool to the north was about 197 feet wide on its northern side and the larger southern pool was about 250 feet wide on its southern side.” It was located near the Sheep Gate, had five porches around it, and was known as the “House of Mercy” due to it being a site of miraculous healings. When the “intermittent springs that fed the pools” or more likely the angel of the Lord stirred the waters the first person that entered the pool was healed. These five great porches were filled with the impotent, blind, lame, helpless and wretched ones!

It should not come to a surprise to us the reader to learn that Jesus is not mentioned at the festival but at the place where multitudes of sick people were gathered desperately longing but with little hope of being the “one” that would be cured!

The Helpless Situation

It is at this point in the story that John introduces us to the depths of one person’s helplessness. The problem with the pools of Bethesda was that when the water stirred only the first person who entered it would be cured! How our hearts go out to the woman who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years (Mark 5:25-34), and the woman crippled for eighteen years (Luke 13:10-17) but John tells us that there is a man present in the crowd who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years (verse 5)! I guess this makes perfect sense for what chance did this man have to be quicker to get into the pool than those with withered hands, the blind or even the lame but still able to walk? John does not want us to miss out on the irony of this situation for the Great Physician Jesus Christ Himself was in their midst and yet in their helplessness and spiritual blindness not one of them called out “Son of David have mercy on me!” Lest we think too little of them and too much of ourselves, is not this story indicative of what humanity has always been like? Looking out upon this world that is not our home (Hebrews 13:14-16) are there not multitudes of hurting people, waiting for life to get better but year after year suffering in great pain and turmoil, feeling like they have no hope of being cured? “If you would turn down a back street and open some door, there you would see numbers, almost multitudes, of suffering, sorrowing, dying creatures” all around us! And even if one does not suffer from physical health issues are there not many more who in their spiritual deadness experience excruciating pain of being separated from God, always looking for but never find joy and peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7)? And while it seems foolish that the helpless did not recognize the Great Physician in their midst, whom of those suffering right now can honestly say that the planks in their eyes have not blinded them to the truth that God is not only indivisible present everywhere (Psalms 139) but also heals by a single command!

The Excuse and Cure

Knowing this man had been an invalid for 38 years Jesus asked him a provocative question: do you want to be healed (verse 6)? Obviously, the invalid wanted to be cured but was quick to state that it was not his fault the healing had not occurred, “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” (verse 7). One can almost hear this poor man’s voice crackle as he remembered all those times, he saw someone else receive healing and he was left to live a life of misery and pain! He sought help from others to receive the cure only to find them as preoccupied on “self” as he was! Jesus performed many miracles in Jerusalem and yet the crowd of blind, lame, and paralyzed people did not recognize the Great Physician Jesus was in their midst who had the power to heal all of them and yet none of them recognized Him. Like the invalid we are quick to look to others to help alleviate our suffering and pain and blind to the truth that the Great Physician is willing and able to heal not only our physical bodies but also our very souls! How easy it is to fall into a deep pit of despair when one does not know and make Christ the Lord of one’s life! It is at this point in the story that Jesus tells the invalid, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk” and at once the man was cured and he picked up his mat and walked away (verse 8)! This healing was very unusual for it was not done at the man’s direct request to Jesus but instead was the initiative of the Good Shepherd giving onto the sheep unmerited grace and mercy! O how many times has Christ done good to those who love Him (Romans 8:28) by speaking into their very hearts the message of hope that all things are possible for those who believe in Him (Mark 9:23)! Even if the man did not fully understand the depravity of his illness and lacked faith as tiny as a mustard seed that would move the mighty mountains (Matthew 17:20) of his infirmities, the Lord looked upon him with compassion and mercy and gave to him not what he deserved but what he so desperately needed!