5 31 15 The Sabbath Healing at the Pool John 5:1-18
When you are sick for a long time, what is your hope? I want to get well; if you are a person of prayer, you would be praying for good health. If you were paralyzed for 38 years, would you have lost hope of ever walking again? The answer would be, “Of course! Nothing has changed in all these years so why should today or tomorrow be any different?” Such a case is recorded in John 5 (NAS) in today’s passage.
1 After these things (after an indefinite period of time) 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, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda,(Meaning House of Divine Mercy) having five porticoes. 3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, {this next phrase and verse 4 were most likely added in a later manuscript as a historical note to explain why people waited in such large numbers by the pool: it is in brackets in some translations or maybe added as a footnote} [waiting for the moving of the waters; 4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.]
HISTORICAL SETTING
A few historical notes in verses 1-4: 1. We don’t know for sure which Feast is referred to here; it could be the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Dedication) There are three other Passovers mentioned in John which would make Jesus’ ministry between 2-3 years in length. If this was another Passover which Jesus attended, then the length of His ministry would be between 3-4 years.
This “sheep gate” (called Nehemiah’s sheep gate) was a small gate on the northeast side of ancient Jerusalem and archeology has uncovered the remains of the pool and the five colonnades. It is thought by some that this pool was actually used to clean sheep that were coming into the city to be presented for sacrifices and so it would have been considered unclean by the Jewish leadership and practicing Jews. Upper class Jews would not sit around this pool hoping to be made well, because only the unclean sat there, the hopeless, sick, paralyzed beggars would hope that the rumor was true that if the waters were stirred by an angel, the first one in would be healed. The Leadership knew the superstition to be untrue but did nothing to stop the unfounded hope: In their thinking, at least those kinds of people were not on the main streets.
A STRANGE QUESTION AND A DIVINE HEALING
Look at verse 5 “A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, "Do you wish to get well?" 7 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet (a poor man’s mattress or roll up pad) and walk." 9 Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.
You would have to think that the question Jesus asked was pretty strange, especially considering that the average life span of men in that time was around 40 years old. You’ve been lame your entire life, 38 years without any so-called “normal life”, no occupation, no way to support yourself, your only friends are in the same situation as you, and a stranger picks YOU out of a crowd (and that is exactly what Jesus did: He chose on that day the person he was going to heal, the man did not come seeking Jesus) and Jesus says; “Do you wish to get well?” JESUS TAKES THE INITIATIVE HERE. HE COMES TO THE LAME MAN AND the lame man doesn’t even know who he is.
You notice that the man doesn’t say what most of us would say: “Are you kidding me? Of COURSE I WANT TO GET WELL!” But he seems to tell Jesus what he feels is the reason for his continued sickness: I haven’t been able to be the first person into the pool, that’s why I’m not well. Evidently his focus for the cure had been on the WATER and he never saw beyond the water as the cure. Getting into the water first was his hope, even though that was only rumor and superstition. I imagined this: If all these beggars are sitting around the pool staring at the water and waiting for a breeze to “move the water” how would they know who got in first! MOST LIKELY no one ever got healed, but when you are in a hopeless and desperate situation, you are likely to try anything! People still do that today don’t they?
This miracle is one of those in which the miracle by Jesus preceded the man’s faith, as a matter of biblical fact, FAITH IS NOT EVEN MENTIONED…EVER…in connection with this miracle. Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, declares a powerful, supernatural, healing command: “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk." The Word from the Word who was made flesh was entirely sufficient to heal perfectly and entirely that which had been broken for 38 years. Immediately the man’s muscles functioned and he knew how to walk. He did not have to go to physical therapy, he needed no medicine or period of recovery, the atrophy was gone, and he could obey the command of Jesus. Jesus sought him, Jesus saw his need, and Jesus alone healed him physically without any mention of faith because HE PERFORMS THE WORKS OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD. Jesus promotes faith in himself as the appropriate response that we should have to God Himself. Jesus draws us to God; He is a conduit to God because He is God in the Flesh. Let’s look at 9b.
The AFTERMATH OF THE HEALING
9b “Now it was the Sabbath on that day. 10 So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet." 11 But he answered them, "He who made me well was the one who said to me, 'Pick up your pallet and walk.'" 12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Pick up your pallet and walk '?" 13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you." 15 The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.”
This section is shocking, pitiful, interesting and ironic at the same time. Jesus healed on the Sabbath and initially the Jews did not challenge Jesus about that (although the tradition of the elders centered on Sabbath, food laws and circumcision) but they accused the healed man of breaking an oral tradition, a tradition which was made by man, not given in God’s Law: “According to Jewish tradition, the man was violating a code that prohibited the carrying of an object from one domain to another; in the present instance, his mat. Apparently, it was permissible to carry a bed with a person lying on it, but not one that was empty. At this point, Jesus is accused not of violating the law himself, but of enticing someone else to sin by issuing a command that would have caused that person to break the law.” (“JOHN”, A. Kostenberger, p. 181) Jesus was accused of enticing someone to break a law of the Pharisees, not one of God’s laws.
The man knew nothing about Jesus, period, not even his name, and he gives no honor to Him but instead he shifts the blame of carrying his mat on the Sabbath to Jesus. Any thought that the man had faith in Jesus and that it was his faith that was somehow responsible for His healing is negated here. Jesus performed the miracle with the man having NO FAITH.
In verse 14 we read: “Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "Behold, you have become well; this implies that he was permanently healed. Maybe others who were first into the pool had a temporary or partial healing due to their own hope, which later disappeared. This happens today too, and people sometimes receive placebos and can feel better immediately but only temporarily.
But Jesus continues: “Do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you." We know that not all sickness is caused because someone sins, although there would be no sickness if mankind had never sinned. Sometimes sickness IS a direct result of particular sins. We have plenty examples of that all the time, but the structure of the sentence in the Greek implies that sin is involved in this man’s sickness, somehow and we don’t know the specific, but in any case, Jesus is commanding the man to stop from a pattern of sin in his life.
ALL UNBELIEVERS are in a pattern of sin and unbelief that will eventually bring them to eternal destruction and damnation unless one is given a new birth from above, a spiritual gift of God to turn in repentance to Him alone and receive forgiveness and life. To receive eternal damnation is a plight far worse than any physical sickness could ever be.
TWO NEW BATTLES BEGIN
WE close with verses16-18: “For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But He answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working."18 For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”
And so these are the two new battles which have begun and will be ongoing: the First is that Jesus is a Sabbath breaker and the second is that He is a blasphemer who claims to be equal to God. In actuality Jesus was NOT breaking the Sabbath but encouraging others to break the oral manmade traditions, and so the leaders showed contempt toward Jesus because He condemned their incorrect interpretation of Sabbath Law. Ultimately they will view His Sabbath healings as violations of the Sabbath.
He answers: "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working." The literal translation of this section is THE Father of me, (which is equal to MY Father of me) until now works and I, I work.” This is a very emphatic statement which demonstrates an extreme closeness between the YHWH (Yahweh of the Old Testament) and the Jesus who is walking the earth, eating, sleeping, speaking and HEALING with no more than HIS WORD. Jesus claims the same freedom with regard to the Sabbath that belongs to God Himself. When Jesus says “My Father”, He is expressing the utmost, special, exclusive, unity in very nature and relationship that He has always had with the eternal God YHWH revealed in the Old Testament. The Jewish leaders knew exactly what Jesus claimed and their unjust charge of blasphemy against Jesus would eventually be acknowledged in the Jewish religious court and He would be crucified for sinners, which is the reason He came to this sin-soaked world.
All who are drawn by God to the cross in submission and repentance know the price that Jesus paid, the sinless One became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. We must believe, receive and trust this Jesus, or we will be condemned. Praise His Holy Name for such a Savior and glorious salvation in Him alone by grace: It is His Work, not ours. To God be the Glory. Amen and Amen.
OUTLINE
1-3a: History and Setting
1. Sheep Gate and Pool: small opening in the wall, north gate of temple
2. Bethesda: House of (Divine) Mercy
3. The superstition of the pool was tolerated by the religious leaders.(vs.3b,4)
5-9a: A Divine Healing and A Strange Question:
1. Jesus asked a seemingly strange question: "Do you wish to get well?"
2. Jesus “knew” the man supernaturally and picked that ONE from the crowd.
3. The man could not see beyond the water as a cure: This Miracle Precedes Faith.
4. Jesus gave a supernatural command.: His Word alone was sufficient.
5. Jesus teaches about sin and sickness.
9b-15: The Aftermath of the Healing.
1. The man was accused of breaking an oral tradition.
2. Jesus healed on the Sabbath, and was accused of enticement.
3. The healed man shifts the blame of carrying his mat to Jesus.
16-18: Two new Battle Begins
1. The new controversy concerning the Sabbath begins.
2. The Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ
