DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL? (JOHN 5:1-14)
The Ice Bucket Challenge is all over the papers, TV and internet. Participants from celebrities to businessmen and politicians are dared to have a bucket of iced water poured over their heads. Why? Many have forgotten the reason. It is to raise money and improve awareness of the fight against ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) or Lou Gehrig's disease. The challenge is for participants to pour a bucket of ice water on themselves and then post a video of it on social media while nominating three other people to do the same. People who fail to take the challenge will have to donate $100 to the ALS Association.
The Hong Kong non-profit chapter of ALS usually raises HK$10,000 a month for the disease, but so far it raised a total of HK$9 million (Aug 26, 2014) to help patients with renting equipment and the office with long-term planning.
Paralysis is a loss of muscle function in part of the body. It can be partial or complete, temporary or permanent, and natural or accidental. Most patients feel no pain in the paralyzed areas of their bodies and have no control over how those muscles move. Paralysis include medical condition such as a stroke, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis (MS), cerebral palsy, post-polio syndrome and others.
John chapter 5 tells of a sick man in Jerusalem whom Jesus healed on a feast of the Jews. The fourth gospel is quite unlike to the first three gospels in the New Testament when it comes to the Jewish backdrop and involvement, including Jesus’ early observance of the Passover and his frequent trips to Jerusalem (John 2:13). The presence of the “Jews” were recorded no more than six times each in the three gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, but they made their presence felt 71 times in John’s gospel, so something had to give when they were around. The Jews had no holiday spirit nor were they in festive mood. There are three “not” (vv 7, 10, 14) in the passage to describe the opposition and obstacles the man had to overcome. John’s gospel is the backdrop of the most hostile reception Jesus received because the Jews “sought to kill” Jesus repeatedly (John 5:18, 7:1, 19, 20, 25, 8:37, 8:40) – a charge found in John only, and this account started it all (John 5:18)
What are the burdens and baggage in your life? How do you overcome the blows and barriers? Why is bravery needed in weakness or wellness?
Break The Snare of Suffering
1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 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.” (John 5:1-8)
Sickness, illness and disease have a powerful grip over people as testified by the MERS scare and panic in Tsing Yi, Hong Kong. It started in the morning at 9 am, June 10 2015, when a patient made a visit to a clinic for fever and respiratory symptoms. The 22 year-old woman visited Seoul from May 23 to 27. Next, ambulance men in protective gear arrived at the private clinics to ferry suspected MERS patients to hospitals. On the same day the MERS outbreak in Korea saw the number of cases hit 108, including 13 newly confirmed and brought the death toll to nine.
What touched a nerve with citizens was three health professionals wrapped from head to toe - resembling what was done during the 2003 SARS outbreak - arriving at the Tsing Yi clinic in an ambulance to send a feverish woman to Princess Margaret Hospital. The Fire Services Department said ambulancemen are required to gear up in a gown, mask, goggles, disposable cap, gloves and rubber boots in confirmed and suspected cases when the health alert is serious. The QHC clinic and another two adjacent closed for the day for disinfection. False online rumors about the woman being a confirmed case saw shops in Maritime Square empty of customers. Pictures of police setting up metal barriers to cordon off the clinic went viral, and then a tumble in the stock market. (“MERS panic,” The Standard June 11, 2015)
The man in John 5 was simply known as the man who with a disease not for eight, 18 0r 28 years, but 38 years, far longer than anyone else in the Bible, almost the first half of a person’s life. The two Greek words to describe his disease (vv 5, 7) are similar to Lazarus’ sickness (John 11:1, 2, 3, 4, 6). He was without strength (astheneia) in Greek, not technically paralyzed, but practically disabled. No one was sick longer than him in the Bible. Not the woman who was diseased with an issue of blood for 12 years (Matt 9:20, Mark 5:25, Luke 8:43) or the woman with a bent back for 18 years (Luke 13:11). Those who are sick the longest have no will to live, no one to love and no help for long. The Chinese say those sick for a long time have no filial child.
Time and again he lost his spot and chance to someone more mobile or with means. Every one was a step faster than him and every day was a long day for him. A verse dropped by textual critics, who opposed its late historical entry into the Bible, suggests the help of an angel to stir the waters of the pool to heal the first person to step into the pool (John 5:4). It was more fiction than fact because no person could testify or had testified of its merit.
With no angel, strength or friends, the man was always second best even on a good day. With God, however, nothing is impossible and “never” is inexistent. There was no reason for Jesus to be there that day, especially with the Jews’ desire to kill him (v 18). It was not a temple or synagogue he frequented. The victim was not a ruler of the Jews (John 3:1) or a nobleman (John 4:46), a child (John 4:46), but a paralytic. Jesus was there to change his life more than to cure his illness, as demonstrated by his question to the man: “Do you want to get well?” (KJV: “Wilt thou be made whole?”) The verb “be made” is an infinitive, so it should be translated with a purpose “TO be made whole.” It amounts to saying, “Have you lost your purpose, passion and perseverance for life?” Jesus never offered the man healing (therapeuo) or cure, but wholeness (“be made whole”) or wellness – “get well” (vv 6, 9, 11, 14, 15).
The man’s first few words out of his mouth in Greek, including the first “not,” understandably fell short: “Lord, not a MAN I have (present tense)…”followed by a purpose clause or hina subjunctive to reply in kind Jesus’ purpose clause (To be made whole): “to (hina) help me” (v 7) or in Greek “THAT he (somebody) might CAST/THROW me into the pool.” For too long he had confused his purpose and lost his focus. He was dependent on men, not God. His usual voice of regret amounts to, Nobody knows about me, Nobody cares about me, and Nobody can help me. Therefore he was conditioned to lose his chance, look with regret, labor in vain, live another day and lick his wounds. With Jesus, there is today, tomorrow and thereafter. He is “Lord” means none is lost. But to be healed, one must defer to the Lord, and not depend on people and self. You can rest in Him instead of relying on yourself. You can look down on yourself or look up to Him.
Break the Spirit of Slavery
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 Jews 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.'“ 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.
Orthodox Jews are very particular about observing the Sabbath. They do not work, transport or carry things or people from one domain to the other on the Sabbath, including house keys, prayer books, canes or walkers, and even infants, so the sages of the Talmud devised a way to allow for carrying in public without breaking the rule. Through this means, called an eruv, communities are able to turn a large area into one that is considered, for Jewish law purposes, a large private domain, in which items may be carried.
The Los Angeles Eruv is one of the largest in the nation and encloses most of the Los Angeles metro area. Erected in 2002, the eruv has a circumference of about 40 miles and is enclosed by the 405 freeway on the west, the 101 freeway on the north and east and the 10 freeway on the south. The space within 15 feet high fishing line or wire is considered one space and people will be able to transport children in strollers or adults in wheelchairs within it without breaking the law. http://www.neontommy.com/news/2011/02/freedom-within-bounds-inside-la-s-eruv-communities
To test the man’s understanding of lordship, obedience and faith in order to be made whole, Jesus commanded him in the imperative mood to do three things: “rise,” “take” up his bed and “walk.” He did not ask, “Can you get up?” Do you want to pick up your mat? Can you walk?” All three are imperatives – rise, take and walk. You might be surprised to know Jesus’ emphasis. The imperatives were repeated a few times in the passage as a recollection of what happened. The first imperative disappeared quickly. The least repeated is “get up,” which occurs one time only in verse 8. Interestingly, the verb “take up” (vv 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) overshadows and outshines the verb “walk” (vv 8, 9, 11, 12) by a nose of 5-4 margin. Why is “take up” so crucial? It is best explained by the Jews’ first remark to the healed man in verse 10: “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to CARRY your mat.” “Carry” and “take up” are similar in Greek. Rise and walk did not violate the Sabbath since everybody had to rise or walk, but “take up” was a gross violation of the Sabbath because it involved work - a law was broken, an object was moved, lifted or pushed, and energy was applied, dispensed and exerted.
The man had no choice if he wanted to be healed on the Sabbath. No matter what he did, he was working. The only time it was not considered work was for an angel to do the work for you and a person or a group to get you into the pool, but never on a Saturday or the Sabbath.
The next test was just as big with the introduction of the second NOT in verse 10 - it is the Sabbath day: it is NOT lawful for thee to carry thy bed (KJV). The first time he had no physical support, but now he had to supply the emotional or moral support for himself. The man’s private healing was made public, he had to defend himself before all as to what he had done and whose side he was on. The Jews wanted to make a scapegoat and an example out of him for breaking the law. He could have kept his mouth shut, but that was in vain because Jesus had “slipped away,” which is the rarest word in the Bible (v 13), translated as “withdrawn” (RSV) and “disappeared” (NRSV). There was anger, appall, apathy, accusation and abuse, no appreciation, admonishment, applause, affirmation, assurance, affection, admiration or congratulation from the Jews. Now he was tested in his wholeness.
Jesus left him purposely on his own and for his good. The “crowd” (v 3) had gathered for the first time in the book to hear the man confess that he had help and admit he followed orders in the imperative mood. The crowd and the Jews expected him to bear the consequences, break his silence and, in a sense, burn his bridges with the Lord (v 7 “kurios). The man with no strength discovered he had the strength to confess his Lord and confront the Jews. The man was not being clever or evasive; he did not know who healed him, which was a fact. In fact, he pointed the problem and shortened the imperatives to two – pick and walk (v 11), implying he followed orders. The imperative he skipped was “get up.” He did not tell a lie because the thing most Jews were concerned with was breaking the Sabbath, but he admitted to it.
Break the Spell of Sin
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him.
What is worse than anything in the world? The answers in the internet are cancer, torture, unrequited love, miscarriage, toothache, losing a child, war, evil, loneliness, hating, sleep deprivation, autistic child, and rejection. The true answer is: suffering in the world to come.
In the third NOT of the passage, Jesus said to the man, “Stop (NOT) sinning or something worse may happen to you” (v 14), which is remarkable because nothing few things are worse than 38 years of sickness and suffering. Jesus did not say sin is the worst thing in the world. Death, disaster and disability could be an occasion for the manifestation of God’s works (John 9:3). There is something worse than sin, which is sinning. It is the verb not the noun form that is worse than anything in the world. It is worse than affliction in the body, adversity from the devil or anguish of the mind. Sin is everywhere but it is succumbing to sin Jesus referred to, in the present tense.
There are few words inescapable from hell: the sorrow of hell (2 Sam 22:6, Ps 18:5), the pains of hell (Ps 116:3), hell and destruction (Prov 15:11, Prov 27:20. Matt 23:33), and lastly fires of hell (Matt 5:22, 18:9, Mark 9:43, 47, James 3:6, Rev 20:14) to a whole lake of fire.
Not even pain, destruction and suffering top the worst list. What is worse than pain? Eternal punishment (Matt 25:41, 46). What is worse than death? Eternal destruction (2 Thess 1:9). What is worse than suffering on earth? Suffering in hell. Sinning is worse than sickness because it is intentional. Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt 10:28) and “And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell” (Matt 5:30).
Hell is not only eternal separation from God, but a place of extreme endurance, endless regret and empty existence. The worst of all eternity, mentioned the most in the Bible, is eternal or everlasting fire (Matt 18:8, 25:41, 46, Jude 7, 21).
Conclusion: God is asking you today, “Do you want to get well?” You do not have to be under the slavery of sin, sickness and Satan. Tell the Lord why you lack faith presently. He understands your weakness and upholds you with His strength. Say to Him in prayer, “Lord, I want you to heal me body, mind and spirit. I admit I am a sinner and I need your salvation. Forgive me of my sin, be my Savior and Lord, heal my body and soul, let me not return to my previous life but follow you confidently. Lord, no matter what my problem, whatever my disease, sin and weakness - help me to entrust myself totally to you, heal me in Your time and in your way, change me to love you and follow you for a lifetime!”
Finally, are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? When life puts you in tough situations do you say “Why always me?” instead of “Why not me?” Do you ask in defeat “Why me?” instead of say it defiance “Try me!”
Victor Yap
Bible.ryl.hk (Grammar Bible)
Preachchrist.com (sermons)
