It is important to our purposes here, to briefly discuss the chronology of the events recorded in the first 18 verses of John chapter 5.
Jesus has just come from Galilee, where the gospel writers tell us He was performing many miracles and teaching the people.
It is very near the end of the second year of Jesus’ ministry. He has reached the summit of His popularity with the people; not necessarily for the right reasons, but because of His miracles and His method of teaching that so freed them from the drudgery and bondage inherent in the teaching of the scribes.
So Jesus of Nazareth is a well-known name by now; a topic for much discussion and speculation and debate for disciples, seekers and even His enemies.
It is in this setting that we find Jesus going to the pool of Bethesda, near the sheep gate, a pool that has 5 entry ways, and is surrounded by what the author defined as a ‘multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered’.
We don’t know if Jesus performed other miracles while He was at the pool, either before or after approaching this man, and that fact alone indicates to us that John had purpose in telling of this one man’s confrontation with our Lord.
The passage tells us that the man had been an invalid for 38 years. Notice it does not say that he had been by the pool for 38 years; but he must have been there for quite some time, or at least had friends or family taking him there often, as verses 3 and 4 say that an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons, and in verse 7 the man indicates that he has tried more than once to get into the water but hat someone always got there before him.
So with all that in mind, isn’t it puzzling (at least on the surface), that Jesus would approach him and ask the seemingly ridiculous question, “DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL?”
John has already told us that Jesus saw him lying there and “knew that he had already been a long time in that condition”.
So the approach at first appeared foolish. No sick person would choose to remain sick. On the other hand, the phrasing of Jesus’ question reveals to us that he already also knew the condition of the man’s heart, as is made evident by the man’s response.
He did not say, “Yes, of course I want to be well!”
He did not say, “Well, no-duh!”
He did not ask who this was who was speaking to him, or challenge His ability to correct the problem.
His answer seems to come from a psychological makeup that has resigned itself to its fate and has accepted the inevitable. His answer reveals that the man was placing the blame for his condition on what somebody else had NOT done for him.
In the words of Merrill Tenney, “He was bound by his circumstances and could rise no higher than a futile complaint.”
In retrospect, Jesus’ next command seems almost as out of place as His original question. First, He asks the man if he wants to be well.
Notice that He didn’t say, “Do you need help getting to the pool” and He didn’t say, “Do you have faith to be healed”.
But in response, not to faith - not even to a positive answer - He says, “TAKE UP YOUR PALLET, AND WALK”
This was not a response to prayer (so far as we know), and it wasn’t because Jesus had been given any clear indication that the man wanted to get on with a normal life and be set free from the chains of his physical condition.
In point of fact, it may be the clearest example we have in the gospels, of what the Lord meant when He told Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY UPON WHOM I WILL HAVE MERCY, AND COMPASSION UPON WHOM I WILL HAVE COMPASSION”.
Not only are we not shown any evidence of faith in the man by the pool, we also are not shown any evidence of gratitude.
In other accounts of Jesus’ miracles, we see people giving thanks to God. We hear a man testifying, “I was blind, and now I see’. We see people falling at Jesus’ feet and declaring Him both Lord and God. We even have the story of the leper who was so excited he came back later, searching for Jesus, for the sole purpose of thanking Him.
Not this man. He picked up his pallet and walked away, apparently without a word. When the Jews criticized him for carrying his pallet on the Sabbath (compassionate bunch, weren’t they?) he pointed the finger. “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Take up your pallet and walk’.”
Did the Jews expel him from places of worship like they did the man blind from birth in chapter 9?
Apparently not. Verses 14 says Jesus “found him in the temple” later on.
Then, we’re given a little insight into this man’s life by Jesus’ exhortation: “Behold, you have become well, {do you note the absence of the phrase, ‘your faith has made you well’?}do not sin anymore so that nothing worse may befall you.” -parenthesis mine-
So here is a case where calamity has befallen a man as a direct result of sin, and for all we know, 38 years on his back still did not make him look up to God. We won’t know for sure I suppose until we get there, but we see one more small piece of this man before he completely drops out of history:
“the man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well”.
Now as I mentioned in the beginning, Jesus and the things He was doing and saying had become a household topic by now; and it is very safe to assume, since the Jews were constantly confronting Him in public, that everyone was also aware that there was friction between Jesus and the Jewish leaders.
So the last time this man is mentioned - his ‘15 minutes of fame’ - ends with him running to the enemies of the One who gave him health and snitching Him off.
OK. In going through this passage I’ve simply laid the groundwork for what I want to say to you.
One of the things that came to my attention personally when I began studying and researching the Life of Christ for a Sunday School class a few years ago, is that it is so easy to get caught up in the events themselves, and the stories of these individuals and how their lives are affected by contact with the Savior, WE FAR TOO OFTEN FORGET TO SPEND TIME CONTEMPLATING WHAT JESUS HAD IN MIND; WHAT HIS PURPOSE WAS IN EACH INSTANCE; INDEED, HOW IT FIT INTO HIS MISSION AND MORE SPECIFICALLY, WHAT EXAMPLE HE IS SETTING FOR US IN IT!
So I want to spend the last few minutes of this sermon looking at HIS EXAMPLE OF COMPASSION, HIS EXAMPLE OF PURPOSE, and HIS EXAMPLE OF OBEDIENCE.
First, His example of compassion.
One of the great prayer warriors and hymn writers of church history, Charles Wesley, knew whereof he spoke, as he penned the words to the great song of the church, “And Can It Be?”
“And can it be, that I should gain an interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain; for me, who Him to death pursued?
AMAZING LOVE! How can it be, that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”
One of the primary examples for Godly living I see displayed in the life of Christ, is that He knew no undesirables. There was no one counted unworthy of His compassion, His mercy, His forgiveness. He healed those who did not ask, He showed mercy to those who deserved wrath, He often forgave those who had not outwardly repented; because He will have mercy on whom He chooses, and show compassion to whom He chooses.
We find it very easy to have pity on those we see as innocent and undeserving of affliction.
Think about it; who gets our teary-eyed sympathy quickest - a beautiful young college girl who was raped on campus; or a hardened prostitute who was raped in an alley? Don’t they both have a right to say ’no’? A wide-eyed starving little boy in an ad for missions-giving; or a dirty, ragged looking man propped up against a public building in one of our major cities? Don’t they both feel hungry?
But through eyes blurred by sin, we don’t see people the way Jesus sees them, do we?
When a madman bombed the Federal building in Oklahoma City we were heart-broken. When the shooting took place in Littleton Colorado we were in shock and grief for everyone involved. We are outraged when we think of little children and unsuspecting adults who are so thoughtlessly sacrificed simply to punctuate whatever twisted political or social statements these sick minds have to make.
It is to our shame, that we tend to gloat over the misfortune of those with whom we disagree. Some years ago I read an article in Christianity Today, where several prominent church leaders and Christian celebrities were asked to answer the question “If I was in the right time and place, would I assassinate Idi Amin?” Now for those who don’t remember Idi Amin, you will still get the point if you just substitute his name with Sadam Hussein or any other crazed, murderous dictator of a nation in bondage.
Fortunately, most of them said that they would not (although a few admitted that the temptation would be strong). Unfortunately, several of them said that they would take advantage of that opportunity, and went on to justify their position.
No matter the heinousness of a man’s crimes however, no matter the depths to which anyone has sunk, no matter the disgust we experience with someone for their physical appearance, political ideals, their acts of immorality - whatever- the example given to us in the life of our Lord, is that God is not willing that ANY should perish, but that ALL should come to repentance (II Pet. 3:9).
Not only did Jesus not withhold Himself from anyone; He seemed to deliberately seek out the outcast, the unclean, the deserted, the helpless, the hopeless. He took the outcast and gave him a place of honor. He made the unclean clean. He helped those who could not help themselves. He gave hope to those who had long since resigned themselves to their fate.
He is our prime example of compassion, and we act in His name when we do the same.
Next, His example of purpose.
While it is true that we serve a God who wants to DO for us and expects us to demonstrate our faith by trusting Him in all life’s situations for all of life’s needs; I feel it is to our shame that often our spiritual growth seems to end there.
We many times act in such a way, and pray in such a way, and even teach in such a way, as to give the impression that God is the great pacifier. A divine fire extinguisher who hangs on the wall gathering dust and virtually forgotten until needed to quench a crisis situation.
Is it possible, that in our witnessing we would see greater response from people if we were careful to show them the great purpose they would have in a life guided and directed by God’s Holy Spirit? Ultimately, most people feel they can muddle through life’s situations on their own. They take a certain amount of pride in enduring a physical ailment, or a time of grief...whatever besets them...and in truth folks, the important thing on their mind is that if they can take care of things themselves, they won’t be beholden to anyone when it’s over.
I can remember a day when my father offered to pray with an elderly woman for healing of a chronic back problem, and she refused, apparently preferring to go on living with the pain than to humble herself to asking God for help. And this was a woman who claimed faith in Christ!
This man at the pool of Bethesda was seemingly indifferent to the fact that he was now able to pick up his bed and walk for the first time in 38 years. But behind it all, Jesus had a purpose.
Yes, He had compassion, and I’m sure compassion was a primary motivator in His seeking this man out and doing what He did.
But if you look carefully at the whole scene, you get a picture of Jesus coming into the city, going to the pool, walking straight up to the man, asking a dispassionate and seemingly impertinent question, then, as though no matter what the man said it wouldn’t have changed His intention, He says, “Pick up your pallet and walk”, then disappears into the crowd.
Now we can speculate somewhat as to what Jesus’ specific purpose was in this act, but the one thing we can say for sure because He said it, is in verse 17:
“MY FATHER IS WORKING UNTIL NOW, AND I MYSELF AM WORKING’.
In short, Jesus was doing the things He saw the Father doing. What does He see that we can’t see? Apparently, He sees the Father having compassion for the hopeless. Apparently, He sees the Father taking whatever steps called for, to complete His eternal plan...to bring to pass all that was declared must come to pass before the great consummation of all things...He saw that. And His purpose was to do the work given Him to do, whether it be talking to a despised Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well, or laying a bare hand on a leprous head, or speaking healing to an ingrate laying by a magic swimming pool, or trailing His own precious blood through the streets of Jerusalem for the dogs to lick up.
He is our great example of purpose. What is your purpose in God? Is He there to fix your owies; or is He invited to point you in the right direction for service, and light your path with His Word?
Finally, His example of obedience
I believe His longer-range purpose in this particular miracle was to further incite the ire of the Pharisees and thus spur them on toward the completion of His ultimate goal on Calvary’s hill. Does that sound rather radical? Let’s think it through.
I believe Jesus was in complete control, not only on the day of His arrest and mock trials and throughout His crucifixion, but throughout His ministry. I believe He was in control in all circumstances. Furthermore, I believe that His greatest tool, His greatest source of power to control those circumstances, was His unfaltering and unwavering walk of obedience to the Father.
To His mother in Cana, He said, “My time is not yet”. When His own townspeople in Nazareth tried to throw Him off a cliff, He apparently used His divine powers to walk through their midst and avoid them (this He did several times that are recorded). After His visit with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, He “set His face toward Jerusalem”, KNOWING what waited for Him there; and if you read the gospels and look at everything that happened from then on in this light, you’ll see that not a motion, not a word was wasted. They were all a part of bringing to pass the things that must be fulfilled. Coming down from the mountain He said, “...it is written of the Son of Man that He should suffer many things and be treated with contempt”.
There were no surprises; He knew what was ahead and His every step was a step of obedience; a step toward home.
In our text today we see Him deliberately ‘finding’ the man in the temple (seeking him out) and revealing who He was. Did He know the man would run and tell His enemies? You bet He did; just as surely as He knew the man had been an invalid for many years!
How is this an example for us?
Our tendency is to go through life seeking our own good and comfort. The preamble of our Constitution assures us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...and boy, have we taken THAT ball and run with it! The rest of our time and efforts are spent trying to avoid that which is unpleasant to us - whether it be paying taxes, enduring pain, or fixing the plumbing in the bathroom.
The same nature that causes us to run like the wind from trials also entices us to avoid doing God’s will, or even desiring Gods will, because of the demands that obedience might make on us.
Jesus knew the price He would pay for exercising His healing powers, extending mercy and compassion on this ingrate by the pool. But it didn’t stop Him from doing the will of His Father. And what ultimately makes Christ our perfect example in everything is not so much the fact that He did them, but the final results of His work: approval of the Father, demonstrated by His resurrection from the dead (Rom.1:4)
Jesus is our example, not of freedom from responsibility, not of freedom from suffering, not of cleverly side-stepping trials, not even of finding the easiest or quickest way through tribulation; but of obedience that results in the approval of God, no matter what circumstances paved the road of obedience.
He is our great example of COMPASSION toward all, whether deserving or not...of PURPOSE in having as our goal in life the doing of the works that the Father gives us to do...and of OBEDIENCE in seeking to make each step along the way a step directly toward His ultimate plan for our life and the lives of those around us...TRUSTING HIM FOR THE OUTCOME, NO MATTER WHAT LIES IN OUR PATH.
The man from the pool either went back to his old ways and suffered a worse end than the beginning, or he saw the light later and bowed his head in an attitude of gratitude and worship. Each of us has been touched in some way by the same One who broke that man’s chains, and each of us has to make the same choices that man did.
The Pharisees were so devoid of compassion and mercy that the man’s healing from a 38 year old infirmity meant less than nothing to them; and only incited them to redouble their efforts to kill Jesus. Maybe some of those who were there that day saw the light, and bowed their head in an attitude of repentance and worship.
We don’t know; it’s all in God’s hands. But our Lord’s example, recorded here by John, and the testimony of the Holy Spirit through the writer to the Hebrews, is that the author and perfecter of faith, “...through obedience in the things which He suffered, became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation”.
Wouldn’t it be great to know in the end, that by following His examples we became for those around us a light pointing them to the source of eternal salvation?
