It Took a Miracle:
UNDERSTANDING THE HEART OF JESUS
John 5:1-16 7/27/97a BBC
Jesus Christ desires to be in personal and intimate relationship with each of us. He knows us better than we know ourselves, but do we really know Him? Most relationships are only casual based on surface knowledge. But to really know someone intimately we must know their heart.
1) Jesus Places Himself in the Midst of Hurting People (5:1-4) After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.
One way that you can understand the heart of another is asking the question, "What is their agenda?" What drives that person? What are they trying to accomplish in life? What do they do the things that they do? A quick way to determine a person’s agenda is by examining the where do they hang out and with whom?
A young man trying to climb the corporate ladder makes sure that he wears the right clothes, carries the right brief case, and hangs out with the right people in the business world.
Young people who aspire who make it big in acting leave their homes and travel to Hollywood to be in the right place, just as Nashville draws young singers, and New York draws apiring models.
I have even witnessed in the ministry that young preachers who want to be "somebody" in the SBC make sure they place themselves in the company of the right people at conventions and meetings. To really determine what makes a person tick is just examine where they spend their time.
Jesus was no different. As we examine the life of Jesus, the Son of God, the Master Teacher, we will discover that most of His time was not spent at the Temple where most religious leaders focused their activities. Also, He did not spend most of His time with the Social elite crowd who could have certainly helped His ministry both financially and politicly. Instead, so often as in this case we find Jesus placing Himself in the midst of hurting people.
The pool of Bethesda was located in the northwest side of Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate. Apparently this pool was spring fed and at certain times air bubbles trapped in the sub-terrain water system would come up through the pool causing the water to stir. thatthe stirring of the water was caused by an angel and the first person in the pool after the stirring would be healed of any infirmity. (***It must be noted that verse 4 is not found in any of the earliest and best manuscripts and must have been added later by a scribe who was trying to explain the moving of the water.) With this belief brought multitudes of hurting and desparated people who hoped for anything to bring them help. This had to be one of the most depressing parts of town. Can you imagine multitudes of lame, blind, and grossly disfigured people in one place. Certainly, most of the religious leaders stayed away from this place in fear of touching a person with an infirmity and not to speak of avoiding such a dreadful place. Can you imagine a place where there are multitudes of lame, blind, and badly disfigured people gathered together? This is exactly where Jesus found Himself as He had a heart for hurting people.
2) Jesus Desires to Help Those Who Cannot Help Themselves (5:5-9)
5Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" 7The 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." 8Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." 9And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.
There is an old saying that has floated around in our churches for years that goes something like this, "God helps those who helps themselves." Have any of you ever heard that saying? Have any of you ever used it? I am sure I have. This saying is so prominent that many probably think it is right out of Scripture. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Sure, our Lord has called us all to lives of responsibility and in areas that He has equipped us to help ourselves we are to do just that. But each of us will at times in our lives find ourselves in situations that are beyond our own help. This is where Jesus plays such an important role in humanity. He has come to help those who cannot help themselves. This is the very reason that He stepped out of heaven. If we could help ourselves in every matter then we would have no need of Jesus.
Here we find a man in a desparate situation and was unable to help himself. He had been lame for 38 years. He had no one to help him to the pool. He even believed in a false teaching. He seemed without hope. Yet, Jesus came to bring hope to the hopeless. This is the heart of Jesus.
3) Jesus Places Few Restrictions on Those Whom He Ministers
6When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"
Many times hurting people find themselves having to qualify in order to receive another’s assistance. In the guise of being “good stewards” we sometimes place many restrictions on those whom we will and will not help. It is quite interesting that the only question that Jesus asked this man was “Do you want to be made well?”
He did not ask the man about whether he had faith enough to behealed. He did not ask the man whether he believed that Jesuswas the Son of God. He did not question the man what he would do with his healing if he would be made well. As a matter of fact this man after he was healed turned Jesus in to those who wanted to destroy Him.
Jesus only wanted to know whether this man wanted to be made well. Jesus understood clearly that you cannot help someone that does not want to be helped. Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it, but there are many people who becomeso comfortable in their problems that they don’t want to be made better. They enjoy having others feel sorry for them. And some people if they did not have their problems to complain about then they would not have anything to talk about. Do you know anyone like that?
4) Jesus is More Concerned With the Needs of Individuals Than With the Laws of Man
10The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed." 11He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, ’Take up your bed and walk.’" 12Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, ’Take up your bed and walk’?" 13But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.
5) Jesus Uses Opportunities of Ministering to Physical Needs To Earn the Opportunity to Minister to Spiritual Needs (5:14)
14Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."
Jesus always teaches through His actions the importance of ministering first to the “felt” needs of the individual. An evangelist from South America shared the story of an evangelism encounter in an impoverished area when an old woman told him, “I can’t hear you because my stomach is growling so loudly.” Another has once said, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” We must earn the opportunity to address a person’s spiritual needs by first ministering to their physical needs and we must remember that our motive of concern for the person must always be pure. Then, and only then will their spiritual ears be opened to what we have to say.
