The Troubled Waters – Hope For Sinners

- can create problems: they will be respected by those around them

The priest and the Levites said that the solution was money. The ordinary people and sick onesbelieved that the solution was a miracle. In fact, the solution was not money or a miracle, but a PERSON.

V 2 says there was a gate, called THE SHEEP GATE. Jerusalem had many gates, some of the big, adorned, trough passed the military and religious parades; others were simple holes in the walls supported by a few wooden beams. There was a gate called BEAUTIFUL, the SPRING gate, the RUNNERS gate, and WATER gate…

Trough the Sheep Gate, which was very close to the Temple and to the pool, the animals were led for sacrifice. Century after century, in a slow endless procession, thousands of lamb passed through the Sheep Gate, symbols of the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world.

But the Bethesda patients, were with their back to the sheep gate, with their back to the only one solution to their miseries, and the faces toward the troubled waters. Water as symbol: multitudes, people… And stirred waters as a symbol? Just look at the evening TV news…

There was a “certain man, which was an infirm for 38 years”… For thirty-eight long years this man laid on his pallet beside the pool of Bethesda and waited. Seeing his face reflected by the water of Bethesda. 38 years. That’s a long time. Most of our congregation isn’t even thirty-eight long years old.

How long is thirty-eight years? ...Thirty-eight years is a long time to wait for anything, but it must have seemed like an eternity to this man. How long is thirty-eight years? Long enough that most people would stop believing. He laid down there because other people believed the water had healing power when stirred.

When Jesus saw him, he asked him a question, "Do you wish to get well?" Is that a question that Jesus even needed to ask? Certainly the man wanted to be well again, didn’t he? He had waited in the same place for 38 years, why else would he be there?

Let me ask the question another way, and if you don’t mind, I’ll get a little personal. Do you wish to stop repeating the same mistakes and going through the same cycles in your relationships, or does it feel safer to blame others instead of dealing with your issues?

Do you wish to get rid of your anger, or would you just as soon keep it? One year, two years, a decade, two decades… 38 years and beyond…

Many sick people were lying on the porches – the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed (NIV). Are you there? Are you blind, spiritually? Are you deaf and you cannot hear Jesus’ voice? Are you lame, are paralyzed and unable to do something for God and his church?

And Jesus walks in. On which row would He begin? Would He pay attention to the order in which the patients were laying down? The big donors? The priests’ clientele? But this would mean the validation of the force and money principle because whit money you can buy a god place near water. And a strong servant, able to throw you in…

Now look at Jesus. Jesus chooses to begin at the tail end. He stopped facing this paralyzed man, a helpless human being, one who would not be tempted to believe in karma, brain energies working out con-artists healers, impostors… healers like Benny Hinn, waiting for that slain in the spirit…