John 5.1-15: Jesus heals the lame...I'm lame

  • Sam Ford
  • Oct 21, 2007
  • Series: Gospel According to John

John 5.1-17 - Jesus the surgeon

October 21, 2007

Sam Ford

 

I don't read the Bible honestly.

It's funny how people read the Bible.  I think a lot of people approach the Bible trying to either defend what they already believe or attack what someone else does.  It seems more rare for individuals to approach scripture with a bit of an open mind, allowing the truth of God to dictate exactly who He is and, in contrast, who I am. 

 

Studying this chapter of the Scripture this week has taught me a lot about myself.  I have found that I sometimes confuse who I am supposed to be in the story.  Everyone wants to be the hero-the good guy.  Everyone wants to attack the villain and hate the bad guy.  Here's the problem with that. 

 

In 1Corinthians 15, Jesus is described as the 2nd Adam. 

See, it is through the first Adam that we became sinful by nature.  Because of his willful SIN, Adam's world was twisted out of shape, and fell far short of God's perfection.  The 2nd Adam is not like the first.  In the first Adam we all die, in the 2nd Adam  (Jesus) we all live.  In the first Adam (Jesus) we all broke, in the 2nd Adam we're put back together. 

 

I'm not the second Adam.

But whenever we read a story in Scripture, I think we forget that we're not Jesus in the story.  If we read Genesis, we're always Abel (The good kid), never Cain.  If we read the story of David and Bathsheba, read about all of the sin he brings into his life, we think we're Nathan, the guy revealing it to him, not David.  When we read about Paul on the road to Damascus, we're the nice Christian Ananias, not a cold blooded Christian killer.  

 

It is no different in the gospel of John. 

In the last few weeks, we've read about Nicodemus a religious nut, a hoochfied Samaritan Woman, and last week we read about a desperate official.  Do we realize, that we are Nicodemus in the story, we are the Samaritan woman, and the desperate official.  Those are all the sons and daughters of Adam and Even, broken, twisted, falling short in some way of the glory of God.  Those are people we ARE like, and Jesus I the person we're supposed to BE like.

 

In today's passage, we read about a whiney, crippled, old man who is healed, even though he doesn't even express faith in Jesus.  And I've been struggling to find where I am in this passage.  All we have in this passage is the lame guy, Jesus, and the Jewish Pharisees who hate everyone. 

 

So, I've settled on the fact that I'm the lame guy. 

I'm lame.  Before Jesus he is simply helpless.  It's amazing that he's not dead...maybe he mind as well be. It's easy to say I'm weak, hurt, or injured...but am I crippled?  Am I broken so bad I can't even walk if I want to?  Am I so sick that I'm incurable?  Am I like a dead man?

 

Then I see this guy meet Jesus.  He does not pursue him, he doesn't even know who he is, but Jesus pursues him and knows who he is, and he offers genuine spiritual health versus temporary physical healing.

 

After this 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, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids-blind, lame, and paralyzed.

 

In Jerusalem again

Once again, Jesus goes up to Jerusalem.   It is another Jewish Feast, which there were three feasts that every Jewish man had a responsibility to attend.  Deuteronomy 16 and elsewhere it says:

 

16  "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. 17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.

 

It is most likely that this is the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles, which occurs in the 7th month of the Jewish Calendar placing it this year on October 13-20.  The identification of the feast is not as important as the identification of the day, which is the Sabbath-that will have more significance as to Jesus authority next week. 

 

Jesus, seemingly alone, makes his way to into Jerusalem and over by the sheep gate. 

Now, Jerusalem is surrounded by different gates, each with unique significance.  At this particular gate, is a pool, called Bethesda.  BETHES'DA Heb. "beth Chesda" (house of mercy) Gk. from Aram. Beth hesda, "house of grace").Scholars believe that this pool is located at st. Anne's Monastery in Jerusalem. The pool is not like some small fountain that you throw coins into.  It is a pool big enough to dive into. 

 

Many sick people

Sick people are gathered there in and among the various columns that supported the roof.  People will sorts of maladies went there, but especially the most helpless of cases, those who are blind, lame, and paralyzed. 

 

What are they waiting for? (NOT IN ORIGINAL TEXT, v. 4)

It was believed that these waters had some healing or medicinal powers.  Specifically, they believed that an angel would periodically "stir the waters" of this pool.  Whether the wind picked up, there was an underground spring under the pool, or some lame guy was laying in the pool making his own bubbles, we'll really never be sure.  To be honest, that they did experience or someone had experienced healing is doubtful but certainly not an impossibility.

 

The Pagan-Spiritual nature of culture

At the same time, we can't be duped by anyone that says, "I saw an angel" or "I experienced a miracle" etc.  But these verses are not teaching us how to evaluate the authenticity of a miracle, rather, showing us how deeply pagan this culture had become-depending upon the stirring waters of a pool to heal them.  In fact , "healing shrines" were quite common throughout the ancient world, especially in the worship of Asclepius, the Greek God of Medicine. 

 

Coronis ("crow" or "raven"), daughter of Phlegyas, King of the Lapiths, was one of Apollo's lovers. Pregnant with Asclepius, Coronis fell in love with Ischys, son of Elatus. A crow informed Apollo of the affair and he sent his sister, Artemis, to kill Coronis. Her body was burned on a funeral pyre, staining the white feathers of the crows permanently black. Apollo removed his unborn child and gave it to the centaur Chiron to raise. Phlegyas was irate and torched the Apollonian temple at Delphi and Apollo killed him.  Later, young Aslepius was taught the art of surgery, use of drugs, incanations, even love potions.  Mythology also teaches that he even gained the skill of bringing the dead to life.

 

Where or what are our healing sanctuaries today? 

Remember, this gospel is written to Greeks.  John's primary purpose is to reveal Jesus Christ's identity as THE CREATOR, THE LIGHT in the DARKNESS, THE SOURCE of LIFE, THE ONE AND ONLY GOD.   So John wants to demonstrate the Jesus greatness over the healing powers of the day. Instead of hanging out at a pool of water hoping for a few bubbles...

 

What do we turn to instead of God to fix that which ONLY he can?  I'm not talking about medicating something so that we dull the senses to our suffering in the moment.  I'm talking about real healing. Where is your hope?

  • A pill, a person, a book, what?
  • I've never known A PILL, A PERSON, A BOOK that possessed the power to SAVE or DESTROY someone's life.   

 

Our problem is not some disease, some person, some bad thought, it's sin.  And sin is SUCH A UNFIXABLE problem, that God sent Jesus to die for it.  

 

5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time...

Jesus sees one man.

Jesus is walking in and among a multitude of completely helpless people.  Although he could, Jesus does not heal all of them.  But, Jesus singles out one man who had been invalid for 38 years.

 

38 years of pain

 Being an invalid in the ancient world was not at all like being an invalid in today's world.  We don't exactly how old he is, he is at least 38, probably older and to imagine that he had already been afflicted before Jesus was even born.  Jesus either learns this through divine omnisicience or, most likely, he learned it from those around him because being in this condition for 38 years would have made him one of the most hopeless of cases. 

 

He's physically broken, emotionally broken, intellectually broken, socially broken

 

... he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" 7 The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me."

 

Jesus Asks a Strange Question (Do you want to be healed?)

Jesus asks him, "Do you want to get well?"  Seems like a strange question at first.  I doesn't seem like we could ask a question devoid of more empathy than that.  Imagine asking a crippled or diseased or clinically depressed person today that question.  I'm sure many people have experienced that..."You don't' want to get better.  You're not trying hard enough."

 

Perhaps Jesus means something more than just to be cold.  It could be about effort, I guess.  But perhaps it's more about understanding the nature of the sickness.  The crippled man has to be thinking, "YOU DON"T REALIZE HOW SICK I AM DO YOU."  And Jesus has to be thinking, "YOU DON'T REALIZE HOW SICK YOU ARE DO YOU."       

 

What does Sin really do to us?

First and foremost, all the disease and brokenness of this world is a result of sin.  I don't mean SINS the behaviors, although those are the result of SIN.  I mean SIN the condition.  Sin is more than just "disobedience" to God.  When our first parents decided to break God's law, sin entered the world and death came to all of creation. 

  • Sin has twisted out of shape so we don't believe that we're broken - we are broken but don't believe it and live as if things will work out.

 

  • Sin has caused us to fall short of God's standard.  We believe we can heal ourselves

 

  • Sin has caused us to rebel.  We don't want to be cured...we enjoy our sin.

 

Jesus asks and the Man RESPONDS

The man responds just as all of us would.  When God first calls to us, whether through a friend, a sermon, a verse saying "DO YOU WANT ME TO FIX YOU," the first words out of our mouth are rarely an enthusiastic yes.  Usually, it's a whine, a complaint, a complete lack of appreciation for the grace that we have.  We'd rather dwell on the grace that we never got before, the suffering that God put us through, the mercy he didn't show.

 

He says:

1.      I HAVE NO FRIENDS (v.7) - no one to put me in

2.      NO ONE CARES ABOUT ME (v.7) - they cut in line

3.      I AM HOPELESS and I'M HELPLESS.

 

Instead of expressing a wish to be cured, he talks about how all of his efforts over all of these years have been completely fruitless.  This guy's suffering has so overcome him, that he is completely dominated by it.  He's stopped hoping, he's probably stopped trying all together, and at this point he's laying there waiting to die-completely

 

8 Jesus said to him,  "Get up, take up your bed, and walk." 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

 

Jesus Tells Him to "Get Up" (Man doesn't say yes, doesn't appeal)

Jesus heals him.  But I love the way he does it.  He doesn't tell him "your healed" NOR does he empathize with his complaint.  He doesn't heal him by throwing him into the pool, or by giving him some comforting word, or by telling him just to think more positive. I imagine him almost cutting this guy off at the end of this sentence, saying GET UP!  Stop your whining and walk.

 

I wonder sometimes, how many people here and people you know have been dealing with the same crap for many many years.  Are you ready to stop making excuses and do something?  Don't mistake what I'm saying, I don't believe it's solely about your WILL...This guy LISTENED TO JESUS COMMAND and found healing.

 

The man obeys Jesus Command.

The man obeys Jesus command and is healed.  Obedience to Jesus will produce health.  The man gets up and walks.  I wouldn't say that our physical healing is as instantaneous, but our spiritual healing certainly is.  We get up and we live.  We going from being nothing more than dead men, to being alive.  But honestly, we still have:

  • Bed soars and scars
  • Shame and reputation
  • Poverty

 

Health in __________________ begins with obedience to Jesus. 


Jesus heals

He sees a guy who has been suffering for nearly 40 years, and even though he doesn't believe, even though he isn't appreciative, even though he isn't trying to find Jesus, even though he doesn't even know who Jesus is....Jesus chooses him and heals him. This is pure mercy and grace from the LAMB of God at the SHEEP GATE, where they bring in the lambs to the temple for sacrifices.

 

That should give us hope.  That is the gospel.  Jesus heals the very people that he created and want nothing to do with him. 

 

I am the lame man.

This is the grace of God.  We are the lame man.  The Bible describes us as various things.  I prefer the description in Ephesians chapter 2 that describes me. 

 

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, umade us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved- 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. [1]

 

Notice all the things that GOD does to DEAD people ...HE MAKES US ALIVE! 

We are and we walk among spiritually dead people, spiritually paralyzed people, people in need of deeper healing than our world can offer.  A good question to ask is...when is the last time you hung out at the Pool of Bathsheba...where all the sick people are? 

 

Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed." 11 But he answered them, "The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.' " 12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk'?"

 

 

 

Jews put their religion before God

It wasn't an accident that he healed this man on this day. This was the Sabbath Day.  The Sabbath day was a day instituted and modeled by God on the 7th day of Creation when he rested.  It is a gift.  The Jews took the law of the Sabbath, which says you shall not work and wrote detailed explanations as to what exactly that meant.  They are not upset about the healing, they are upset by the fact they see this crippled guy (who they probably knew) was carrying his mat-working on the Sabbath.

 

Who am I again?

Don't make the mistake of looking down on the Pharisees here...again, we're not Jesus in the story, we are the guy who can walk AND we are the Pharisees.  They didn't' even see the healing miracle.  They did not see the glory of Jesus in this moment, only the breaking of their tradition and the conflict with their religiosity. 

 

13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

 

Jesus finds the man  in the temple

Instead of giving heed to the warning of Jesus about his own sins he went off and told the Jews that now he knew who the man was who had commanded him to take up his bed on the Sabbath Day, to clear himself with the ecclesiastics and escape a possible stoning.   But before he does, Jesus says something quite interesting....

 

Do not Sin anymore

According to the Bible, disease has four sources:

(1) God- punishment or demonstration of power

(2) Satan - demon possession and other things

(3) Sins of ancestors - David's Son, but also simply natural effects

(4) Breaking of physical, mental/emotional, or moral laws of nature - Mosaic codes often health

 

At first read it might seem like Jesus is blaming A SIN for this man's condition, as if he is to blame.  I don't think that is Jesus' point.  I think the point is that Jesus is interested in making us whole. 

 

HEALTH is more than just freedom from pain

JOY is more than just pleasure

BROKENESS is more than just SINNING

WHOLENESS is more than NOT SINNING

 

FAITH in Jesus is never forgetting that even in our best day...we're crippled and dying...and that he alone is the source of healing.  WE CANNOT WALK in this WORLD unless Jesus carries us.  This world is not the end.  But we can have life now until we have true life then.

 

 

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