John 5:1-15 [NLTse]
Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. 2 Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. 3 Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. 5 One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, He asked him, “Would you like to get well?”
7 “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”
8 Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”
9 Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, 10 so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The Law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”
11 But he replied, “The Man Who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
12 “Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded.
13 The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. 14 But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” 15 Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus Who had healed him.
Sermon
This is a map of Jerusalem in Jesus’ day. You can see the Temple here… And the Roman Fortress Antonia here… Here’s where archaeologists believe the Lord Jesus celebrated that last Passover supper with His disciples… And where they’ve found the high priest’s residence… Here, near the Temple compound, is the Sheep Gate John speaks of… And here, the Pool of Bethesda… As you can see here, there are really two pools of Bethesda: One next to each other. And you can see the covered porches – porticoes, they were called – where John says that crowds of those who were blind, lame, and paralyzed lay waiting for the pools’ water to bubble, indicating that the healing angel’s power was in the water to heal them.
Healing shrines were common throughout the ancient world, especially for the worship of deities known for their healing powers. Most shrines had pools or fountains nearby, and those seeking healing were required to dip themselves in the water to be made whole.
Many have questioned whether or not the Lord would have ever truly stirred the waters in this way to actually heal those who washed when the waters bubbled, but something extraordinary must have kept these crowds of people at the pool waiting their chance to be made well.
In other places across John’s gospel he mentions the nature of the festival going on which brought Jesus to Jerusalem at different times. It is conspicuous that he does not at this time. What seems to be important is not which festival is being celebrated but that Jesus works this sign of the Kingdom on a Sabbath day…
As I read this passage so many questions come to my mind. John tells us the place was crowded with sick people: What would such a place smell like, crowded with the sick and blind and lame and paralyzed? What would such a place sound like, filled with those suffering and struggling and ready to compete with those around them for the miracle that would heal them?
Greater than those questions for me, though, is why, with so many hurting and suffering and in need, why did Jesus come to this man? “Do you want to get well?” He asked him. Why did the Lord only heal this man and leave all the others in their infirmities? There’s no evidence that the man ever puts his trust in Jesus. There is a sense, when Jesus says, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you,” there’s a sense there that the man’s troubles had been the result of his own sinful actions or choices. And yet there’s no evidence that the Lord ever forgives him his sins. So, why him?
Of course, the gospels are filled with such pictures of God’s grace, His goodness and kindness to the undeserving. Yes, sometimes we read of Jesus healing people who were powerful and prestigious and people who had great faith. But just as often we read of Jesus healing nobodies, ne’er-do-wells, outcasts, and even “bad” guys. There seems no rhyme nor reason. He healed people who came to Him themselves and healed people who were brought to Him by others. He healed Jews, He healed Gentiles. He healed by touching, He healed by speaking. There were times when God’s healing power was upon Him for great works to even raise the dead! As well as times when He was only able to do a few miracles because of peoples’ unbelief. (Matthew 13:58)
But if there’s one thing the Bible makes very clear is that Jesus healed. And if there is a second thing that the Bible makes very clear is that Jesus expected His disciples to go out and heal, as well.
There’s a couple of accounts in the Bible that make this so very clear to me. One is found in Matthew 17… Why don’t we open up our Bibles there… to verse 14…
The Lord’s just come down from what’s come to be called the Mount of Transfiguration, and he finds a dad who’s brought to Jesus his son who’s become demonized in the hopes that Jesus would set his son free. While the Lord was on the mountain His disciples try to cast the demon out of the boy but cannot. And I think Jesus’ response to their inability is helpful and hopeful to us. In v. 19 the disciples ask, “Why couldn’t we cast out that demon?” And Jesus told them they didn’t trust Him enough, and in the footnote you can see that He might have also added that they needed to have a better discipline of fasting and praying to be able to cast this kind out.
Did you notice that Jesus didn’t say, “You can’t heal. You can’t cast out demons. Who do you think you are?” No. They ask why they couldn’t do it and He tells them so that they would be able to do it next time!
Of course, we see the apostles going out and healing people after Jesus was raised from the dead and after He’d given them the Holy Spirit. uuu Acts 5:14-16 records that the Holy Spirit had so filled Simon Peter to heal that “sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed.”
And then, with us in mind, the apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians, uuu “To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing…” He’s given us gifts, by the Holy Spirit, power so that together our church would not be lacking to accomplish any good thing. And Paul tells us that the grace to heal is one of those gifts to accomplish good things that He’s given us.
Who here has ever prayed for someone and then that person had been healed? [Ask those who raise their hands what had been healed through their prayers.] [Let people know about the two women I’ve prayed for, the one who had a large mass that disappeared after praying for her, and the other, a young mother of two young children, who was cured of cancer.]
Has anybody here never prayed for someone who was sick or an invalid? … Please do; we must not hold ourselves back. The Lord may want us to play an important part in showing the people around us His love for the world in Jesus Christ!
We want to be keeping track of what gifts the Lord has given different ones of us so that we can get each other involved in ministry where the Lord has empowered us all to best fit. Those of you who’ve prayed for people who’d then been healed, when you write your name in the Red Books this morning, write “healer” next to your name. When people come to the church in need of healing, we want to make sure that you’re a part of the team of folks we’d have lay hands on them and anoint them and pray for them. So that Jesus’ name might be praised! And so that our neighbors and friends might glorify our Father in Heaven!