John • #3 of 7 signs

John 5:1-18 • The healing of the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda...

• John's motivation to write? That we might receive eternal life by believing in Jesus.

John 20:30-31 → 30Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

• The signs that John mentions are 7 which he recorded in his gospel. They are...

► Sign 1, Water to Wine, Jesus is the master of the ELEMENTS → John 2:1-12

► Sign 2, Nobleman's Son, Jesus is the master over DISTANCE → John 4:46-54

► Sign 3, Lame Man at Bethesda, Jesus is the master over TIME → John 5:1-18

► Sign 4, Feeding of 5,000+, Jesus is the master over DIMENSION → John 6:1-15

► Sign 5, Jesus walks on water, Jesus is the master over NATURE → John 6:15-21

► Sign 6, The Man Born Blind, Jesus is the master over HISTORY → John 9:1-41

► Sign 7, The Raising of Lazarus, Jesus is the master over DEATH → John 11:1-46

• Sign 3, Lame Man at Bethesda, Jesus is the master over TIME

John 5:1-18 → 1After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

• John doesn't tell us which feast this is, but Jesus obviously felt He needed to be in Jerusalem for it.

2Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes.

• This would have been on the north end of town, just north of the Temple mount.

► When the word "beth" is tagged on the from of a name of a place, it means "the house of"...

→ Bethsaida is the "house of fishing"

→ Bethlehem is the "house of bread"

→ Bethel is the "house of God"

→ Bethesda is the "house of outpouring"

3In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters; 4for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.]

• While verses 3b and 4 are not in the original manuscripts, they do help explain why people would be gathering at this pool. Something about this pool had medicinal qualities, whether natural or supernatural, that people would use to heal some ailments, and this is confirmed in verse 7.

5A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get 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.”

• "Thirty-eight years" is a long time to be waiting for his turn in the magic waters. He tells Jesus that no one would help him get into the water in all that time.

• Jesus asked the man "do you wish to get well?" A sarcastic response to what was probably a rhetorical question could have been "oh, no, I just like to watch everyone else but me get healed!"

• It's obvious that the man wanted to be well, that's why he's there. I'm pretty certain that Jesus just asked this question to set the stage for what was about to happen.

8Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” 9Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.

• I'm assuming that the man at least gave Jesus a head nod in response to His question, as now He tells the man to "get up, pick up your pallet and walk".

• The man, suddenly restored to full health, after 38 years, gets right up, picks up the mat he was sitting/laying on, and started to walk.

• I'm assuming this is not like any of the movies you've seen where someone is in a coma for an extended time and it takes them a while in rehab to regain their motor functions. This guys is fully healed and ready to run in the Olympics!

• Jesus can fix even the oldest problems - it doesn't matter how long something has been broken.

Now it was the Sabbath on that day.

• This is a typical Jesus move. He couldn't have waited one more day before doing this. After 38 years, did it really matter if He waited one more day to heal the man? Yes, it did make a difference, because Jesus is making a statement.

10So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.” 11But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’ ” 12They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?” 13But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place.

• So the Jews hassle the guy, who is obviously healed, about carrying his pallet on the Sabbath. The mans response is "He who made me well" told me to do it. It's like, "the guy healed me; what am I supposed to do?" They asked him to point out the healer, but he couldn't find Him as Jesus had "slipped away" during the commotion.

14Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” 15The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

• So apparently, Jesus takes an opportunity to re-connect with the man, made some proper introductions, and charged the man "do not sin anymore", with the implication that his previous condition may have had something to do with sin in his life.

• The man went back to the Jews who had been hassling him and let them know it was specifically Jesus who had healed him. I would think that the man's intent was not to bring any harm to Jesus, but maybe even to help them understand just who this miraculous Person is.

16For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.

• So the Jews change the focus of their attack from the man to Jesus, accusing Him of violating the Sabbath.

17But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”

18For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

• When Jesus said "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working", the Jews clearly understood that Jesus was making a claim of being God. From their perspective, they thought He was blaspheming, and deserving of death, but we know He was telling the truth!

• It's amazing to me how when something as dramatic as this event, where a man known to be unable to use his withered and limp legs, more in the way than of any use to the man, suddenly has those worthless legs restored to him, that the witnesses of that event are upset over something of so much less importance than the miracle that just happened! Now it's easy, in hindsight, to be critical of the people back then, but without understanding who Jesus really was, they probably thought they were doing the right thing.

• We need to be careful to not get so caught up in how our version of Christianity dictates how things should be, that we are unable to see how Jesus might just be working in the lives of some people, or in certain ways, that are outside of our comfort zone. Let's try to focus on the work that Jesus is doing and praise Him for it.

• Jesus is the master over TIME