John 5:1-15

Drama: a state, situation, or series of events involving interesting or intense conflict of forces.

If Jesus is the Savior of the world, why didn’t his own people, the Jews, embrace him as their messiah? How was it that the Savior of the world ended up dying a criminal’s death on a Roman cross?

One of the prominent themes in John’s Gospel (as well as the other Gospels) is the antagonistic relationship that existed between Jesus and “the Jews”—the Jewish religious leaders—of his day.

DRAMA?

John uses some version of the phrase Òi Íoudâioi (“the Jews”) no less than fifty-nine times in the 21 chapters that make up his Gospel. Whenever John refers to “the Jews,” it’s nearly always in an abjectly negative manner!

In chapter 5 of his Gospel, John begins the process of explaining to his readers why “the Jews” had such a hard time believing in Jesus as their messiah, and why the Savior of the world ended up on a Roman cross.

In John 5:1-15 we find an unusual healing story that seems to show Jesus deliberately picking a fight with the Jewish religious leaders of Jerusalem.

John 5:1-15 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. {2} Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. {3} Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. {4} {5} One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years….

… {3} Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed –and they waited for the moving of the waters. {4} From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease he had. {5} One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years….

… {5} One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. {6} When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" …

… {7} "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." …

… {8} Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." {9} At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked….

… The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, {10} and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat." …

… {11} But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'" {12} So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?" {13} The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there….

… {14} Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." {15} The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

This healing story shows us a Jesus who seems to be deliberately picking a fight with the Jewish religious leaders. There was something quite unusual about the way Jesus followed up on the disabled man he had healed in this story.

John 9:35-38 Jesus heard that they [the Jews] had thrown him out [of the synagogue], and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" {36} "Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him." {37} Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you." {38} Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.

But the way Jesus followed up on the invalid healed in John 5 is much, much different! Not only is there no encouragement to pursue a life of faith, not only is there no invitation for the man to believe that Jesus is the messiah, but Jesus actually seems to rebuke the guy!

John 5:14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."

a)the Jewish religious leaders were very eager to know who had told this man to violate the Sabbath by carrying his mat; b)the only reason why the healed man could have identified Jesus to the Jewish religious leaders was because Jesus confronted him later in the temple;

c)perhaps the main reason why the healed man would have identified Jesus to the Jewish religious leaders was because of the way Jesus confronted him later on in the temple.

Could it be that Jesus was deliberately picking a fight with the Jewish religious leaders there in Jerusalem?

DRAMA?

“Do you want to get well?” “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."

So, how are we supposed to interpret the unusual pre-healing question and post- healing comment we find in this story?

Taken together, this somewhat confrontational question and comment could seem to suggest that the disabled guy had some sort of sin in his life that: (a)may have been keeping him from being healed and, (b)might have caused him to need a new healing later on should his original disability (or something worse) reoccur because of it.

John 9:1-3 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. {2} His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" {3} "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

Psalm 107:17-20 Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities. {18} They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death. {19} Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. {20} He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.

1 Corinthians 11:27-32 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. {28} A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. {29} For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself….

… {30} That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. {31} But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. {32} When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

 Could it be that the Holy Spirit wants to use this text today to encourage us to look deep into our own hearts for the presence of some sinful attitude or action that might be the cause of some “dis-ability” (physical or spiritual) we are presently experiencing?

 Is there any sense in which you can relate to this dis-abled guy?  Is there any sense in which you are not able to do all that you’d like, all that you were created to do?  Is there any sense in which you feel like you’ve been sidelined by this dis-ability, forced to observe while others blithely accomplish things you can’t?

 Is there any sense in which you feel completely helpless in your own strength to overcome this dis-ability?  Is there any sense in which you’ve been waiting a long time for a miracle to suddenly occur—a miracle that will abruptly enable you to overcome your paralysis and get on with your life like all the other “normal” people do?

 Is there any sense in which the Lord is standing before you today posing the question: “Do you want to get well?”

Maybe the Lord is lovingly calling for one or more of us here today to engage in some deep soul-searching and then do some serious repenting so that we can “get well” and overcome for good some dis-ability that’s keeping us from living our lives as God intended.

 Could it be that the Holy Spirit wants to use this text today to encourage us to come to terms with one “sin” in particular: the sin of settling for ritual religion rather than a real relationship with God through Jesus Christ?

What if John intended the healing story he presents in chapter 5 to serve as a metaphor for Jesus’ ministry among the religious people of Israel as a whole?

a)Like the man in John 5, the people of Israel as a whole had been “lame” and “dis-abled” for a long time: i.e., not able to do that for which they had been created—function as a kingdom of priests that would help all the nations connect with the true God of the universe! (see Gen. 12:1-3; Ex. 19:5-6; Deut. 4:5-8; 1 Kings 8:41-43, 60).

b)Like the man in John 5, the people of Israel as a whole had pinned their hope for healing not on the biblically supported practice of prayer (see Ps. 107:19), but on man-made religious traditions and the various rituals that went along with them.

c)Like the man in John 5, the people of Israel as a whole were clueless to the fact that the man standing right in front of them (Jesus) had the power and authority to heal them—to help them get well!

What if John intended the healing story he presents in chapter 5 to serve as a metaphor not only for the healing Jesus wanted to perform for the religious people of Israel as a whole, but for all religious people everywhere—the adherents of all the world’s religions?

What if John intended for the readers of this story—religious Jews and Gentiles alike—to understand that that “getting well” (spiritually speaking) requires that they let go of their preoccupation with ritual religion, and boldly embrace a personal relationship with God through faith in and obedience to Jesus Christ?

 “Why are you still dis-abled, unable to accomplish all that God intends for you to do?”  “You’ve been waiting for a transformation for how long? Why hasn’t it happened yet?”

 “What if I told you that ‘getting well’ doesn’t involve the particular religious ritual you’ve pinned your hopes on?”  “Indeed, what if I told you that ‘getting well’ means that you will have to rethink your lifelong preoccupation with and devotion to religious traditions and the rituals which go along with them?”

 “Indeed, what if I told you that ‘getting well’ means that you must leave your traditional religion behind and become my disciple?  “Finally, what if I told you that ‘getting well’ in this real but non-ritualistic way means that you will experience the criticism, scorn and derision of most, if not all, of your former fellow religionists?”

What are we going to do with a Jesus who would purposefully pick a fight with the Jewish religious leaders of his day so he could die for our sins on the cross and, in the process, expose the evil of religiosity for what it is?

What are we going to do with this call for us to search our hearts and repent of any sin we find lurking there lest we prompt or prolong some dis- ability in our lives?

What are we going to do with the message that Jesus can help people to “get well” spiritually, but only if they’re willing to trade in their ritual religion for a real relationship with the true God of the universe through faith in him?

John 5:1-15