LOC 040 Jesus at “the” Feast

LOC 040: Life of Christ: Jesus at “the” Feast

Even with the four Gospels taken together, we do not have the details of all Jesus said and did.  Matthew Mark and Luke give us one picture that tends to include large amounts of material from Jesus’ ministry in the region of Galilee in the North.  John appears to have been familiar with the writings of the first three evangelists.  John gives us a different view, or a second volume of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  John’s primary focus is on the ministry of Jesus in the South, in Judea.  Although some of Jesus ministry in the North is included.  But, it is often narratives left out of the other Gospels.  John was writing to fill in some of the gaps left by the other Gospel writers.

After all, it is John who ends his Gospel with a note telling us that .... John 21:25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.

Even a forth Gospel did not tell us everything that Jesus said and did.  There was just too much material from Jesus life as the crowds pressed in on him each day, as he spoke to those who came, as he healed those in need, as he ministered grace and taught his disciples.  We have only a glimpse, even a brief glimpse, into who Jesus was and did.  But, it is a blessed glimpse and enough to inform us about the being, purpose and ministry in word and deed of the Lord Jesus Christ. It would be nice to have even more detail, but we have all that God purposed for us to have and all that he inspired by his Holy Spirit that we needed to have.

All that to say, there are some gaps in the life of the Lord Jesus even when we harmonize all four of the Gospels. And this morning we come to one of the problems that presents itself as we try to arrange the life of the Lord Jesus Christ chronologically.  The problem is what to do with the feast mentioned in John 5. And, how does that fit into the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, chronologically?

At the end of John 4 we had the healing of the nobleman’s son in Galilee.  John tells us very little about the galilean ministry we spent many months considering from the synoptic Gospels.  He did not repeat all the details found in Matthew, Mark and Luke.  In Chapter 5, verse 1, Jesus is back in Judea, in Jerusalem, at a feast.

The other side of the problem is this: Luke and Mark have Jesus doing something immediately after defending his disciples at Matthew’s feast.  Matthew has a number of occurrences of people coming to Jesus. It all has to be sorted out somehow.  John and Matthew were with Jesus at this point.  John does not tell us everything about Jesus in Galilee and Matthew tells us nothing about this trip to the Passover.  Perhaps, Matthew did not go and picks up his narrative from the point of Jesus’s return.  There are many possibilities.

We have noted before that none of these Gospel writers claim to present a chronological life of Christ or even a complete biography of all they know about him.  And, all of these events did not happen simultaneously, so it is incumbent upon the student of the scriptures to take the events in the sequence that makes the best sense while being honest that the chronology in which I preach the events may not be the exact order of events. But, it includes all of the events in the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ.  My purpose to preach through the life of Christ in order is entirely different than the purpose for which the Gospels were written.  My purpose is to re-introduce you to the Lord Jesus Christ by examining his life and ministry; his power and might; his grace and mercy; that your love and appreciation of him might deepen more and more.  I want you to know all that Jesus represented and did while he was on earth in a body like ours.  I want you to see the divine glory that shines forth from him in so many ways.  And, I want to draw from all four Gospels in some logical order, rather than just pick highlights.  Highlights and topics could leave me open to the charge of being selective.  Exposing the entire life of Christ through preaching means that everything must be dealt with at a proper time.

Another problem present in John Chapter 5 is determining what feast it was that Jesus travelled to Jerusalem to attend. The text does not tell us. It only says, “John 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. “

Some time after Jesus healed the Nobleman’s son, Jesus went to Jerusalem to attend the feast.  He travelled from Galilee down to Judea.

It is traditionally believed that this feast was the passover.  That would mean that one year has passed since Jesus drove the moneychangers out of the temple courts and that the public ministry of Jesus is about one third over.

However, this assertion is not without trouble either.  Whenever, John writes about Passover, he tends to call it by name.  So, some conclude that this must have been one of the other two obligatory feasts.  However, when John mentions other feasts, he also mentions which feast it was.  It is only here in John 5 where we have the question rise: what feast is it?

It is usually believed to be the Passover because of there were only two additional Passovers in the Life of Christ, that would shorten his ministry to a little over two years.  And the amount of ministry done in his second year would have been almost impossible for anyone to have  accomplished in that space of time.  But, if the feast of John 5 is a Passover, making three additional Passovers, then there continues to be a nice pace to the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ.  And, the narratives tend to flow as they have for this first year of ministry.  It is a common sense approach to see this as the Passover--the second in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The first was when he threw the moneychangers out of the Temple and talked to Nicodemus, and now at this second Passover, he has major run-ins with the Jewish Aristocracy in Jerusalem.  John 5 is a major turning point in the life and ministry of Jesus.  It deserves its own introduction in order to then go back and look at the parts.

So, this morning we are going to look with a bird’s eye perspective to get a sense of the entire chapter and its important place in the Life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Turn to John 5.

There are four important narratives in this chapter.  They all either provoke controversies with the Jews, meaning the representative leadership of the Jews, or they elicit reactions from the Jews that are used to show their true character to the reader. 

The first is a healing at the Pool of Bethesda.

The second is the reaction of the Jews.

The third is Jesus teaching about his dependance on his Father.

And, the fourth is Jesus’ teaching about those things that tell about or reveal him.

The first is a healing at the Pool of Bethesda.

        John 5:1 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, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.  3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.  5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.  6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him,  “Do you want to be made well?”  7 The 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.”  8 Jesus said to him,  “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.  10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured,  “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”  11 He answered them,  “He who made me well said to me,  ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ ”  12 Then they asked him,  “Who is the Man who said to you,  ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”  13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.  14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him,  “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”  15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

The second is the reaction of the Jews.

        16 ¶ For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.  17 But Jesus answered them,  “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”  18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.  19 Then Jesus answered and said to them,  “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.  20  “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.  21  “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.  22  “For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son,  23  “that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

The third is Jesus teaching about his dependance on his Father.

        24 “ ¶ Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.  25  “Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.  26  “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself,  27  “and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.  28  “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29  “and come forth — those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.  30  “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

And, the fourth is Jesus’ teaching about those things that tell about or reveal him.

        31 “ ¶ If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. 32  “There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.  33  “You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.  34  “Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.  35  “He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.  36  “But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish — the very works that I do — bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.  37  “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.  38  “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.  39  “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  40  “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.  41  “I do not receive honor from men.  42  “But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.  43  “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  44  “How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?  45  “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you — Moses, in whom you trust.  46  “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.  47  “But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

Do you see why this is such a turning point in the life of Jesus?  He is a little more than a year into his public ministry.  He has about two more years to go and already the leaders of the Jews are ready to KILL him.  5:16 ¶ For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.  They did not care that Jesus had made a man well, they were concerned that someone “worked” on the Sabbath.

Jesus was doing a new thing.  Jesus was the divine lawgiver who as God revealed the 10 Commandments given to Moses on Sinai.  Jesus was familiar with the LAW, he embodied the law.  Jesus was not violating God’s sabbath regulation by making someone well on the sabbath, although he was violating the traditions of the rabbis practiced in the Judaism of his day.  Jesus had already done this once before at Peter’s House in Galilee.  Remember?  IN the privacy of that house, Jesus healed Peter’s Mother-in-law on a sabbath afternoon.  She rose up and served them.  Jesus knew what the sabbath was all about.

Remember, Jesus did not come to reform rabbinical Judaism, or to complete it as a religion.  He came to do a new thing.  He was pouring his new wine into new wineskins.

Jesus spoke directly to the Jews who were present knowing his words would stir them to greater hatred.... 17 But Jesus answered them,  “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”  18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. 

The leaders were not just “hot under the collar” they were enraged.  They knew what Jesus meant.  There are many cults who distort the teachings of Christ to make him appear to be less than God.  But, Jesus’s own words make him to be equal with God.  Jesus and the Father have been working together to the point in time in which these verses were spoken.  They were presented as partners in a purposeful endeavor.  There was no mistake, Jesus saw himself to be equal with God.

What are the implications of this?  Either he was knowingly telling the truth, he was knowingly telling a falsehood, or he was living a serious delusion.

I have heard of people who believed they were Messiahs.  Most of them are in institutions under the care of professionals.  Why?  Because claims to be the one appointed deliverer sent from God are met with radical skepticism whenever they are spoken.  I don't suspect that the Jews acted much different than we would if a man walked into the auditorium one day to announce that he was a messiah. Jesus was not a lunatic.

If Jesus was knowingly telling a mistruth in order to promote himself and to deceive others, the Jews should have been able to point to the Scriptures to demonstrate how Jesus did not fit the prophetical pattern spoken many years before.  They did not do this.  Yet, Jesus in many places uses these Scriptures and their right understanding to show that he was who he claimed to be.  He was no liar.

The other option is that he was who he claimed to be.  The Jews were not ready for that possibility.  It did not fit into their lifestyle, their theology, or their politics.  They were blindsided.  Their reaction was to dig in and merely believe that is could not be true.  They were narrow-minded bigots. They dismissed the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ without any consideration and examination of them.  They dismissed Jesus because he didn’t fit into their agenda.

The dangers for us are similar.  When we tell someone else about the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ we must tell them what is relevant.  We cannot hide the difficult edges of the Gospel in order to make it more palatable.  Jesus never does that.  He tells men the truth.  The Truth alienates many.  People can’t handle the truth of the Gospel without divine aid. 

People, religious people who have lived their entire lives going to one church or another don't want to hear that they may have been wrong.  But it is the very thing they need to hear.  For, if their trust is in themselves and what they have done, they will find themselves sorely surprised when they awake from the throes of death to everlasting punishment.  Nothing can help them then.  People need to hear that the Lord Jesus Christ can even save the religious who repent and come unto him by faith.  The Gospel pronounces Hope to men, yet, men refuse to take hope, they turn it into an affront, a personal attack on what they are and represent.  The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is a scandal to the religiosity of our day, whether it be Christian, Jewish, muslim, some hybrid, or atheism.  The Gospel provokes people to show what they are really made of.  It is amazing. This week I heard an elderly woman say, “I’m an Episcopalian, I don't need that Jesus stuff.”  She was wrong, dead wrong.  Anyone’s hope of abundant life here and eternal life in the future is to trust on the Lord Jesus Christ.  That is what God commands.  He does not call preachers to make it palatable, or sugar-coated, but to preach it boldly knowing it will cause great offense.  And, in the case of Jesus, an offense unto his desired death at the hands of the super-spiritual and ultra-religious. 

But another lesson is how men want things on their terms.  If the “JEWS” had considered the power of God as it must have worked through Jesus to heal the man, they should have been quaking in their boots at their silly offense taken when there was no offense given.  They missed the power of God in what had occurred because they were caught up with ritual regulations.

There was a picture on the news the other night of a building in Fort Worth that was hit directly by a tornado.  One side was wiped out--all the windows were gone and some of the steel was bent. It was an awesome display of power in a storm.  But a tornado is nothing for the Lord Jesus Christ.  He simply has to think it into being and it is there in all its fury.  The power of a tornado is nothing compared to the awesome power of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Yet, because the Lord Jesus’s way of doing things didn’t fit into their thinking, they were content to dismiss him. How silly to trust in yourself rather than the one whose power is there to save to the uttermost those who call on him by faith. 

There may be honest problems with putting together a strict chronological life of the Lord Jesus Christ.  But it is the Pharisees of the world that use it as a means to doubt the one they should admire as they exalt themselves through so-called knowledge.  In contrast to the Pharisees of our day, the followers of the Lord Jesus sit and listen with amazement at all he was and did.  That we should be saved by such a one as this miracle-worker and that we should be united to him by his grace to us and that he pledges himself to us forever, should humble us in the dust and motivate us to tell others of the great grace given unto men.