Life of Christ: The Pool of
Bethesda
Jesus traveled to Jerusalem for the unnamed feast in John Chapter
Five. While there, he has a run-in with
the leaders of the Jews over something he did on the Sabbath day. This morning I would like to focus our thoughts
on the miracle that caused the problem.
The healing at the Pool of Bethesda.
1. The Setting 1
2. The Situation 2-4
3. The Subject 5
4. The Savior’s Question 6
5. The Sick Man’s Answer 7
6. The Special Touch 8-9
7. The Sabbath Offense 10-13
8. The Special Lesson 14-15
1. The Setting 1
John 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to
Jerusalem.
2. The Situation 2-4
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.
3. The Subject 5
5 Now a certain man was there who had
an infirmity thirty-eight years.
4. The Savior’s Question 6
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?”
5. The Sick Man’s Answer 7
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.”
6. The Special Words 8-9
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.
7. The Sabbath Offense 10-13
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healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in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.
8. The Special Lesson 14-15
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.
Let’s look more closely at some key areas:
1. The Setting 1
John 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to
Jerusalem.
We dealt with this two weeks ago.
Jesus was in Jerusalem for one of the required feasts, most likely, but
not dogmatically, the Passover. John then directs our attention to a place that
may have been familiar to some of his readers.
He tells us of ....
2. The Situation 2-4
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the
Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five
porches.
We are unsure about where this was in Jerusalem. 2000 years of history has seen the city built
up and rebuilt many times. We do not
know where this is. But, we do know what
was commonly expected. John tells us that much.
Bethesda means mercy or place of mercy. These five pools probably had covered
colonnades where people could get out of the heat and blistering winds to find
some relief. The covered area with the
pools would have been a great mercy in the hot times of year.
We don't know how large they were except that they were large
enough for a host of people to be in the area. John tells us why there were
many people here. He says,
3 In these lay a great
multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the
water.
It is uncertain whether the language of the Apostle John is
intended to tell us about the common folklore and legend surrounding these five
pools, or whether there was a continual miraculous stirring of the waters. He simply reports the matter to set up the
action of the Lord Jesus once he enters the scene. John said,
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.
There are all sorts of superstitions that grow in many
places. What we may have hear is a
legend or superstition about these pools, rather than an actual miracle that
occurred in these pools. Notice how
Jesus gives no credence to the healing powers of the waters, but is moved with
compassion on one who was there. We have
many places where these sorts of legends exist today. There are dozens of places people go to in
hopes of a special divine act of mercy on their behalf. Here it is about a multitude who are sitting
around the place of mercy waiting for mercy.
When we encounter these sorts of things in the Scriptures, we find
the writers explaining them in the terms that would have been commonly
understood. Here John tells us about
four types of people who hung around the colonnades hoping to see the waters
stir in order to jump in and be healed.
But, it was only the first who got in that would be healed.
In these colonnades, it is likely that they were designed with
Roman engineering to create a breeze into the shady area order to bring about a
place of comfort. A breeze would cause
standing water to be stirred--to ripple.
It is likely that many were here with a hope that could never be
realized. For, those most able to jump in the waters would have had the least
wrong with them making them mobile enough to get into the water. The four categories of those mentioned are
in drastic need of help to do what the legend required. They would not have
been able to enter at a moments notice.
Couple that with the fact that most of these two verses are not in
the oldest and most reliable Greek Manuscripts.
They are in some from the 13th and 14th centuries and after, but not in
those most important manuscripts of the 5th and 6th centuries. From the words
“waiting foe the moving of the water” in verse 3 through the end of verse four
were likely added by some scribe or copyist between the 6th and 13th
centuries. Those ages were ages of great
superstition and occasionally we find this sort of textual problem--which isn’t
really a problem at all. The narrative
is not about the pools, it is about the compassion of Christ, the man of mercy
and the healing he gave in two different ways.
What is not in dispute about the text tells us all we need to know that
“In the enclosure or by these pools lay a great multitude of sick people, blind,
lame, paralyzed.” Weak, blind,
handicapped and withered or literally, the dry, where there. Four types of people who would have
difficulty getting into the water when someone would perceive it to have
stirred. People who could not do for
themselves what they most wanted to do.
A multitude of helpless people are there waiting...... John narrows in
on just one man...
3. The Subject 5
5 Now a certain man was there who had
an infirmity thirty-eight years.
We don't know his name. He is forever known at the lame man by the
pool of Bethesda. We don't know his specific infirmity. We don't know if he was
born with the particular ailment, or whether it came upon him in his youth or
age. We do know from archeological and
historical evidence that he had this for a time that was longer than the average
life expectancy of men in and around Judea at that time. A particular man had
suffered 38 years with an ailment that kept him from getting into the
waters. He wasn’t necessarily at the
pools for 38 years, he had the ailment for that long. This prompted...
4. The Savior’s Question 6
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?”
Jesus saw him and knew he had been there a long time. Jesus asked him directly, Do you want to be
made well? After all, that is why he was at the pool after all. The man
was hoping that somehow he would be made well by being the first to
enter upon the stirring of the waters and we see that by his reply. Perhaps this man unable to move a few feet to
the waters was one of the few in all of Israel who did not yet know who Jesus
was.... The perspective of the man is found in ...
5. The Sick Man’s Answer 7
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.”
He was not quick enough to get what he desired. He was hopelessly consigned to lose the
contest every time. The man did not
realize with whom he was talking and the wonders he had worked for those who
came to him. His situation was one of
frustration. But, perhaps he was a man
of faith--in the water at least. Here,
Jesus has compassion, great mercy, on the man and simply speaks a command...
6. The Special Words 8-9
8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”
Jesus does not direct him to the waters, as something that would
mediate his healing, but speaks and recreates the man’s body as it was intended to be. Jesus commands the sick man to get up, roll
up your bed and walk away. For 38 years this man had suffered. Now he was made well.
Jesus doesn’t reason with him about his worldview or wrong
perspectives about the pool, he commands and expects obedience. This is what he gets...
9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.
At that point in time, the sick man was made complete. He was not
made well progressively. He was made
well immediately. Jesus as the creator
has power over all things. The man did
what he was commanded. All of this was
included by John to make one important point with the next six words.....
And that day was the
Sabbath.
Ah-oh! and that day was the
sabbath. John introduces tension into
the text. We have a man with a drastic
need. The one who can meet that
need. The action needed. And, a comment
that it was on the sabbath. The readers are to sense the tension inherent in
the comment. Yet, keep in mind that.... Jesus had healed once before on the
Sabbath...remember Peter’s mother-in-law?
7. The Sabbath Offense 10-13
10 The Jews therefore said to
him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath;
it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”
The Jews are representatives of the Jewish leadership of the
time. They were likely a mixture of Sadducees
and Pharisees who were dominant on the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling body or
court. These men do not seek out the
Lord Jesus Christ, but express their concern for the actions of the one who was
made well.
The Jews make two statements.
They state, “It is the sabbath.” and they continue, “it is not lawful
for you to carry your bed. The man, now
healed, defends himself. Note, not every
defense of one’s uprightness is an implicit boast of self-righteousness.
11 He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ ”
The man figured if one had the power to make him well, he also had
the power to command and the one commanding ought to be obeyed. He told the leaders that the one who healed
him told him to do what he was doing.
The Jews continued....
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.
Jesus did not draw any attention to himself with his act of
compassion. He came through the pools,
saw the man, was moved with compassion, gave the man what he needed, and went
on his way. The man healed knew he was a
man with great powers, but did not know who it was. Sitting around the pool had put him out of
touch with popular culture and all that was happening in Palestine. Jesus was unknown to him. Jesus had withdrawn from the many people who
were in that place.
Why didn’t Jesus heal every one who was there? He could have, but he didn’t. And, why did Jesus, let this man be afflicted
for 38 years before he id something? In
his divine nature he surely knew all about the troubles each person at the pool
was facing. Why did Jesus single out
this one man?
Well, we should not speculate about what is not revealed. But, we should realize that throughout the
Scriptures, it is taught that God is not obligated to be merciful to
sinners. Rom. 9:15 For He says to
Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever
I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have
compassion.”
All the time people think they are owed something from God because
they have suffered. The man at the pool
was there for 38 years with the same suffering locked into a superstitious
believe based upon a legend that had a simple and natural explanation for the
phenomenon.
God says, it is not because of what we do that he gives
mercy. It is simply because he is
pleased to dispense his mercy upon some. Rom. 9:15 For He says to Moses, “I
will have mercy on whomever I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”
What God owes man because of their sin is not mercy, but
judgment. Rom. 6:23 For the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The cost that will extracted from each man and woman because of their willful
sin will be death. That is what all men
deserve. But, the good news is that not
everyone gets what they truly deserve.
TO some God gives mercy and grace.
He gives to some the gift of eternal life. It is unearned, it is a gift, a grant,
something free and often unexpected.
This gift comes through The Lord Jesus Christ. “I
will have mercy on whomever I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have
compassion.” It is not up to us to
dictate to whom God dispenses grace. We do not know to whom he will be gracious
and merciful. We do not know when God
will be moved to act out of compassion.
But, we know that he does. Part of
that gift he gives is the faith to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for
salvation--deliverance from the penalty of sin (death), the power of sin (our
wilful bondage to all that is opposed to God) and the presence of sin (as God
by his Spirit and Word work in his people).
We would not seek this on our own, nor can we. But God gives it to those who are
undeserving, no hell deserving.
You might be thinking, Mike, this was about a physical healing,
how can you link it to all of these spiritual realities. Keep reading in verses 14 & 15.
8. The Special Lesson 14-15
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.
Meeting number 2. The
sinner made a saint. He goes to the
temple, maybe to pay a vow of some sort or just to enjoy the place where God
had promised his special presence to Israel.
Jesus says to him, See, you have been made well. No longer make sinning the habit of your
life. Even though the man had been
unable to do much of anything for 38 years, he was still a sinner in need of a
savior. Jesus warns him and commands him
to live in a way that is fit to the mercy he has received. To sin habitually after divine grace has been
given is to have the threat of great calamity upon you.
The man left and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed
him that day.
The main point to remember is this: some people pend many years looking for what
they think thy need only to find out that they have been wrong. What truly brings satisfaction and purpose to
all of life is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We just looked at a narrative about a man who
for many years waited for the waters to be stirred that he might get in and
find what would make him complete. Jesus
healed his body and his soul. Jesus
finds those who are to be his special people in many ways. He finds them while they are sheep who are
astray. He finds them and delivers them
safely to his Father’s care. What grace, undeserved deliverance from the one
who has the power to deliver us from all things even our sins. AMEN!
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