What to do When Jesus Crashes your Pool Party

John 5:1–18 CSB

After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.” “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk. Now that day was the Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.” He replied, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. But the man who was healed did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. After this, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore, the Jews began persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. Jesus responded to them, “My Father is still working, and I am working also.” This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him: Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.

Introduction: One of the things I dreaded the most about school as I was growing up was P.E. class. I was never very athletic and of course, overweight, so P.E. was a struggle for me. It was especially hard when we played games like dodge ball or red rover that required 2 team captains to pick their teams. I knew that meant that the most popular kids would be chosen first and that I would be picked last.

Do you like to be chosen? Sure you do. When you are picked, it makes you feel special. In today's story, we meet a man who had never been picked for 38 years, until Jesus came along.

The scene for today's story is by a pool in Jerusalem called Bethesda. Bethesda means "house of mercy." Jesus had come to town for the Passover feast when he happened to come by this pool where many lay sick, blind, lame and paralyzed. They were waiting...waiting for what you say? It seems that this pool was a place where people were healed.

As Jesus scanned the scene, he singled out this unnamed man from our story and he began a conversation with him that would change his life forever. I am so thankful for the day that Jesus singled me out from the crowd and began speaking to my heart about my need for Him.

I hope and pray that I never forget that day because that was one conversation that changed me forever. When Jesus singles you out and speaks to your heart, the result can be life changing if you are willing to listen and be made whole by Him.

So the question this morning is this: what do you do when Jesus crashes your pool party?

CONSIDER HIS QUESTION CAREFULLY (v. 6)

Jesus looked at this lame man and asked, "Do you want to be healed?" (be made whole) on the surface, it might seem that the answer would be obvious - like asking a hungry man if he wanted to eat. But when it comes to dealing with people, sometimes the answer is not so obvious.

I have met homeless people who chose to remain homeless.

I have met debtors who chose keep on spending money that they don't have.

I have met addicts whose addiction had too great a hold on them. Until they were ready to get clean for themselves, they remained addicts.

And I have met plenty of sinful people who loved their sin too much to give up sinning.

Illus. In the spiritual realm man’s great problem is that either he does not recognize he is sick (cf. Isa. 1:5–6; Luke 5:31) or he does not want to be cured. People are often happy, for a while at least, in their sins.

Edwin A. Blum, “John,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 289.

There are a few indications that he truly wanted to be made whole.

His longing - he came to the House of Mercy seeking mercy (how he got there?)

His location - lying by the edge of the pool - so close, but yet so far away.

His longevity - he had been an invalid for 38 years...don't know if he had been there every day, but it says that Jesus knew he had already been there a long time.

Jesus asked this of the man because he wanted him to consider the implications of being healed. He wanted to know if the man was truly sincere.

Did he really want change? - there would be a lot of unknowns in this new life if he changed.

He would have a new set of responsibilities now that he could work.

More importantly, he was going to have to give up his sinful ways (v. 14)

There is a spiritual application for us...do we really want to be made whole from our sins? Have we considered the implications of that decision? We may be in the house of mercy this morning, but do we really want change?

Luke 14:27–33 CSB

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. “For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ “Or what king, going to war against another king, will not first sit down and decide if he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If not, while the other is still far off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.

ANSWER HIM HONESTLY (v. 7)

While some might consider his response to Jesus question a mere excuse, the man gave a very honest answer to Jesus - He was saying, "Jesus, I need some help!" He was helpless and hopeless.

illus. In the Peanuts comic strip, we find Snoopy thinking to himself: "Yesterday I was a dog. Today I’m a dog. Tomorrow I’ll probably still be a dog. There’s so little hope for advancement.”

The physical condition of this man gives us a very vivid picture of the spiritual condition of those without Jesus.

The disease of sin renders us powerless and helpless - w/o Jesus we are spiritual invalids.

Eph. 2:1-3

Ephesians 2:1–3 CSB

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.

Our spiritual affliction doesn't get better over time - in fact, it only gets worse.

James 1:14–15 CSB

But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.

There is only one great Physician who can heal us of this disease - his name is Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 53:4–5 CSB

Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.

The cure for our sin disease is the cross - there is no other cure out there.

Colossians 2:14–15 CSB

He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him.

Jesus knew everything about this man. He knew that there wasn't a thing this man could do about his condition. But he waited until the man verbalized his need for help before he healed him.

The biggest stumbling block keeping many people from embracing Jesus as their Savior is pride; it keeps them from admitting that they are helpless sinners in need of salvation. (illus. Ravi Zacharias quote)

illus. "A man rejects God neither because of intellectual demands nor because of the scarcity of evidence. A man rejects God because of a moral resistance that refuses to admit his need for God." - Ravi Zacharias

III. OBEY HIM PROMPTLY (vv. 8-9)

Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk." (John 5:8)

A man who had not walked for 38 years was now faced with a dilemma. Would he take the word of a man who was a total stranger to him and "Get up, take up his bed and walk." (Remember, v. 13?) Or would he remain in his pitiful state lying on his mat by the pool side.

He could have said, "I'm sorry...I have been like this for 38 years...I have tried this before and failed."

He could have said, "Don't you need to get some friends over here and put me in the pool first?"

He could have said, "Who did you say you were again?"

It took faith for this man to obey Jesus and the result of his faith brought healing into his life. The Bible says, "at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked."

Jesus doesn't call people to do things without first giving them the power to do them.

Neither does Jesus give that power until we take our first step of faith.

I know that this story is about physical healing, and we have no definitive proof that this man received salvation, but the point of the story is that his faith in Christ and his Word made him whole.

It is only through our faith in the gospel that we can be made whole from the effects of sin.

John 5:24 CSB

“Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.

John 10:27–28 CSB

My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.

John 17:3 CSB

This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent—Jesus Christ.

I will point out that Jesus called him to a life of repentance when he said, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." As we turn to Christ for our salvation, we must first turn from our sin in repentance.

Illus: One ad for the U.S. Marines pictures a sword, and beneath it the words: "Earned, never given." If you want to become a Marine, be prepared to earn that name through sacrifice, hardship, and training. If you get it, you deserve it. But if you want to become a Christian, you must have the exact opposite attitude, for the message of the gospel is: "Given, never earned." You cannot save your own soul, and God will not save anyone who tries to earn salvation, but only those who will humbly receive it as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ. If you get it, you absolutely did not deserve it. -- Craig Brian Larson

Closing: You might have wondered why Jesus asked this man if he wanted to get well? Look a little further into the chapter.

John 5:38–40 CSB

You don’t have his word residing in you, because you don’t believe the one he sent. You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me. But you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.

The Jews, when they heard of this miracle, didn’t rejoice that the man was healed. They instead started persecuting him because he healed the man on the Sabbath. Then, they sought to kill Jesus because he claimed to be equal to the Father. He pointed out that they were unwilling to come to him so that they may have life.

The paralyzed man that they all complained about was willing and he did receive life. Let that sink in for a moment. You have to humble yourself in order to be made whole. Are you willing?