John 5:1-15

The Healing at the Pool

JOHN 5:1-15

1. When you are sick, what do you do to get better?

2. How important is it to you to stay physically fit? What are you doing to keep in shape?

3. What connection is there between your physical and spiritual health?

READ JOHN 5:1-15

A. Jesus heals a man at the pool of Bethesda [5:1–9]

1. The pool of Bethesda (1–4)

a. A feast of the Jews: We don’t know what feast this was, but it was probably one of the major three feasts in which attendance was required.

i. The debate centers on if this was Passover, Pentecost, or Purim. If it was a Passover, then we can date four Passovers in Jesus’ ministry and we know it lasted about 3½ years.

b. A pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda: This pool has been excavated in the area just north of the temple mount, and found to have five porches, just as John said. It is also near a church from the crusader period.

c. For an angel went down … whoever stepped in first … was made well: Perhaps this hope of healing was real, and God honored a release of faith. Or, it may be that this was merely a hopeful legend; nevertheless, a great multitude of sick people believed it.

i. There are many unusual occasions healing in the Bible:

• The purified pot of stew (2 Kings 4:38–41)

• The healing of Naaman by washing in the Jordan River (2 Kings 5:10–14)

• The healing of the man who touched the bones of Elisha (2 Kings 13:20–21)

• Healing of those who have the shadow of Peter upon them (Acts 5:14–16)

• The healing of those who have Paul’s handkerchiefs upon them (Acts 19:11–12)

ii. God can and does do things in unexpected ways. But something isn’t necessarily from God simply because it is unexpected or unusual.

2. Jesus questions a lame man (5–6)

a. Do you want to be made well? His question may seem rhetorical, but Jesus knew that not every sick person wants to be healed, and that some are so discouraged that they put away all hope. Jesus is dealing with a man who may have his heart withered as well as his legs. Jesus builds the faith of this man.

i. Do you want to be made well: Jesus asked this same kind question on three other occasions.

He asked it when John and James asked, through their mother, to be “top guys” in Jesus’ administration (Matthew 20:21, Mark 10:36);

when two blind men cried out to be healed (Matthew 20:32, Mark 10:51, Luke 18:41);

and when Jesus invited His disciples to come follow Him (John 1:38).

ii. This is an entirely fair question. So much of our petition and intercession before God is hampered because we have so little idea of what we really want.

b. It is reasonable to wonder if this man really wanted to be healed. One commentator points out: “An eastern beggar often loses a good living by being cured of his disease.”

i. As bad as our current situation is, at least we are familiar with it. We know it. It won’t surprise us. We can be more comfortable in our present misery than taking the steps we need to be free.

ii. For example, there are some women who on the one hand desperately want their husbands to be saved—yet on the other hand, they dread the idea because they know it would bring so many changes into their relationship.

iii. In 1993, it was reported that a small order of Franciscan nuns in decided to subsidize their facility by opening the downstairs up—formerly an underground detention center used by the Communists to imprison and torture their enemies—

So they decided, as a hotel. For $33 a night, you could stay in a former prison cell. The owners said they try to achieve a middle ground between comfort and authenticity in the “hotel.” Many people are really looking for just that—a comfortable prison cell.

3. The man replies and Jesus heals him (7–9)

a. Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool: The man’s answer is basically, “Yes, I want to be made well, but I don’t see how this can happen.”

i. Calvin speaks well of his response: “The sick man does what we nearly all do. He limits God’s help to his own ideas and does not dare promise himself more that he conceives in his mind.”

ii. J.B. Phillips wrote a famous book about this problem, titled Your God is too Small. For many of us, we create a small God in our heads, a God who is limited by whatever “box” we try to put God into.

Why did Jesus ask the man if he wanted to get well (see note on 5:5-6)?

In what area of your life do you need the most healing: Physical? Emotional? Relational? Spiritual?

What is the closest Jesus has come to saying to you, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk"?