Blinded to the Light

Introduction

If you have a copy of the Scriptures with you this morning, please turn with me to John 5. We’ll be looking primarily at the first 18 verses of John 5.

As you’re turning, please let me share with you that I find this to be an immense privilege. To open God’s Word with you is among the highest of honors. Truly, there is a long history and vast heritage that we have as the Brethren, and to be with you, as we are entrusted with its preservation, it humbles me to proclaim the authoritative, infallible, and all sufficient Word of God to you.

READ JOHN 5:1-17.

Our conference theme has been “Gonna Let it Shine”, and we have been encouraged to let the Gospel and the truth of God’s Word shine, to proclaim it in this dark world, as we remain here as Christ’s Church.

As we’ve seen in the last couple of Bible Hours, the key to evangelism is what do unbelievers believe about Jesus? Do they believe what Jesus said about himself, or do they believe some truncated version of who He said He was?

We find that in our passage today, as Jesus is claiming to be God.

If you will, look at verse 18 with me real quick (READ).

Here, we see that the Jews knew exactly what Jesus was claiming.

Rather than considering the ample evidence that Jesus had been giving them over a period of months, if not years, at this point his hearers remain blind to the light.

That is what we are looking into today.

We are going to consider 3 ways that people are blind to the Light as seen in John 5:1-17:

Superstition.

Tradition.

Persecution.

1. Superstition (vv. 1-9a).

Jesus does something here that we should be used to seeing within the pages of Scripture, as He heals a man who was sick for 38 years. But this man’s superstition about the movement of a body of water blinded him to who actually was there seeking to heal him.

As we open this account, we find that Jesus is taking a break from the Galilean ministry that he began on his way through Samaria in chapter 4 to do his Jewish duty by showing up to a Jewish Feast.

It was every Jewish man’s duty to go up to Jerusalem for the three feasts: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Which one Jesus is celebrating here is not named.

It is necessary to know that by this time in Jesus ministry, he had begun making a name for himself in the community of Israel.

Just by looking at John 4:1, we see that the Pharisees were starting to notice the growth of the ministry of Jesus, which is why Jesus left for the Galilee.

Earlier on in the Gospel of John chapter 2, Jesus cleanses the Temple, which drew the ire of the Jewish religious leaders, where they would question him: John 2:18 “So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?””

That time in Jerusalem brought many people to believe in him, but likely only for the signs, and not for the teaching he was doing, as we read John 2:24–25 “But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.”

In the next chapter, one of the premier teachers of the Torah in Israel at the time, came to Jesus saying John 3:2 ““Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.””

And now, Jesus is approaching Jerusalem from the north, where the Sheep Gate would be, just north of the Temple Mount.

It is here that there was this pool called “Bethesda” (which means “house of mercy” in Hebrew) where numerous invalids were laid up, waiting for a movement in the water.

Now, in your Bible, one of three things may be happening:

If your Bible is like mine, they removed the last phrase of verse 3 and all of verse 4 entirely from the main portion of the text and moved it down to the footnotes.

Or, your Bible may have brackets around the last phrase of verse 3 and all of verse 4.

Or, your Bible may include it and make no notation about it at all.

Whats going on here? Did someone remove a portion of the Bible? No.

What we have here is a manuscript variant. In the Greek manuscripts that we have of the Gospel of John, the oldest do not have those phrases.

The earliest mention we have of these phrases, however, is Tertullian, who died around A.D. 220.

Why is this necessary?

What you see in the last part of verse 3 and all of verse 4 are likely a scribal note that was written as they were copying down the Gospel of John, and as that copy was copied it was thought to be Scripture.

This scribe was probably trying to explain what the sick man was saying in John 5:7 “The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.””

So the superstition of an angel moving the waters was likely a common legend among the Jewish People at the time.

This invalid that Jesus heals, was completely wrapped up in this superstition, so much so that he misses who it is that asks him if he wants to be healed.

Sometimes we can mock the down and out people in scripture with our idealized minds, “like come on man, you’ve been there 38 years, and no one has helped you.” Give up hope.

Likely this guy has tried everything else, and has no other hope.

What is more in view here, is the compassion, grace, and omniscience of Jesus.

But even after experiencing that compassion, grace, and omniscience, this man still did not care who Jesus was, because at the end of the day, he still told the Jewish Religious leaders, who already had it out for Jesus, that it was Jesus who healed him in verse 15.

No consideration about how one man instantaneously healed a problem that he had for most of his life.

No consideration for the fact that this man who healed him warned him about something worse that could happen.

This man was totally blind to the Light that God, through His Son, had just so graciously revealed to him.

We, too, face a people fraught with superstition.

The cultural and societal framework of “Atheism” is starting to fade. More and more people are turning towards “spiritualism”.

Some in so called “Christianity” have turned the faith into a ponzi scheme of a way to get money in the so called Prosperity Gospel, name it and claim it non-sense.

The Spiritual but not religious crowd.

There is the growth of what the ancients called Gnosticism.

It is called the “Universal Christ” movement today, where literally anything and everything can be “Christ”.

a former Christian band artist, who recently deconstructed his faith, in an instagram post said that his dog was Christ to him.

Superstition blinds.

Even more telling is the continual growth of Neo-Paganism, and the fascination with the Pagan gods of old.

Yes, like Thor, Odin, Zeus, Aphrodite and the like.

Book stores are filled with New Age Books and Crystals.

Witchcraft is popular again, and is one of the fastest growing movements in our society.

Jesus isn’t just one of a pantheon or an apparition, He is God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.

Much of the current ripe harvest fields are those that are trapped in theological battles that were fought over the person of Jesus over a millennia and half ago.

Another Blind spot to the Light is that of Tradition.

2. Tradition (vv. 9b-15).

Holding to traditions as conditions of salvation, or even as notches in the proverbial belt to prove you are superior to others is antithetical to Christ and His Gospel.

The Jewish Religious Leaders took what was good, a command from God (Romans 7:12), and twisted it beyond all comprehension of what God had intended.

The Sabbath Day, that was intended to be a day of rest and worship, had been turned into the day that was the most burdensome out of the Jewish Week.

So much so, that a man, who was 38 years sick, was called out for his carrying of a bedroll after he was healed.

Just so we are clear, there is no Law in the OT prohibiting the carrying of mats. There are directives against doing business, or carrying about the normal means employment. Consider:

Exodus 20:8-11. 10 Commandment Passage.

Exodus 31:12-17. Explanation of the Commandment in the Life of the Nation of Israel.

Jeremiah 17:19-22.

Nehemiah 13:19ff.

Those last two passages were used by the Rabbis when they were writing down the oral tradition(known as the Mishnah).

There are 39 extra rules added to the Sabbath

These rules were then held to be more authoritative than that of the Scripture, as you can see the Jews saying it is “unlawful” to carry a mat.

Similar to the discussion in Matthew 15:6, they made void the word of God by their tradition.

Listen to Jesus further in that passage: Matthew 15:6-9

Matthew 15:6–9 ESV

he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

Tradition has a strong grip on a lot of people.

When Tradition becomes idolatry, salvation in Jesus becomes a system of dos and don’ts, rather than a personal relationship with the God of the Universe.

They are deceived away from the “pure devotion to Christ” into following forms and functions.

On social media, I’ve seen many people recently fall prey to the Eastern Orthodox Church. Several families leaving various denominations for the what they call “true church” that claims to have its roots back to the apostles.

Not least of which is famous Christian Apologist Hank Hanigraff, who converted in 2017.

We see the continuation of the Magisterial Catholic Church. With many who, although they see the immense problems, are unwilling to leave.

They remain hooked by the tradition, whether its a family thing, or its what has always been done.

But these two shouldn’t be our biggest concerns though, when it comes to our gospel witness.

There are many “cultural Christians” who attend our churches, or who are even members in our churches, but they don’t truly know Christ.

Often, the hardest people to evangelize are those that sit in the pew every Sunday.

3. Persecution (vv. 16-18).

I only bring up persecution to point out what faith in the Jesus the Messiah, the One True God, presupposes.

Scripture tells us:

We will be hated because the world hated Christ first. John 15:18-21.

Jesus was persecuted by His own people, because He was being biblical.

That we should expect difficulty. John 16:33.

Take up our Cross and follow Christ. Luke 9:23.

To not expect peace, because Jesus brought a sword. Matthew 10:34-39.

Paul tells us that all who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted. 2 Timothy 3:12.

This becomes a hindrance to the Gospel, a blind spot to the Light when Christians seek to be comfortable rather than biblical, when Christians change the message to tickle ears, to give people what they want, rather than what they need.

Giving people what they want has a focus on the here and now.

There is no thought of eternal life or seeking the things above.

There is no consideration of the fact that it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.

Jesus doesn’t pull those punches. In the conversation that followed the passage we’ve been looking at, Jesus warned those who heard that judgment was coming (John 5:25-29).

Jesus warned the man in verse 14 (Read) about the judgment to come.

What is worse than a 38 year long debilitating illness?

Jesus continues to show his compassion towards this man by showing that not only is he concerned about his physical health, but he was concerned about his eternal destiny.

Conclusion.

Beloved, we live in dark and trying times. It is easy to be overwhelmed by discouragement, especially when we seek to reach the lost.

Challenge people to pray and examine your heart if they have any blind spots.

What “feel good” advice are you listening to that is nothing other than superstition?

Are you even able to discern what is Scriptural compared to superstition?

Are you simply here because that is what a good Christian would do?

Are you following “man made” traditions simply because you want to look good, or because you think the “doing” of them will lead you closer to God?

Are you fearful of what people will think of you, so you are unwilling to tell them the truth?

Matthew 9:36–38 ESV

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”