Pubic Ministry: Pool of Bethesda (5:1-18)

Introduction:

The gospel of John has been faithful to declare to us the purpose of the coming of Jesus, the Son of God. We have seen him use miracles as a sign to show us clearly that he brings life to those racked by the human dilemma of sin. We have seen him declare through his activities that he is the fulfillment of all that was presented in the Old Testament and is therefore the implementor of the new covenant promised in Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

This morning we will begin an important discourse by Jesus in Chapter five, in which he very clearly declares to us his relationship with God the Father, as God the Son, beginning with the event that sparked such a discourse, another sign-miracle done by Jesus at the Pool of Bethesda from John 5:1-18.

Text: John 5:1-18

John 5:1–18 ESV

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, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 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.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” 18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Main Idea: Because Jesus is God in the flesh, he is not motivated by unbiblical human traditions.

Background:

The “festival cycle” in John’s Gospel, which spans chs. 5–10, is characterized by escalating conflict between Jesus and the Jewish authorities. In the course of Jesus’ defense of his ministry, he cites several major witnesses on his behalf (see note on 5:31–47), which declared his credibility as the Son of God. We begin with this statement that sets the stage in verse 1:

(1) After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

After this marks the passing of an indefinite period of time, but certainly places us after the events we learned about last week when Jesus healed the official’s son in Galilee.

a feast of the Jews…Jesus went up to Jerusalem - Probably one of the pilgrimage feasts observed in Jerusalem, either Booths, Passover, or Pentecost, but most likely Passover.

I. Pool of Bethesda (2-9)

A. Pool Purpose (2-4)

(2) Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.

Sheep Gate, probably called this because through it many sheep were led for the purpose of being sacrificed in the near-by temple-court.

Interesting corollary, as sheep were sacrificed for the sins of the people, and Jesus, the lamb of God is about to enter the scene…

pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda. “Bethesda” means “house of mercy,” a fitting term given the desperate state of the people lying there in hope of a miracle cure. Various spellings of the name of this pool are found in the Greek manuscripts.

five roofed colonnades - five porticos or covered colonnades where the sick could rest.

(3) In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. [waiting for the moving of the water; (4) for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and stirred the water: whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.]

The statement in the ESV footnote about an angel of the Lord stirring the water and the first person who stepped in being healed is found in some early manuscripts, but not the earliest. Therefore the omitted verse 4 should not be considered part of Scripture, although v. 7 (which is in all manuscripts) shows that people believed something like what this statement reports.

It must be stressed, however, that the miracle which occurs here when this sick man is cured is ascribed not to any medicinal virtue inherent in this particular pool, nor to any angelic activity, but to the power and the love of Jesus! In fact, when the Lord heals this man he does not even make any use of the pool (contrast 9:7; 2 Kings 5:10, 14). And it is on this miracle that we should place all the emphasis; not on the question whether or not miracles were constantly taking place at this pool.

B. Pool Limitation (5-7)

(5) One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

an invalid. The exact disease is not specified, but the account indicates that it has hindered the man’s movement and walking.

thirty-eight years. The long duration of his infirmity demonstrated its reality and severity, making Jesus’ healing of him all the more remarkable and undeniable.

(6) When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”

Knew probably indicates Jesus’ divine knowledge of the man’s situation, similar to Jesus’ knowledge of Nathanael (1:48) and the Samaritan woman (4:18).

Do you want to be healed? - this question asked by Jesus would seem intuitively obvious, however, Jesus wants to reveal to this man how hopeless his situation is, and change the focus of his hope, for…

(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.”

When the water is stirred up indicates that people thought at least the first person entering the troubled water would be healed.

another steps down before me. Although better manuscripts lack the words that others include as v. 4 (see text note), those words may explain the belief that prompted this invalid and others to hasten into the pool when its waters were “stirred up,” hoping for healing.

It is in this context that Jesus provides…

C. Divine Intervention (8-9)

(8) Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” - What the legend surrounding this body of water associated with the temple could not provide to this man, Jesus confers in a single sentence that imparted strength and mobility.

(9) And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.

at once the man was healed. It is not stated that faith in Jesus is required of the man, as is the case in many of Jesus’ miracles (Matt. 9:22; 13:58; Mark 6:5, 6). The focus here is on Jesus’ power.

he took up his bed and walked - the man acted on the command of Jesus to show that this was not a progressive, slow, natural, healing, but that it indeed was an immediate act of the Son of God!

Now that day was the Sabbath. - in the midst of this amazing miracle, John introduces us to the…

II. Sabbath Controversy (10-17)

Within this Sabbath controversy, we are shown how blind mankind becomes with regard to human, non-biblical traditions…to the point of…

A. Misplaced Values (10-13)

(10) So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.”

It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed. Nothing in the OT specifically prohibited such an innocent activity as carrying one’s bedroll on the Sabbath day (cf. Ex. 20:8–11), but the man was violating later Jewish traditions that had developed hundreds of minutely detailed and burdensome rules about what kind of “work” was prohibited, including a code that forbade carrying an object “from one domain into another” (Mishnah, Shabbat 7.2).

(11) But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” - the man’s response shows both fear and lack of understanding.

(12) They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” - the implication by the religious leaders is that they need to know who this man was so as to reprimand him for his encouragement of this man to violate the Sabbath traditions.

(13) Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. - why Jesus withdrew himself is not clear, but in the context, it seems to point to the possibility that he did so to give this healed person an opportunity to be strengthened in his convictions by being compelled to express them without help from anyone. Whatever may have been the reason or combination of reasons, the fact remains that the healed man was unable to point out who it was that had changed his sadness to gladness. However, Jesus finds him (which is the case with all of us who know God, he found us) and changes the misplaced values into…

B. Redirected Values (14-17)

(14) Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, that is, the larger temple complex rather than the actual building (see note on 2:14), a short distance from where the original healing had taken place (the pool of Bethesda is located just north of the Temple Mount).

See, you are well! Sin no more, may imply that the man’s suffering was due to sin, without suggesting that all suffering is due to personal sin. However, also, note that the priority is not on the physical, but the spiritual, which is the greater healing needed. Jesus will remind his disciples later in John, that all sickness is not caused by personal sin…

John 9:1–3 ESV

1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

that nothing worse may happen to you. The point of the admonition is not necessarily that the man brought his illness on himself by some specific sin. Some sins can provoke God to physical and temporal judgment (1 Cor. 11:28–32), but illness is not necessarily related to particular sins (9:1–3). If the man had not responded to God’s kindness with repentance and grateful obedience (Rom. 2:4), the mercy he had received would have compound his guilt (Luke 10:13–15; Heb. 6:4–6).

Thus, the importance of this miracle goes beyond the physical, temporal healing, it is to move the man to a more permanent faith in Jesus.

(15) The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. - note here an interesting difference between the question of the Jewish religious leaders, and the answer given by the man. They had asked in verse 12, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” But he answered, it was Jesus who had healed him. He places the emphasis where it belongs; namely, on the healing, in which the Jews had shown so little interest.

(16) And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. - Jesus’ Jewish opponents were putting their merely human religious tradition above genuine love and compassion for others, which the OT commanded (e.g., Lev. 19:18) and Jesus exemplified. It was Jesus, not these Jews, who was truly obeying the Scriptures.

(17) But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

My Father is working until now, and I am working. Jesus does not dispute with the Jews as to whether they are right to criticize the lame man. He denies that they can criticize Him, for He is only doing what His Father does. Although God rested from His work of creation on the seventh day (Gen. 2:2, 3), He constantly sustains the universe through His active providence. The Jews rightly understand Jesus to be claiming equality with God in speaking of God as His Father, but they reject His claim as blasphemous (v. 18; 8:56–59; 10:30–38).

My Father suggests a far closer relationship with God than other people had (see 20:17). When Jesus says, “My Father is working until now, and I am working,” he implies that he, like the Father, is lord over the Sabbath. Therefore this is a claim to deity. These Jews recognize what he is claiming (see 5:18). While Gen. 2:2–3 teaches that God rested (Hb. shabat) on the seventh day of creation, Jewish rabbis agreed that God continually upholds the universe, yet without breaking the Sabbath. We see this expressed in both the Old and New Testaments:

Psalm 95:1–5 ESV

1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.

Matthew 6:25–26 ESV

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

III. Increased Resentment (18)

(18) This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

making himself equal with God. Jesus represents Himself as One who has the same authority over the Sabbath as the author of the Sabbath (Luke 6:5), which authority goes back to the creation order itself.

Jesus was claiming to be the Son of God, not in the way that ordinary human believers are sons of God but in the sense of one who was equal to God in his nature and in every way, yet who related to God in a Father-Son relationship (see note on 1:14). If Jesus had been merely a man (as his Jewish opponents thought), then this claim would have been blasphemy on Jesus’ part.

This miracle and subsequent interaction with the religious leaders provides the backdrop for the discourse by Jesus in the next two sermons.

So What?

Are we so entrenched in our traditions of men that we miss the truth of God’s eternal word?

Do we continue to focus on physical healing and neglect the immense spiritual need of each human being?

Do we have our own “Pools of Bethesda” in our lives, whereby our focus is away from the true cure, Jesus Christ?