Being Misunderstood

Outline:

The context of today’s passage () shows the growing rejection of Christ

The Content. ()

Christ Command ()

Christ Condition ( )

Introduction:

John 15:18 ESV

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

1 Peter 4:13–14 ESV

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

1 Peter 4:12 ESV

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

1 Peter 4.13-14

This text is showing us the true nature and person of Christ while at the same time revealing the growing rejection of the Christ. At first large crowds followed because they loved what they were getting and seeing. Many were getting healed, He was teaching with authority, there was intrigue, there was miracles, but maybe most importantly their was free food. Being in college ministry for 25 years I will never underestimate the power of free food. Luke records a time when thousands flocked to follow Christ. So many that they were stepping on each other in

Also it seems to be the hidden cost of good leadership in a fallen world is being misunderstood.

The hidden cost of good leadership in a fallen world is being misunderstood.

This text is showing us the true nature and person of Christ while at the same time revealing the growing rejection of the Christ. At first large crowds followed because they loved what they were getting and seeing. Many were getting healed, He was teaching with authority, there was intrigue, there was miracles, but maybe most importantly their was free food. Being in college ministry for 25 years I will never underestimate the power of free food. Luke records a time when thousands flocked to follow Christ. So many that they were stepping on each other in

Luke 12:1 ESV

In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

Ultimately, the crowds that followed Jesus were not about His kingdom but there own kingdoms. They were fickle. Self-involved. Once Jesus began to explain His kingdom many or perhaps most turned back.

Chapters 5 through 7 of John’s gospel note the beginning of the nation’s shift in attitude toward Jesus from reservation (cf. 3:26; 4:1–3) to outright rejection (summed up in 7:52).

John 6:66 ESV

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

John 6:6 ESV

He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). (p. 171). Chicago: Moody Press.

john 6.6

John 7:52 ESV

They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

john

They are misinformed about who Jesus is, or even where he was born which would have helped validate his Identity. In our fallen sinful state, the way we enter the world, we too view the person of Jesus in this way. We misunderstand who He is and what He offers. We can’t see it. Like small children told they cannot go get their ball in the street or else they may be hurt or even killed. The Christ is right here with them but they are blind. Are we any different?

John 1–11: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Chapter 14: The Persecuted Jesus (John 5:1–16)

Excited by His astonishing miracles and powerful preaching, people flocked to Jesus. Matthew 4:25 reports that “large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.” After the Sermon on the Mount, “when Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him” (Matt. 8:1). On another occasion, “large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach” listening to His preaching (Matt. 13:2). Across the Jordan in the predominantly Gentile region of Perea, “large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there” (Matt. 19:2; cf. 20:29; John 6:2, 5). Luke records a time when “so many thousands of people had gathered together [to hear Jesus] that they were stepping on one another” (Luke 12:1).

But the overwhelming popularity that Jesus experienced was not as beneficial as it appeared. The crowds who flocked to Him primarily consisted of curiosity seekers. They were not devoted to Him as Lord and Messiah, but followed Him for the excitement, healings, and free food He provided (cf. 6:26). At one point, they were so enthusiastic about what they perceived as Jesus’ supernatural social welfare program that they tried to make Him king (6:15). But because they were not generally committed to Him or His gospel of the kingdom, Jesus did not commit Himself to them (2:24; 6:26, 64).

Ultimately, the fickle crowds rejected Jesus (6:66), following the example of their religious leaders. Those leaders, especially the Pharisees (the most influential religious sect of Judaism), mounted an unrelenting campaign of lies against Jesus, falsely accusing Him of being a demon-possessed Samaritan (8:48) of illegitimate birth (8:41). As noted earlier, they even attributed His miraculous signs to the power of Satan (Matt. 9:34; 10:25; 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15). The nation’s ultimate rejection came at Jesus’ trial before Pilate when, urged on by the religious leaders, the crowd screamed, “Crucify Him!… His blood shall be on us and on our children!” (Matt. 27:23, 25). At His death, Jesus had only a handful of identifiable true disciples—120 in Jerusalem (Acts 1:15) and another 500, probably in Galilee (1 Cor. 15:6; cf. Matt. 28:7, 16).

The nation’s ultimate rejection came at Jesus’ trial before Pilate when, urged on by the religious leaders, the crowd screamed, “Crucify Him!… His blood shall be on us and on our children!” (, ). At His death, Jesus had only a handful of identifiable true disciples—120 in Jerusalem () and another 500, probably in Galilee (; cf. , ).

Matthew 10:28 ESV

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

The nation’s ultimate rejection came at Jesus’ trial before Pilate when, urged on by the religious leaders, the crowd screamed, “Crucify Him!… His blood shall be on us and on our children!” (, ). At His death, Jesus had only a handful of identifiable true disciples—120 in Jerusalem () and another 500, probably in Galilee (; cf. , ).

Luke 4:18 ESV

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

The nation’s ultimate rejection came at Jesus’ trial before Pilate when, urged on by the religious leaders, the crowd screamed, “Crucify Him!… His blood shall be on us and on our children!” (, ). At His death, Jesus had only a handful of identifiable true disciples—120 in Jerusalem () and another 500, probably in Galilee (; cf. , ).

Really 620 people is the educated guess at least of some noted theologians.

John 5:1–5 ESV

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

john 5.1-

1. The Content: A few Observations

Jesus intentionally sought out this man much like he deliberately went to Sychar and the women at the well. Jesus initiates these relationships, not them.

Second, we notice that there is no verse 4 in the ESV (or the NIV, or the NASB). But it’s there in the old Authorized King James version.

Why is it missing?

The answer is that it’s not there in the oldest and best manuscripts.

Here it seems that somewhere along the way, a copyist drew a marginal note of explanation into the actual text. Verse 7 begs for an explanation. It says, “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.’” It seems like only a few were healed (or maybe only one), when the water was “stirred up,” and if you were too slow, you missed out.

So verse 4 in the King James explains (you can see it in your footnote): it says that the invalids were “waiting for the moving of the water; 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.” That helps make sense out of verse 7 where the man says he can’t get to the pool in time.

Of course, this explanation may be exactly right. But since it’s missing from the earliest manuscripts and has other marks of being added later, the more recent versions omit it so that we have a version that is as close to the original as possible. How the pool worked is not essential to the story. The fact that Jesus worked is essential to the story.

Don’t let this disturb your faith in the word of God, There are thousands of Greek manuscripts or fragments of Greek manuscripts and the way we arrive at our amazingly reliable Greek and Hebrew and English versions is that these texts are compared with each other in painstaking and complex ways so that when some manuscripts have different wording, we can tell almost all the time which is original. And in the few places where we can’t, there is no significant historical or doctrinal issue at stake.

The NIV Application Commentary: John Original Meaning

Some refer to these chapters as John’s “festival cycle.” Once this pattern is recognized, new insight is possible on otherwise difficult paragraphs. In my outline (see Introduction) I have suggested that one effective way to organize the section is to group the four major festivals together, leaving the Lazarus story to one side (as foreshadowing of death and resurrection). An outline of the festivals makes John’s structure clear.

• The Sabbath Festival in Jerusalem (ch. 5)

• The Passover Festival in Galilee (ch. 6)

• The Tabernacles Festival in Jerusalem (chs. 7–8)

• Case Study: A Blind Man and “Light” (ch. 9)

• The Hanukkah Festival in Jerusalem (ch. 10)

The NIV Application Commentary: John Original Meaning

One cannot overestimate the importance of such festivals in first-century Judaism. Leviticus 23 offers a list of these festivals and stresses their importance. The cycle of festivals was old (Purim and Hanukkah were the newest, but centuries-old in Jesus’ day) and the liturgies of the temple and the responsibilities of Jewish families well established. Three times each year Jewish families were expected to travel to Jerusalem for worship (Passover in spring, Pentecost seven weeks later, Tabernacles in autumn), thanking God for the harvest of crop and herd and remembering great episodes from Israel’s history.

The NIV Application Commentary: John Original Meaning

Festivals were made by God to bring good gifts to his people, not to legislate and control behavior.

The NIV Application Commentary: John Original Meaning

Chapter 5 not only opens the festival cycle, but it also introduces a theme that will weave its way throughout the Gospel. John’s Gospel places Jesus on trial not simply at the end of his life (as in the Synoptics), but rather continually. Jesus’ arrival in the world forces men and women to take stock of his coming, to examine and decide the truth of his mission and word. In this sense, Jesus is “in the dock” or on trial in every episode. In fact, one of the ways John introduces the miracles of Jesus is to offer them as “evidence,” as if Jesus were on trial.

But there is an ironic twist here because in the end, it is not Jesus who is on trial; the world is on trial. Even though Jesus is clear that he is not judging the world (8:15; 12:47), still, the entry of the light into the world exposes the darkness and judges it for what it is. “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (3:19).

c. the setting: The name of the pool, “Bethesda,” is Aramaic. It means “House of Mercy.” John tells us that “a great number of disabled people used to lie [there]—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed” (). The covered colonnades would have provided shade for the disabled who gathered there, but there was another reason for the popularity of the Pool of Bethesda.

John 5:2–9 ESV

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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?” 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.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.

john 5.2-

The name of the pool, “Bethesda,” is Aramaic. It means “House of Mercy.” John tells us that “a great number of disabled people used to lie [there]—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed” (). The covered colonnades would have provided shade for the disabled who gathered there, but there was another reason for the popularity of the Pool of Bethesda. Legend had it that an angel would come down into the pool and “stir up the water.” The first person into the pool after the stirring of the water “was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted” (, NAS). The Bible does not teach that this actually happened— is not included in most modern translations because it is unlikely to be original to the text—rather, the superstitious belief probably arose because of the pool’s association with the nearby temple.

Notice in this place lay a multitude of invallids- blind, lame, paralyzed.

Jesus didn’t just happen to see this man. He sought Him out. Here we see the compassion of Christ for a man lame for 38 years. Jesus went to the man and initiated contact.

Why would Jesus have not healed them all?

There was a multitude there by the pool. He choose one

Do you want to be Healed? An Eastern Lame Begger could make a good living often just by being crippled.

He repsonds that he doesn’t have a way to get into the pool wheh the water is stirred

2. Christ Command:

John 5:8–13 ESV

Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. 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.” But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 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.

john 5.8

Jesus knew it was the Sabbath yet he told him to take up his mat and walk. Jesus also would have known the Jews had added extra biblical rules to the Sabbath practice that would consider this man and Jesus condemned for working ion the Sabbath.

Jesus was now ready to pick a fight.

John 5:16–18 ESV

And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” 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.

John 5.

Jesus is here claiming to be equal with God and breaking the Sabbath. He has now gone to far. MOre on this next week

3. Christ Condition:

For now let’s look at

John 5:14–15 ESV

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.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

John 5.14

Jesus wasn’t intending to simply heal him physically but also spiritually. He went and found him in the temple. Sin no more that nothing worse may happen.

What could have been worse than 38 years of being crippled. Eternity in Hell.

John 1–11: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Master Persecuted

Even in the church age, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For this reason [because of your sin] many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep [are dead]” (1 Cor. 11:30).

The most natural understanding of the Lord’s warning, then, is that the man’s illness was the result of specific personal sin on his part. If the man persisted in unrepentant sin, Jesus warned, he would suffer a fate infinitely worse than thirty-eight years of a debilitating disease—namely, eternal punishment in hell.

Jesus calls this man to Holiness and He calls us to Holiness.

Hebrews 12:14 ESV

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Jesus calls this man to Holiness and He calls us to Holiness.

Why is Holiness so important to God?

Isaiah 6:1–3 ESV

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Is 6.1-4

Seraphim are only mentioned here. Had to cover their face cover their feet (creatureness)

Holy, Holy, Holy

God has many attributes just like I do. I am a father, a husband, a son, an uncle and so on but God is merciful, patient, longsuffering, and abounding in love but the only attribute of God that is mentioned three times is apparently His predominant attribute. He is not just holy, but He is holy, holy, holy. In Jewish liturgy, when something is incredibly important, it is mentioned twice. Jesus does this when He says something twice like “verily, verily” but this is also signifies great intimacy when He repeats someone’s name twice like Moses, Moses; Abraham, Abraham; Saul, Saul…but when something is mentioned three times in a row, it is off the charts in importance and this is why of all the attributes of God He is holy, holy, holy. That is the greatest emphasis that can be put on anything or anyone in Scripture and this is telling us that this is the most important thing about God. God is holy, holy, holy. This is the only attribute of God that is mentioned in the Scriptures three times!

Exodus 33.18

Exodus 33:18–20 ESV

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”

1 Peter 1:16 ESV

since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

How does someone Be Holy?

Gospel:

God: God is our creator . He is loving Holy and Just. One day He will execute perfect justice against all sin.

Man: People are made in the image of God. We are beautiful and mazing creatures with dignity worth and value, but through our willful sinful rebellion against God, we have turned from being his children to his enemies. Still, all people have the capacity to be in a restored loving relationship with the living God

Christ: Christ is the son of God whose perfect life gave Him the ability to become the perfect sacrifice. Through his death on the cross, he ransomed sinful people. CHRIST death paid for all who come to Him in faith. Christ resurrection from the dead is the ultimate vindication of the truths of these claims.

Response: The response God requires from us is to acknowledge our sin, repent, and believe in Christ. So we turn from sin especially the sin of unbelief, and turn to God in faith, with the understanding that we will follow him the rest of our days.

John 5:12 ESV

They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”

Christ Claim ()

Not to be put off, the authorities immediately asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?” What man, they demanded, would have the audacity to call for such a Sabbath violation and flaunt the authority of the rabbis? Who would dare to violate the “traditions of the elders” (), which they equated with the inviolable law of God? Such impudence needed to be dealt with at once. Once again, they proved themselves to be far more concerned with the minutiae of the law than with the weightier matters—such as the mercy that had been shown to this needy individual (cf. ).

John 5:16–18 ESV

And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” 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.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). (p. 177). Chicago: Moody Press.

()

Jesus is saying He is equal with God and this outrages the Jewish Leaders so that they begin to try and kill Him.

Sounds like God works on Sundays. If you think about it how could He not. The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath.

We become positionally Holy or righteous through Christ

We become increasingly Holy through the process of sanctification

When we arrive at eternity's shore

Where death is just a memory and tears are no more

We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring

Your bride will come together and we'll sing

You're beautiful

Being Misunderstood

There is a growing Rejection and Misunderstanding of Christ starting here in Chapter 5 of John and going through chapter 7.