The Power and Mercy of Jesus

Introduction

Chapter five in John’s Gospel marks a change of pace when it comes to how some people in the storyline viewed Jesus. At this point there is a shift, and in this shift, you begin to see many people openly as well as officially oppose him. At the same time there are still those who recognize Jesus for who he truly is and follow him. It’s at this point that I want to pause and ask you, who do you think Jesus is? Do you believe what the Apostle John says about Jesus? After all, John says in John 20:31 concerning his purpose for writing, “31 … but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” Do you believe this? If not, I would encourage you to believe on the name of Jesus a be saved. There’s nothing more important that could ever happen to you! Now, let’s talk about the portion of Scripture that’s before us, that being Jn. 5:1-9 because it’s in this section of John’s Gospel that we begin to read about some really amazing things concerning Jesus that were fulfillments of what the OT prophets had long ago written concerning the coming Messiah, who we know is Jesus of Nazareth. Take for instance what the prophet Isaiah said when he, at a distance saw Jesus and what he would do,

“5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened

and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

6 Then will the lame leap like a deer,

and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Water will gush forth in the wilderness

and streams in the desert.”

Isaiah 35:5–6 (NIV)

That’s right, these were signs of the Messiah, and every one of the Jewish leaders knew that too! So, when Jesus began doing these things it’s not like they didn’t really grasp what was going on, however, much of what Jesus said in relation to what he did challenged the status quo which created a hot bed for confrontation, and that’s what is going to begin to happen in Jn. 5 as Jesus starts out by showing his power and mercy by showing himself to be Lord over sickness. If you’ve got your Bible open lets read the text.

John 5:1–9 NKJV

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, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. 5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.

A Mission to Show Mercy

John 5:1–3 NKJV

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, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.

In the actual Greek text, Jn. 5:1 begins with the phase (Μετὰ ταῦτα), “After these things …”. In other words, after all that John has just talked about something happened. What was that something? There was a feast in Jerusalem that Jesus went to. We’re not told how much time elapsed between the end of chapter four and the beginning of chapter five because in the big scheme of things in John’s narrative that’s really not crucial information to getting his message across to us. Also, we’re not told which feast Jesus is attending, no matter how interested in that information we might be. Here’s what we do know, “All Jewish males were required to come to Jerusalem to attend three feasts: (1) the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, (2) the Feast of Weeks (also called Pentecost), and (3) the Feast of Tabernacles. Though this particular feast is not specified, the phrase explains why Jesus was in Jerusalem. John added the expression of the Jews to help Gentile readers.[1]” Now, what’s really important to John’s purpose in writing, remember he’s writing so “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” Jn. 20:31, what’s really important to John purpose comes in Jn. 5:2. He writes, “2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew (or Aramaic), Bethesda, having five porches.” What’s significant here is not necessarily where the pool is located, but instead its name, “Bethesda”. The reason being, “Bethesda” means “house of mercy”, and that’s exactly what Jesus was on a mission to show at this pool. Take a look at Jn. 5:3 because it’s in this verse that John sets up for us “how” Jesus is going to show mercy; note the people who are present at the pool, there’s a big crowd there, “a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, (and) paralyzed.” In other words, what you’ve got here is people who really couldn’t do anything for themselves, oh, but Jesus could, and that’s what John is going to show us in what follows because Jesus is on a mission to show mercy. (But first, I need to make a couple comments concerning Jn. 5:4).

[1] Bruce B. Barton, John, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1993), 99.

Excursus on John 5:4

If you are reading a modern translation of the Bible one of the things you’re going to notice is that Jn. 5:4 is missing from your text. Actually, it’s not missing it’s more than likely placed in a footnote somewhere on the page. This isn’t something I want to dwell on, but I do feel like I need to make a couple of comments about it because I’m sure some of you are going to ask me why your Bible doesn’t have verse four. In the last four-hundred years we have obtained a staggering number of biblical manuscripts. These are copies and copies of copies that translators many years ago did not have. In fact, although we don’t have any of the original writings of any of the authors, we do have copies that date to within around thirty years of when they lived. Now, what’s amazing about this is that it means that the Bible you hold is more accurate than any other book on the planet. Did you know that the closest we can get with a manuscript to works like the Iliad and the Odyssey written by Homer is around 800 years? Yet, people are willing to accept these works as completely accurate, but not the Bible! Now, as we have found and acquired these manuscripts one of the things translators have found is that often some of the oldest and best manuscripts don’t have certain words of perhaps even verses may be omitted. That is the case with John 5:4. The oldest and best manuscripts we have don’t have this verse in them, which means that this verse, Jn. 5:4, was very likely a scribal note. You see, often as scribes copied texts they made notes in the margins to insure proper translation. Often these scribes would work long and tedious hours and when they stopped for the day it was very easy to miss the point at which they stopped whenever they began their work again. Over time these scribal notes became part of the text because it was difficult to distinguish where the scribe might have stopped and started copying the actual text of Scripture. The point is that there’s nothing sinister going on here on the part of the scribe, not on the part of modern translators; modern translators are NOT trying to remove things from the Bible. Their goal is to get as close to the original text as possible. Now, in saying all of that, I will say that leaving this verse in the text doesn’t hurt anything. Now, I know that some people are not going to like what I’ve just said, and I’m okay with that, but I would offer you a word of caution here when it comes to making derogatory statements concerning Bible translations. First and foremost, this is God’s Word so don’t get into Bible bashing! Personally, I would not want to stand before God and have to answer for this one day! So, guard your tongue closely! Second, God chose to communicate his word originally in Hebrew (with a little Aramaic) and then Greek, not English or any other language. So, if you want to critique Bible translations learn the original languages before you do so. (And by the way, that means learning to use more than a Strong’s Concordance!). Third, when missionaries take Bibles with them to foreign countries, these Bibles are translated into the language of those they will be ministering to, and frankly, the last time I checked God was using those Bibles to save people. All of that said, whatever translation you prefer, make sure you are reading it. Sadly, we in the western world have been blessed with many Bible translations ranging from the beautiful KJV to the highly accurate and literal NASB, and yet many of us never take the time to read them. I promise you we will give and account for not doing so one day!

A Face in the Crowd

John 5:5–6 NKJV

5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

Let’s move now to Jn. 5:5-6. The first thing I want to point out to you is what were told at the beginning of Jn. 5:5, “Now a certain man was there …” Did you catch that? (Pause) In Jn. 5:3 we were told that there was a “great multitude” of people there, but here the focus has been reduced to one person. Now, here’s what I want you to think about, out of all those sick people who were there Jesus picked one person, one man; do you realize that that sick person could have been you? You see, this man was no different than anyone else in that he didn’t deserve to be healed any more that they did. My point is that he was a face in the crowd, but Jesus knew that he had an appointment with him. Do you really think that was a coincidence? Or what about Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in chapter four; do you think that was a coincidence? You see, we often have an issue with this thing called divine sovereignty, but the simple fact is that this man was healed because God sovereignly chose to do it, and you are saved because God sovereignly chose to do so! Now, look at Jn. 5:6, Jesus sees this man lying there and knowing that he’s been that way for thirty-eight long years asks him, “Do you want to be made well?” Now, if you remember what happened with the nobleman in John 4, you’ll recall that he came looking for Jesus to heal his son, but here the situation is different. In this story it seems to me that Jesus is doing this because he wants to show mercy to this man, at least at this point in the story, but we’ll find out that there is a purpose in what Jesus is doing a little later in the chapter. Suffice it, however, to say that at this point in the story, from what we know so far, Jesus is mercifully asking this lame man, a face in the crowd who hasn’t been capable of walking for thirty-eight years, if he wants to do what he may well have never done before. Rise and Walk!

(Appeal) What would you do if this were you? Would you say, “Yes, I want to walk?” Well, in a since this is you because you too are a face in the crowd and Jesus is asking you if you want to walk? What are you going to say? My hope is that your answer is yes!

The Power and Mercy of Jesus

John 5:7–9 NKJV

7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.

Let’s finish up by looking at Jn. 5:7-9 where we’ll see the power and mercy of Jesus. If you could have anything you asked for, what would it be? Would it be money, health, maybe an easier life? We all have those things that we dream about don’t we. I wonder if this lame man ever dreamed about walking. Have you ever had a dream that you didn’t want to wake up from? I’m sure this man had many a night when he went to sleep and dreamed that he was strolling through the streets of Jerusalem, only to wake up to the nightmare he’d experienced for thirty-eight long years. Now, when Jesus asked the sick man if he wanted to get better in Jn. 5:6, we’re given the man’s answer in Jn. 5:7. The man answered Jesus by saying, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” When you first read this you can’t help but have remorse for the man, but it may well be that the man was being a little sarcastic in his answer, after all he had been lame for thirty-eight years and here is a man asking him if he wants to get better! The man could have simply said yes, so, that’s why I think there might be at least a little hint of sarcasm in his answer to Jesus. But the question now is, what did Jesus do? Did he argue with the man? Did he look at him and say, “Do you know who you’re dealing with sir?” No, Jn. 5:8 simply says that Jesus told him to “Rise, take … his bed and walk.” Did you catch the fact that Jesus simply “told” him to do this? Let me ask, does that surprise you? It shouldn’t, because the same voice that spoke the universe into existence is certainly capable of telling one lowly man to get up and walk! And what happened? Jn. 5:9, the man does exactly that he gets up and walks! Now, if the story ended here everything would be great, but it doesn’t because John tells us at the end of Jn. 5:9, “And that day was the Sabbath.” Man, Jesus, couldn’t you have chosen Monday or Wednesday to heal this man, why the Sabbath (Saturday)? Don’t you know how much trouble you’re going to get into? And the answer is, … yes, Jesus does know how much trouble this is going to cause, but maybe that’s the point, we’ll have to wait and see!

Conclusion

In conclusion, what does this story mean for you and me? What should our takeaway be here? Certainly, I think we should read this and see the raw power and mercy of the Saviour because he didn’t have to heal this man, but he chose to do so. However, I think there’s another takeaway also, and that’s this, when I read this story do you see myself? You see, each one of us is that lame man, we are crippled in both feet by sin and then Jesus comes along and has mercy on us saying arise and walk with me. If you’ve never done that, he’s saying that to you today, get up and walk, believe in me because I can heal you!

Prayer