Healing at the Pool

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

Engagement

This week Thelma Grimm went to be with her Lord Jesus and to be re-united with her husband Harold. Even though Thelma, and especially Harold dealt with more than their fair share of physical problems here on this earth, they were two of the most whole people that I have known.

Tension

You may be wondering what I mean when I use the term “whole” and this morning I’ll not only explain what I mean by the term, but I’ll also share how you can experience that same kind of wholeness in your life.

Truth

We are now in the third week of our current sermon series - Seven Signs. We have been studying the seven signs that John includes in his gospel account. Although Jesus did many other signs during His earthly ministry, John includes these seven because they each reveal something important about the identity, message and mission of Jesus.

This third sign has some distinct differences from the first two and it also is a turning point in the ministry of Jesus. The first two signs were initiated by the requests of others. Mary asked Jesus to do something because the wedding party was out of wine. And the official sought Jesus out in order to heal his son. But we’re going to see that Jesus initiates this third sign without being asked to act.

The first two signs John writes that some of the people involved in the sign “believed in Jesus”. In the case of the first sign it was the four disciples who believed and in the case of the second sign it was the official and his family. With this third sign, there is no such declaration of belief. While, as we will see, there is a degree of belief, it is certainly not the same as what we observed with the first two signs.

Even more significant, when we reach the fifth chapter of John’s gospel, we see that Jesus’ signs actually precipitate intense opposition to His ministry and that from that point forward the Jewish religious leaders are looking for a way to arrest Jesus and put Him to death.

John 5:1 ESV

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

We don’t know which feast this was, but it was likely one of the three feasts where able bodied Jewish men were required to go to Jerusalem. Right after He performs this sign, Jesus returns to Galilee.

John 5:2–15 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. 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. 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.

Before we study this passage, I need to briefly address a textual issue here, since I know some of you are already aware of it. In the ESV, and almost all newer translations, you will notice there is no verse 4. There is a footnote indicating that some manuscripts insert some additional wording there. That additional text is not present in the earliest manuscripts that we have available and was almost certainly added by some later scribes as they copied the original manuscripts to try and explain the sick man’s answer in verse 7. I’d be happy to talk more about that with you if you’d like, but, like every textual variant we find in the New Testament, it does not impact in any way the meaning of this sign or any doctrine, so we’re not going to spend any more time on it right now.

Here if the main idea we’re going to develop together this morning:

This third sign shows that Jesus is the Son of God, who speaks and acts for God in order to make people whole

The Sheep Gate was located along the north wall of Jerusalem. It was the gate through which the sheep were brought for sacrifice in the Temple.

[Map]

The pool of Bethesda was located just outside the gate. There was a legend that the angels would periodically stir the waters, and that when that occurred, the first person to enter the pool would be healed. You can imagine the scene here. Invalids of every type were constantly hanging around the pool. And every time that the waters stirred, probably as a result of a spring below, there would be a mad dash to be the first to reach the waters.

Bethesda means “house of mercy”, but in reality it should have been called a “house of merit” because even if those waters could heal people, which they obviously could not, only those who were strong enough or quick enough would be able to reach the water first and be healed. The neediest could never be healed.

This is a picture of many people in the world today when it comes to their spiritual condition. Helpless, sin-damaged people put their faith in some superstition or religious tradition that cannot save. And therefore they are never healed.

I personally saw an example of this several years ago when I was asked to perform a memorial service in another church. When I walked into that church, one of the first things I noticed was a fount of “holy water” near the entrance. I can guarantee you that that water had come from the very same pipes that supplied water to the rest of that building, but because it had been blessed by a priest, it was now considered holy. So the people in that church believed that it could remove their sin and protect them from evil. But obviously that water can’t do those things - only God can do that.

As Jesus walked by the pool he saw a man who had been sick for 38 years sitting around the pool, waiting for the waters to move. Most likely, based on the context here, the man was lame and could not walk.

As is often the case, the question that Jesus asks the man catches us by surprise:

Do you want to be healed?

Well of course he wanted to be healed. That’s why he’s hanging around the pool, right? So why would Jesus even ask that? First, we need to keep in mind that whenever Jesus asks a question, He isn’t doing that to obtain information. The text even tells us that Jesus already knew everything about the man. As God in the flesh, He already knows the answer to the question. Most of the time Jesus asks questions get the other person to consider aspects of his or her life that maybe that person hasn’t really considered before. I think that is exactly what Jesus is doing here.

Because this question is really the key to understanding this entire sign, I’m going to take a few minutes to dig a little deeper into what Jesus is asking here. In Greek the question consists of three words:

Do you want = thelo = Are you willing/committed

This is much stronger than just desire. It is to be entirely willing and to be committed to taking the action required to do something.

to be = ginomai = to become, to come into being

This Greek verb is related to the word from which we get our English word “genesis”. It describes a new beginning or a new start.

healed = hygies - healthy, sound, whole

This is more than just physical health. It is closely related to the Hebrew concept of shalom. It it being who God intended a person to be.

So Jesus is essentially asking this man if he is willing to do what it takes to be reborn into the whole person that God intended for him to be.

The man doesn’t answer Jesus’ question. Instead he begins to make excuses. He apparently doesn’t even consider the possibility that Jesus can make him whole, so he replies that he is alone and has no one that can carry him down to the water when it begins to stir. So someone else always beats Him to the water.

I am afraid that we are often a lot more like that man than we would care to admit. I definitely get the sense here that he wasn’t really sure he wanted to be made whole because that would come with a whole new level of responsibility. He would no longer be able to sit around and beg but would have to get a job. He could no longer blame others for his plight. And, he was going to have to quit sinning. I’ll come back to that idea in a moment.

Interestingly, unlike we saw with the first two signs, there is no indication here that this man believed in Jesus or that he was ever healed spiritually. Granted, he did believe Jesus enough to obey when Jesus told him to get up, take his bed and walk. But on the other hand he also ended up ratting out Jesus to the Jewish authorities.

Nevertheless, this sign is certainly a picture of what Jesus can do for us spiritually. And there are many people who are not willing to do what it takes to be healed spiritually. They don’t want the responsibility that comes with the decision to let Jesus heal them. They are not willing to make Jesus their Lord and put Him in control of their life and obey Him. And often, they are unwilling to let go of some sin in their life because that is more important to them than being healed.

It is also clear here that Jesus intentionally healed this man on the Sabbath in order to precipitate a confrontation with the Jewish religious leaders. After all this guy had been sick for 38 years, so waiting one more day wouldn’t have really mattered. He could have even told the man to leave his bed there and come and pick it up the next day. That way he would not have violated the laws the Jewish leaders had made regarding the Sabbath. But Jesus provokes a confrontation because He wants to demonstrate that religion, religious traditions, and the law were all incapable of making anyone whole.

The Jewish religious leaders had surely seen this man lying helpless next to the pool on many occasions since they had to walk by the pool every day on their way to the Temple. And now that they see him walking around carrying his bed, you would think they would rejoice in the miracle that made that possible. Instead, they are more concerned that He is breaking their manmade rules concerning the Sabbath. They had taken a single command about honoring God by not working on the Sabbath and developed over 600 of their own rules to define what was considered to be “work”. And this man was violating one of those rules.

When he is asked who healed him, this man doesn’t even know it was Jesus. I find that incredible. This guy was apparently so self-centered that when he is healed, he doesn’t even make an effort to find out who had healed him.

We next see this man in the Temple, which indicates that he was probably “religious” at least to some degree. When Jesus finds him there, He does as He often does with other people. As we often see in the gospel accounts, Jesus treats people with compassion and mercy, but He never excuses or condones sin. So here He tells the man to “sin no more”. That is an indication that this man needs more than just physical healing, he also needs to be healed spiritually as well.

Given the context here, it seems likely that this man’s sin wasn’t necessarily what caused his infirmity, although that is certainly possible. It seems more likely that his sin was the way that he dealt with it. Rather than seeking God’s help, he was trying to heal himself by participating in a religious superstition. And when he is confronted with his sin, rather than allowing Jesus to deal with it, he does what he always does. He blames someone else. In fact, it appears that he is actually mad at Jesus now, so he returns to the Jewish leaders to let them know that Jesus was the one who had healed Him on the Sabbath.

That is exactly the same problem that most people have when they try to be healed spiritually. They think that somehow they can earn favor with God by adhering to some religious practice like going to church, or taking communion or giving money. And when that doesn’t work, they get mad at God or blame someone else. But the fact is that there is nothing we can do to earn God’s favor. And unfortunately in this self-centered world that we live in, many are not willing to accept what Jesus has already done for them on the cross.

This third sign shows that Jesus is the Son of God, who speaks and acts for God in order to make people whole

Jesus demonstrates that he speaks and acts for God by overcoming three barriers that only God has the power to overcome:

Jesus demonstrates His sovereign power over:

Time

This man had spent 38 years looking for help in the wrong place. From a human perspective, his situation seemed hopeless. But once again Jesus proves that He is God in the flesh because He is not limited in the same way we are as humans. It really didn’t matter to Him if this man had just become disabled or whether he had been that way for 38 years.

That is really good news for us because it means that no matter how long we have been sick - whether that is physical, emotion, or spiritual - we are not outside the ability of Jesus to deal with that. Because Jesus is 100%, God, there is nothing in your life, no matter how bad you think it might be, that Jesus is incapable of healing in order to make you whole.

Religion

This morning as I’ve been using the term “religion” I’m using it in the way it is defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

religion =

institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

Or to put it another way, religion is a man-developed system of seeking to be right with God. The Jewish religious leaders were so caught up in their religion that when the Son of God was standing face to face with them, they didn’t even recognize them.

It is very possible that some of you, even those of you who have committed your life to Jesus, still get caught up in religion some times. You think that by going to church, or serving somewhere in the church, or being baptized or participating in communion or giving money that you are earning favor with God. All of those things are good things, things we should be doing - but for the right reasons. We don’t do them to earn favor with God, but rather out our gratitude for what God has already done for us.

Sin

Being made whole required this man not to just be healed physically, but to also deal with his sin, whatever that was, and be healed spiritually. That is why Jesus tells him to sin no more. Only God has the right to make that demand of us.

As I said earlier, there is really no indication that this man accepted that spiritual healing from Jesus. And unfortunately, that is still true of most people in this world today. They either don’t understand their need to be healed from their sin, or they love their sin more than they love Jesus so they don’t accept His offer to heal them.

There is no sin in your life that is too great for Jesus to forgive. He knows everything about you and He still died on the cross to pay the penalty for whatever sins you have committed, no matter how bad you might think they are.

The real miracle of this sign is not the healing itself. It is the fact that Jesus loves this one man so much, that without being asked to intervene, He cared enough to heal him. That is the way God still operates today. He cares. He initiates. He bends down and seeks out men and women and boys and girls who don’t deserve or even ask for His mercy. And He offers them the opportunity to become new creatures who He makes whole.

Application/Action

So as we close this morning, let me ask you the same question that Jesus asked this man:

Are you willing to become whole?

Perhaps it seems obvious that the answer to that question must be “yes”. Who doesn’t want to be whole? But before you answer in the affirmative, let’s look at what that requires:

In order to let Jesus make me whole, I must:

Decide if I am willing to be changed

Notice that I didn’t say, do you want to be changed? As we talked about earlier, Jesus isn’t just asking that. He is asking if you are totally commited to being changed and if you’re willing to take whatever action is required for Him to change you.

That means that you can’t hold on to anything in your life that is more important to you than Jesus, especially any sin in your life. If there is some sin in your life that is more important to you than Jesus, He is not going to be able to make you whole.

Quit making excuses

If you want Jesus to make you whole, you have to quit making excuses. You have to quit blaming other people for your problems. Some of you may need to take ownership of the bad decisions that you have made that have caused pain and hurt to you and to others.

Take action

Even though, as we pointed out earlier, it does not appear that this man believes in Jesus to the point that he is made whole, we do need to give him some credit. When Jesus told him to stand up and take his bed and walk, he did what Jesus commanded him to do.

This morning, if you want Jesus to make you whole it requires more than just good intentions and words. You will have to take action.

If you have never placed your faith in Jesus and committed your life to Him, then today you need to begin the journey to being made whole by doing that. That is an important decision and action that shouldn’t be taken lightly so if God is placing it on your heart to do that today, we would like to talk to you more about that and help you take that first step.

As part of that process, you also need to take the step of repentance. The word “repent” simply means to turn around. When it comes to our sin, it means that we confess that to God and then that we take whatever action is required to turn away from that sin so that it doesn’t become a lifestyle.

Even if you are a disciple of Jesus as a result of committing your life to Him, you may also need to repent of some sin in your life. That is especially true if that sin has become a lifestyle. You will never become whole as long as you are hanging on to some sin in your life. And again, if we can help you at all with that process, please let us know.

Inspiration

This third sign shows that Jesus is the Son of God, who speaks and acts for God in order to make people whole

And the great news is that Jesus wants to do that so much in your life that He has been pursuing you even if you haven’t been pursuing Him. The very fact that you are joining us today is evidence of that. So please don’t miss out on that opportunity for Jesus to make you whole. I guarantee you won’t regret it.