The Pool of Bethesda

This is our third week looking at the seven miracles of Jesus which show up in the gospel of John. Remember that John divides his gospel into two sections. The first 11 chapters cover various events in Jesus’ life and ministry over a roughly three-year period. The second half of John’s gospel beginning in chapter 12 focus on the events of just one week: from Palm Sunday and the triumphal entry into Jerusalem to Easter and the resurrection.

We have already looked at the first two miracles, which form sort of bookends around the early ministry activity of Jesus. In chapter 2 we saw the water into wine miracle which Jesus does in the small village of Cana. And then at the end of chapter 4 we saw the healing of the official’s child, which also happens from Cana.

Now today we move into chapter 5. This next miracle of Jesus appears in the gospel immediately after the event we saw last week with the healing of the official’s son. So, there is no explanation needed about events that happen in between, because we are picking up with the gospel right where we left off last week.

However, chapter 5 does begin a new section in John’s gospel. We see that very obviously because John tells us we are skipping ahead to a different time and place in the ministry of Jesus. And with this we will see that John is using this miracle story for today as a way of introducing a new theme into his gospel.

John 5:1–9 NIV

1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 4 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” 8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,

Alright, let’s talk about some background to the setting for this story. Jesus is in Jerusalem for a Jewish festival. We are not sure which festival, John does not consider it important to tell us, so it must not be important to the story that we know which festival this is. If you are interested, the list of Jewish festivals that the Israelites celebrated can be found in Leviticus 23. But John does consider it very important to the story to tell us exactly where Jesus is in Jerusalem; the pool of Bethesda by the sheep gate. We know from Nehemiah 3 that this was a small opening in the north wall of the temple in Jerusalem which was used to bring sheep into the temple for sacrifice. It is likely that one of the pools in this story was used to wash the sheep before they were brought into the temple. John tells us that the pools are surrounded by five colonnades. Archeology of the site shows that there were two pools which had rows of columns surrounding the exterior, and a row of columns between the two pools were located there. These colonnades functioned sort of like covered porches along side of the pools.

uncertain which festival Jesus is in Jerusalem to celebrate | setting is at Bethesda pool by the sheep gate - north wall of the temple

The name Bethesda is somewhat uncertain to translate. The Hebrew word beth means “house,” but it is difficult to find an exact root for the Hebrew word esda. The closest match is a similar Hebrew word which means pouring or flowing. This would make sense because these pools were located in an area of Jerusalem that was very sloped and uneven. Tradition held that these pools were fed by a natural spring from underground which would suddenly bubble up from time to time causing the water to flow out at different rates.

sick and disabled people would gather here | belief that an angel stirred the pool allowing the water to heal (detail of verse 4 removed)

From this came a belief that the water was actually being stirred up by an angel which gave the water healing properties. This is why the pool of Bethesda became a popular place for sick and disabled people to gather. The origins of this belief are unclear, but they thought that the first person who got into the water after an angel stirred it up would be healed. You can find all of that detail in verse 4, except that there is no verse 4 in John 5. Did you notice that? John 5 jumps from verse 3 to verse 5. If you look it up in an NIV Bible you will see the footnote explaining why verse 4 has been taken out. Basically, all of the oldest and most reliable manuscripts of John’s gospel do not include the words of verse 4. Scholars are certain that it was added later on by scribes who copied the gospel as an explanation, but John himself did not write those words in his gospel. But it is helpful background information for us to see exactly what is taking place in this story.

Jesus is associating with unclean, impure (marginalized outcast) people | not the first time, but now in full view of religious rulers

Three “New” Features

Here, then, is how this scene unfolds in John 5. Jesus happens to be in the porch area of this pool at Bethesda. That by itself is notable because it was considered unclean in Jewish culture. The number of sick and disabled people at the pool would have been thought of in that time as impure. Highly religious people in Jewish society would have avoided contact with such people. But we are again getting the picture in the gospels that Jesus chooses to intentionally go to and associate with people who normally would be shunned and marginalized as outcasts. John has already given us a glimpse of this in chapter 4 when Jesus travels through Samaria, interacts with a Samaritan woman beside a well, and then stays as a guest for two days in a Samaritan town. But here is the difference; the events in chapter 4 with the Samaritan town are only known to the disciples who are traveling with Jesus. Nobody else in Jewish society was widely aware of Jesus associating with outcasts at this point in the story…at least not yet. But here in chapter 5 Jesus is in Jerusalem right outside the north side of the temple. He is in the heart of Jewish religious society. Now John is telling us that Jesus is associating with unclean marginalized outcasts in full view of Israel’s religious rulers. This is an important detail; we’ll come back to it in a few minutes.

Jesus initiates the activity which leads to the miracle at Bethesda

Consider some of the other “new” features in this miracle story that are different from the first two miracles we have already looked at. In the first two miracles at Cana, Jesus did not initiate the action. At the wedding feast it was Mary, Jesus’ mother, who prompted Jesus to do something. In chapter 4 it was the royal official from Capernaum who sought out Jesus in order that his son could be healed. But this story in chapter 5 is different. John does not give us any indication that Jesus was asked or prompted to go to the pool of Bethesda. The paralyzed man at the pool does not call out to Jesus. (If you read further into chapter 5 we discover that the man had no idea who Jesus even was at the time of his healing.) Now it is Jesus who is initiating the action. Jesus is the one approaching the paralyzed man and beginning the conversation. And the conversation is odd.

Jesus simply leads with a question. “Do you want to get well?” Okay, I have to admit, what kind of a question is that? Do you want to get well? The man is lying on the porch next to a pool of water which carried a tradition of healing power; why else would this man be there if he did not want to get well? Even Jesus—who already knows every person’s thoughts—did not really need to ask this question.

the man answers Jesus’ question with a hint of sarcasm

I sort of take the man’s answer to Jesus to come with a hint of sarcasm. Do I want to get well? Look at me! I cannot walk! How exactly am I supposed to get well when there is no way for me to get into the healing waters? Are you just mocking me?

The man does not know who Jesus is. He makes no request of Jesus for help. All he does is spiral into a nobody-cares-about-me excuse. It is as though we can read between the lines and see what this man is really saying to Jesus: mister, in case you haven’t noticed, my legs don’t work, my life is worthless, and nobody cares enough to help me.

no indication that the paralyzed man ever accepts or believes in Jesus, but Jesus heals him anyway

Now we see another new feature to this story which is different from the first two miracles. In the miracles at Cana, John is specific to tell us that the importance of faith and belief. In both of those miracles, the people who saw what Jesus did believed in Jesus. All of that is gone from this story. Jesus does not even bring up the issue of this man’s faith. How could this man believe in Jesus when he did not even know who it was he was talking to? Jesus blows right past that and commands the man to stand up, roll up his mat, and walk. The man is instantly healed and does exactly as Jesus tells him. There is no other conversation; there is no mention of the man believing in Jesus; the man does not even stick around to ask Jesus for his name? The miracle is done and the story is over.

verse 9 - “The day on which this took place was a sabbath”

Oh, there is one more line in verse 9 to end the story; and it turns out to be an absolutely essential detail in this chapter. “The day on which this took place was a sabbath.” I stopped with our reading there because that is all John tells us about the miracle itself. But the rest of chapter 5 plays out the result of this miracle. We get the sense that this man never actually does come to a believing faith in Jesus even though it was Jesus who healed him. Later in the chapter when the man bumps into Jesus again at the temple and discovers who Jesus is, his response is not to thank him or believe in him, but to turn him over to the religious rulers.

The Courtroom

this miracle is seen as a crime

That’s where this story turns for John to show us a new feature of salvation in Jesus. Jesus tells the paralyzed man to roll up his mat and walk; except that the activity of carrying a mat on the sabbath day was considered by the religious rulers to be against the law. By doing what Jesus told him to do, the man was committing a crime. When this man is pressed by the Jewish rulers about it, he rats out Jesus and basically tells them, it was the one who healed me who actually committed the crime. This is what John is setting up for his readers in this story. The miracle Jesus brings at the pool of Bethesda was not seen as a powerful sign of God’s compassion and grace for a broken world of wounded outcasts. The religious people there in Jerusalem saw this miracle as a crime. In their eyes, Jesus had committed a crime against God of violating the sabbath day. And the rest of chapter 5 plays out the trial scene of this accused crime.

Jesus responds with courtroom language - witness testimony defense

The way John tells the story in chapter 5, Jesus latches onto this crime scene set up. The religious leaders track Jesus down and level the charges against him. In verse 16 and following Jesus speaks to his own defense using courtroom-like language of witness testimony. But as chapter 5 closes, the words of Jesus flip the trial. John uses this story to show us that even though the religious elites of the day are seeking to put Jesus on trial for his crimes against their highly controlled religious system, the real courtroom going on here is a trial in which God the Father sits as judge, and the world of sinful people stand as the accused.

Jesus uses this moment to flip the trial - God the Father sits as judge; sinful world stand as accused

The Verdict

self-righteous people still interpret the grace of God as a crime

Jesus brought a miracle of healing to a man who did not ask for it or believe in it or have faith that Jesus could do it. John portrays this story as an act of healing coming to a man who in no way deserved it. It is entirely an act of grace from Jesus. And when the religious rulers catch a glimpse of this act of grace which Jesus has done—those people who set themselves up as the guardians of morality and ethical behavior—they interpret the grace of God as a crime. Self-righteous people still interpret the grace of God as a crime.

we are actually the accused and guilty

Jesus allows himself to become the accused and guilty in our place

And yet Jesus uses this miracle of grace to tell us something. In this flipped-around trial in which it is actually a broken and sinful world standing accused, Jesus demonstrates that his healing salvation comes entirely as an act of grace to those who do not deserve it and did not earn it. Even though you and I are called out as defendants and stand accused and guilty as charged, Jesus steps in providing a way for his own prefect righteousness to wash over us, and in exchange Jesus takes upon himself the condemnation of our guilt. Jesus allows himself to be the accused and the guilty in our place.

the verdict: our souls are no longer paralyzed

In this season of Lent, may we be people who recognize the way in which Jesus takes our place as the one accused and guilty; and may we also recognize the way in which Jesus brings healing into our souls so that our hearts are no longer paralyzed; may our lives follow the words of Jesus to get and walk as those who live within the grace of God.