Stir the Waters
Stir the Waters
John 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
John 5:1-9 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 ethat day was the Sabbath.
10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; fit is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”
11 He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ ”
12 Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”
13 But the one who was ghealed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.
14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. hSin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
The story begins by pointing out Jesus attending a religious event.
It is thought that the pools once were used for ceremonial washings, and that the porches we used to undress and dress. Now they have become a place of healing and a place of shelter for the sick.
Great multitudes waited for the angel to stir the water in hope that they would receive healing. Only one did receive such.
A person lay there infirmed for 38 years, a number that could be thought of the Israelites while they traveled through the wilderness. That number 38 would represent the years they spent in the wilderness with hard hearts, before they decided to come back to him.
Once again, not in the traditional way, Jesus came on the scene with a mission to save one.
He asks the question IF the man wanted to be well. Isn’t that seemingly a ridiculous question? But the fact is that some want to keep their disease for one reason or another. That’s crazy..!!
After years of dealing with sickness, of trying to find a cure, of failed attempts to be the first in the water, he gave Jesus an excuse as to why he couldn’t be well. But, lying within his answer was the fact that his spirit was willing, but his flesh was weak (Matthew 26:41). He was also so focused with the fact of how he thought he needed to be healed, that he could not identify who it was that was talking to him.
Jesus engaged his question with his faith to ignite a solution. Was this one man more special than any other person lying there sick? Of course not. But at the moment that the man heard rise, take your bed and walk, Jesus slipped away. This was not a Jesus moment. It was a God moment. But Jesus, not willing that a simple physical healing be enough, made his way through the crowd a few minutes later and made sure the man knew not to leave that day and sin.