Center Stage

Intro

I’m sure you’ve used the phrase, “take center stage” at some point in your life. It’s a common phrase that is employed to communicate honor or prestige to a person or thing. For example, I might say, on Sunday afternoons, the Cowboys take center stage in our home.

There’s only one center stage in an actual theater, and likewise, there’s really only one center stage in our lives. The question is, who is occupying it?

In our passage this week, Jesus takes center stage through a miraculous event and the aftermath that follows. It’s a text that reminds us of the deliverance we’ve experienced and the greatness of the One who has delivered us.

Body

John 5:1 “1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”

We’re not sure which feast this was as the text does not say

But it places Jesus back in Jerusalem and sets up another antagonistic encounter with the Pharisees

John 5:2 “2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.”

The Sheep Gate was aptly named as it was the gate through which the pilgrims to Jerusalem would have brought their animals for sacrifice.

If you go to Jerusalem today, you can see what we believe to be the remains of this pool complex near the Crusader Church of St. Anne.

These pools were believed to have healing powers

Specifically, a religious sect called the “Therapeutae” taught this and even encouraged offerings there to Serapis and Asclepius, supposed gods of healing.

John 5:3 “3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.”

Because of these superstitious beliefs on any given day one would find a multitude of sick and lame amid the colonnades hoping for a chance to get into the waters

Some later manuscripts add “waiting for the moving of the waters” to the end of verse 3.

John 5:4 is missing in your Bibles, and it should be, as it’s not there in the more reliable manuscripts

The HCSB includes it: “because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water. Then the first one who got in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment he had.”

John 5:5-6 “5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 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?””

Out of the many gathered in that place, Jesus set his sights on one man in particular

An invalid = sick or lame, possibly paralyzed or so weak he could not stand/walk

He had lived with this condition for almost 4 decades

Jesus’ question: “Do you want to be healed?” or “Do you wish to be made well?”

As previously in John’s gospel, Jesus asks a question with deeper connotations that initially goes unnoticed by the one He was addressing.

John 5:7-9 “7 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.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.”

This man apparently was a believer in the superstitions of the day and perhaps thought Jesus would help him get into the water?

But Jesus once again pulls back the curtain on his deity a bit by suspending the laws of nature to bring healing to this man’s broken and crippled body.

“at once” = immediately

“the Sabbath”

Men, here was a man in a hopeless state, a man who could not deliver himself from his malady, a man who had no one who could help him, a man who had been left by the world, a man who had nothing to offer, a man who did nothing to win the attention of Jesus, a man who did not expect Jesus to do what no one else had been able to do, a man resigned to his despair, and that’s when Jesus intervened. All of us in one way or another have been this man needing Jesus to intervene for us.

P1: Worship Your Savior for His Power to Deliver (vv. 1-9)

Romans 5 - weak, ungodly, sinful, enemies of God

I was a self-righteous, youth group student leader, pastor’s pet, prideful, judgmental, blind, young man when Jesus delivered me from the lifelong malady of my sinfulness. I was this man, but I didn’t realize how bad my circumstances were for 17 years of my life. My pool of Bethesda was my self-righteousness. What was yours?

Career

Marriage

Kids

Sex

Alcohol

Morality

Men, we live in a world where men get up every days and drag themselves into these pools hoping it will take away the despair, hoping it will dull the pain, hoping it will distract them for a while, hoping this time will be different, only to wake up the next day in search of the same impossible hope.

Jesus is different.

He’s able to heal our greatest malady, and it will work and it will endure and it will never fail.

And for that, He’s worthy of our devotion, yes?

If you had been paralyzed for 40 years, and someone healed you, I imagine you’d be pretty grateful, yes? Let’s keep reading to find out if that was true of this man.

END P1

John 5:9 “9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.”

This last part is going to pose a problem for this man who was just healed by Jesus.

John 5:10 “10 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.””

“The Jews”

The Command in the OT regarding work on the Sabbath

Exodus 20:10 “10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.”

Leviticus 23:3 “3 “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.”

Rabbinic tradition had expanded upon these commands to define work as carrying something from one place to another like this man was carrying his mat.

They had 39 acts of labor prohibited on the Sabbath

Sowing, ploughing, reaping, binding, threshing, winnowing

Cleaning fruit

Grinding, sifting, kneading, baking

Weaving or separating two threads

Tying or untying a knot

Writing two letters or erasing two letters

Hammering

Transferring from one place to another

Babylonian Talmud: One who carries out a large loaf of bread into public ground is culpable. If two persons do this together they are both innocent, provided it could be done by one of them; if, however, they did so because it could not be done by one, both are culpable.

John 5:11-16 “11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 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. 14 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.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.”

Jesus had slipped away from the scene only to find the man later

The instruction re: the man’s sinning no more calls to mind the woman caught in adultery from chapter 8. It is possible that this man’s condition was a result of the disciplinary hand of God on his life. It does appear to be the most plain reading of the text.

The man then goes away and points the finger at Jesus.

Not innocent, probably intended to get the focus off of himself.

What would you have done? Again, 40 years an invalid, and this stranger comes and using only his words, commands that you be made well, and you are! I would hope my response would be different from this man’s response. I would hope I would want to cling to Jesus like Mary Magdalene in full devotion after being healed of her demonic possession. I would hope

P2: Devote Yourself to Jesus Because You Have Been Delivered (vv. 9b-15)

I know I’m preaching a side point a little bit here, but it’s worth noting to make sure that we don’t respond to the Lord’s healing of our spiritual affliction the way that this man responded to Jesus’ miraculous healing of his physical affliction.

This guy wanted the heat off himself, so he distanced himself from Jesus and shifted the blame to Him.

Do we do that when someone asks us about our relationship with Jesus?

Do we do that when we think about sharing the gospel with a coworker?

Do we do that when we attend the family gathering where we’re not supposed to talk about politics or religion?

Do we do this when the world begins to tell us what to preach about?

Do we do this when the government begins to tell us what to preach about?

It could be argued that in a very real sense, Jesus gave this man his physical life. He had a new lease on life now that he didn’t have to hope in the false messiah of some mystical waters. He should have become one of Jesus’ most devoted and passionate disciples.

Men, Jesus has given you something greater than this.

Romans 8:1 “1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 8:2 “2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Galatians 3:26 “26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”

Ephesians 2:13 “13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Is this enough to secure our devotion? Look, I’ll admit that we don’t know what happened to this man from here. I can’t tell what his heart motives were in pointing the Jews to Jesus. But I know what devotion should look like from us.

END P2

What Jesus has been alluding to up until this point he now plainly and boldly claims as the Pharisees ramp up their persecution of Him.

John 5:17-18 “17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” 18 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.”

There was a belief among the Jews that God never really rested even on the Sabbath because He still had to sustain His creation.

In response to the outrage of His adversaries, Jesus compares His continual work to that of His Father, a comparison that the Jews fully understood.

In this next section of John 5, Jesus leaves no doubt anymore as to who He is and what He was there to do.

John 5:19 “19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.”

“of his own accord” = rogue, by Himself

Jesus was claiming full and perfect unity of purpose and action between He and the Father.

John 5:20 “20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.”

Jesus was claiming a special relationship with the Father, one wherein the Father shared with Him His inner-thoughts and purposes

Jesus enjoyed a privileged position with the Father

John 5:21-22 “21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,”

Giving life and judging lives are two powers reserved for God, and Jesus was now claiming to possess both as they had been entrusted to Him by the Father.

John 5:23 “23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.”

“honor” = reverence, to consider valuable

“just as” = there should be no difference between how people honor the Son and how they honor the Father!

John 5:24-26 “24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. 25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.”

The Son again possesses the power to grant eternal life, something that was only possible if he was God.

John 5:27-29 “27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”

The Son of Man passage from Daniel

Daniel 7:13-14 “13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

Jesus is making no more vague and ambiguous statements. He is now toe-to-toe with His adversaries, and He is letting all within earshot know who He is. Jesus is God.

P3: Give Jesus Center Stage in Your Life (vv. 16-29)

The first two points were more about what Jesus has done for us and how that should make us want to follow Him, but this last point is all about who He is and why that should cause us to surrender everything to follow Him.

If we believe what Jesus is saying about Himself, that He is God, that changes everything for us.

We are following the One who is worthy of the same honor as the Father

We are following the One who has the words of eternal life

We are following the One who will someday return as the judge of all mankind

John 5:23 “23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.”

Does your life honor the Son by making everything about Him?

How is Jesus honored in your marriage?

How is Jesus honored in your parenting?

How is Jesus honored in your thought life?

How is Jesus honored in your entertainment choices?

How is Jesus honored in your workplace?

Put yourself in the shoes of the disciples listening to this interaction between Jesus and the Jewish leaders. How fired up would you be at this point?

“Seriously, this guy’s on our team?!”

No one had ever stood up to them like this, and no one had ever made the claims that He was making.

Are you just as fired up to follow Him, that you’re on His side, as you read these words some 2000 years later?

John 20:30-31 “30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Is it working so far? Does John have your attention? Does Jesus have your attention?

Conclusion

Are you impressed with Jesus? Does Jesus have Center Stage in your life? Or is He more of a role-player, an extra? Is He the main character of each scene you encounter throughout the day? Do you believe that He’s worthy of such a place of honor?