John 5:1-47: Raising The Paralysed Man

(1) Introduction to John 5-12

We have just finished John chapters 1-4. If Jesus’ earthly ministry was to have a ‘honeymoon period’, chapters 1 to 4 was it. Perhaps this is the reason why John 1-4 is so enjoyable and encouraging! We saw a refreshing and recurring theme of the ‘newness’ that Jesus brings: he makes new wine, claims to be a new temple, and brings new birth and new worship. This of course will continue, but it will be in a different environment.

Thus far in the Gospel of John, we have seen little or no hostile questioning of Jesus, and while Jesus was confronted with the ever present unbelief and failure to receive him (cf. John 1:11), the organized opposition against himself had not yet emerged. Jesus has so far had more or less clear air to conduct his itinerant speaking and signs ministry in Jerusalem and across Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, and John 1-4 has given us everything we need to make a decision about his identity (cf. John 20:30-31).

However, the cross still casts a long shadow over Jesus’ life and ministry, and even in John 1-4 there were clear pointers to the necessity of his coming death (3:14-16) and resurrection (2:19-22). And the claims about Jesus’ identity and authority in John 1-4 are now about to be directly challenged and tested in John 5-12.

(2) Bible Study Questions

Acknowledgement: A few notes and questions here are adapted from those written by Ray Galea. I thank him for permission to do so.

Discuss: Sometimes doing a good and right thing has unforeseen negative consequences. Sometimes a person can step into a situation wanting to help, but the whole thing ‘blows up in their face’. Can you think of examples of this to share?

Raising A Paralysed Man And Opposition in Jerusalem (vv. 1-16)

1. There were many needy people lying around the pool. What is it about the man that drew Jesus’ attention? (vv. 5-6, cf. vv. 13-14)

2. What had the man placed his hope of becoming well in before Jesus’ intervention? (v. 7)

Note 1: To the consternation of those who doubted the historicity of John’s Gospel, in 1888 the site now thought to be the pool of Bethesda referred to in verses 2-4 was found during the repairs of St Anne’s church, not far from the Sheep’s Gate and Tower of Antonia. Found below the ruined fourth century church, it has a five arch portico with faded frescoes of Jesus’ healing. In addition, in 1956 archaeologists further unearthed structures that they take to be the pools which Jesus visited: See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pool_of_Bethesda; http://www.bible-history.com/jerusalem/firstcenturyjerusalem_pool_of_bethesda.html.

Note 2: Verse 4 is rightly omitted by most of the best early manuscripts. It was probably an explanation or footnote mistakenly placed by later scribes into the text. It is translated, “For an angel of the Lord from time to time would bathe in the pool and would agitate the water. So the first person going in upon the agitation of the water became cured of whatever kind of disease was oppressing him.”

3. What do you make of the first thing Jesus says to the paralysed man? Would you use it yourself if you visited a sick friend? Why or why not? (v. 6)

4. What do you notice about the manner of the actual healing the paralysed man receives? (vv. 8-9)

5. When does this incident occur and what is the significance of this? (vv. 9-10, 16)

6. Can you explain why Jesus says what he does when he found the healed man a second time? (v. 14) What is the “something worse”? (v. 29)

7. Can you explain the healed man’s actions once he found out who had healed him? (v. 15)

Reaction To Raising A Man And Jesus’ Authority To Raise All Men (vv. 17-30)

Note: It is frequently difficult for people—and that includes us—to distinguish between main issues and minor issues, or between substance and process. It is easier to be distracted and offended by some peccadillo, a minor thing that challenges one of our precious sensitivities, than to hear the vastly more important challenge that has been raised for us at the same time.

8. What do the Jews think is the main issue arising from the ‘sign’ of raising the paralysed man? (vv. 18, cf v. 16)

9. What does Jesus think the main issues are that arise from the ‘sign’ of raising the paralysed man, and which the Jews must consider? (vv. 17, 19-30) List them.

Note: The word Sabbath simply means ‘rest’, and it refers, in the first place, to the seventh day of creation when God rested from his work (Gen 2:4). As a result, God commanded the people of Israel to rest from their work (e.g. Exod 20:8). By the time of Jesus, the traditions of the elders and practices of the Pharisees had distorted the meaning of the Sabbath. The significance of the rest day had been altered. No longer was it permissible to do good on the Sabbath if it contradicted the human tradition that had grown up around the commandment, purportedly to protect it. Thus, while the Genesis account described God as having rested from his work of creating on the seventh day, God was always still involved in the work of sustaining his world day in and day out, including every Sabbath.

10. What are the extraordinary claims that Jesus makes in verse 17—which his hearers fully comprehend—that defend his actions on the Sabbath? (vv. 17-20)

11. In verse 20, Jesus signals that there will be greater and more amazing works than what the Father and Son have worked this Sabbath. What is Jesus talking about? (vv. 21-30)

12. How does the sign Jesus did (vv. 7-8) signify and relate to these greater and more amazing works?

13. Jesus gives a wonderful promise in verse 24 that he can give because of his relationship with the Father, which makes this question the most important one in this study: Have you personally taken hold of it and ‘crossed over’ from death to life?

Extended Note on Jesus’ Revelation of His Relationship As Son with the Father And the More Amazing Greater Works (vv. 19-30)

As he talks about the more amazing greater things, Jesus also talks about the relationship that he enjoys as the only-begotten Son (1:14, 18, 3:16, 18) with God his Father. This is the topic of verses 19-30, and explains Jesus’ statement in verse 17.

The Son only does what he sees the Father doing (vv. 17-19), and the Father shows the Son everything he does (v. 20, cf. v. 30). Thus, there is a complete unity of purpose and action between the Father and the Son—since there is nothing that the Father doesn’t show the Son, and the Son does nothing except what the Father shows him—although they differ functionally in the relationship, since the Father shows, and the Son is shown and does. All this springs from mutual love (cf. v. 20).

These intra-Trinitarian relations (the way the Father and Son relate) explain why Jesus was able to raise the man on the Sabbath (v. 17)—as Son of the Father, Jesus does exactly and only what the Father does and desires. So the amazing ‘sign’ itself—impossible for humans—is a testimony of the Father about the Son.

However, the nature of the relationship between Father and Son is also applied to the general resurrection and final judgement as the more amazing greater works that everyone will see, including the Jews that are challenging him (v. 20).

Jesus as the Son is given the Father’s functions of giving life and raising the dead (vv. 21, 24-26, 28-29). There is no conflict or discontinuity between the will of the Father and the Son in all this, so the Son can give life to whoever he wants (v. 21). Jesus’ decision is exactly what the Father wants, and that is what the Son seeks anyhow (v. 30). Jesus has life in himself, probably referring to his nature as God the only begotten—yet it is at the same time given of the Father for Jesus to have life in himself (v. 26). Jesus has life in himself, but in a way that it is still given of the Father.

Similarly, the Father will not judge or condemn anyone (v. 22), because he has perfectly delegated (i.e. given) judgement to the Son, who has himself learned perfectly from his Father who showed him everything (vv. 19-20, 27, 30). Hence, at the judgement, the dead “hear the voice of the Son of God” (v. 25, cf. v. 28), for the Father has given authority to judge to the Son of Man (v. 27; cf. Dan 7:13-14).

The fact that Jesus gives life and will judge is why he can boldly give complete assurance to believers in verse 24, that they both have eternal life now and will not be judged in the future.

To truly enjoy eternal life to the full, we must receive both resurrection life from Jesus and also not be judged in the sense of condemned, for there is a resurrection of judgement (v. 29). General resurrection must be accompanied by legal acquittal for us to have eternal life which is not wrath (cf. John 3:36). Jesus the Son has the gift and authority to give us both. However, without us believing in Jesus, the resurrection is something very much worse than being crippled for 38 years (cf. v. 14). In this light, Jesus’ raising of the paralysed man, who has given no evidence of believing in Jesus, prefigures the resurrection of judgement, the “something worse” thing that Jesus warned him about. In that case, the healed man’s sinning is related to his failure to believe.

We are not told specifically what the ‘good’ and ‘evil’ is that characterises the people who go to either the ‘resurrection of life’ or the ‘resurrection of judgement’. Probably, doing good is ‘believing’ (v. 24, 3:16) and doing evil is ‘not believing’ (3:17, 36). In the next chapter, Jesus will re-characterize the ‘works God requires’ as ‘the work’, singular, of believing in him (6:28-29). This turns the notion of works upside down, for the work of God is the non-work of believing. In a similar way, Jesus has a very Jesus-centred approach to what sin is, because sin is not believing in him (John 16:9, cf. 9:41).

However, for John there is also a clear relationship between believing in Jesus and working the good. People do not come to the light—that is, they avoid and reject Jesus—because their works are evil (cf. 3:19-21, 7:7). And apart from remaining in Jesus, we cannot bear fruit (John 15). All this is quite consistent with ‘doing good’ or ‘doing evil’ being the fruit of believing or not believing respectively.

This discourse is important in the original context because we are seeing the inappropriateness—nay, sinfulness and evil—of the Jews opposing and challenging Jesus. Because the Jews claim to love God—who is Jesus’ Father—they should honour his only begotten Son (v. 23), and the proper response of believing in him will lead to their eternal life (v. 24). Similarly, the healed man’s failing to believe and aligning himself with Jesus’ opponents is indeed truly continuing in sin.

Three Supporting Witnesses (vv. 31-47)

Note: The Old Testament laws of evidence required two or three witnesses to establish a matter: “On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness” (Deut 17:6). Jesus provides support for his claims in verses 19 to 30 by providing the required testimony of three witnesses in verses 31 to 47.

After citing the problems with self-testimony (v. 31, but cf. 8:14), and an allusive reference to the Father’s testimony (v. 32), the first witness is John the Baptist (vv. 33-35). The second witness is the Father. The third witness is the Old Testament Scriptures spoken through Moses by the Father (vv. 39-40, 45-47).

John the Baptist’s Testimony (vv. 33-35)

14. What is the problem with any person testifying about themselves? (cf. John 2:24-25)

15. Is self-testimony necessarily untrue?

16. Should we consider self-testimony differently if Jesus gives the testimony? (v. 31, cf. John 8:14, 5:19, 22, 24, 30)

17. How would you describe Jesus’ use of John the Baptist’s testimony? (vv. 33-34, 41-42, cf. 1:7-8)

18. How did those who sought to kill Jesus in verse 18 respond to John the Baptist’s testimony? (v. 35, cf. 3:32)

The Father’s Testimony (vv. 36-38)

19. How does the Father bear witnesses to Jesus? (vv. 8, 21, 36-38, cf. 43-44).

20. Would it make a difference if the Jews had directly heard the voice of the Father (v. 37-38, cf. 12:28-30)

Moses’ Testimony in the Bible (vv. 39-40, 45-47)

21. Consider John 1:17 in the light of John 5:39-40, 45-47. What are the differences between Jesus and Moses and the revelation of God that each brings? What are the similarities?

Discuss: It is often said that there is more than one interpretation of the Bible, and that each interpretation is equally valid. How does Jesus’ view of Moses provide a Christian answer to this view? How will you know that your interpretation of the Scripture is correct?

22. What is the real reason that people reject Jesus? (vv. 41-44)

23. In what ways has following Jesus resulted in the loss of the approval of your family and friends? Consider the following checklist:

• Do your friends and family know that Jesus is first in your life?
• Do they know that you go to church on Sunday and Bible study midweek?
• Have you ever been accused of being a Bible basher?
• Are you more concerned about your image than about the salvation of others?
• Do people see you make decisions because of your loyalty to Jesus?
• If you stopped believing in Christ, would your morals change?
• Are you seen as a churchgoer or one who is in friendship with Jesus?

(3) Sermon Script

Introduction: Kindness to the Ingratiate

God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked (Luke 6:35). But it must hurt when people are thankless and ungrateful all the time. Some people, sadly, are unchanged by the kindness they receive. They take kindness as their due, for granted.

Shakespeare said that the keen bite of the winter wind is not as unkind as man’s ingratitude. [1]

Seneca said that He is ungrateful who denies that he has received a kindness which has been bestowed upon him; he is ungrateful who conceals it; he is ungrateful who makes no return for it; most ungrateful of all is he who forgets it. [2]

Sadly, I think we see in this passage an ungrateful man receiving blessing from Jesus, and returns the favour by blaming him, informing on him, and apparently continuing in sin by not believing in the Jesus who raised him up.

Context

In John 4:1-42, Jesus was in Samaria, on his way to Galilee. He revealed himself as the Christ to the outcast Samaritan woman. And after spending two days with the Samaritans, they agreed that Jesus is “the saviour of the world”. And then Jesus heads back to Cana in Galilee. It is a three day walk.

And the rest of John 4 is about Jesus healing a royal official’s son (John 4:43-54). This account, while similar to the one in Matthew and Luke, is unique to John. [3] A royal official comes from Capernaum and pleads with Jesus, “Come down before my child dies”. But geographical proximity or physical touch is not necessary for Jesus to heal. Jesus simply says to the desperate man, “Go, your son lives”, and the royal official believes, and goes home. On the way home he meets his slaves, and they tell him the good news that his son is safe. The fever left his son at the very hour Jesus spoke, and the royal official and all his household believe in Jesus. Just as God created the universe with a word, so also Jesus, the Word incarnate, heals with a word. For Jesus is God the only-begotten Son.

In chapter 5, Jesus is in Jerusalem again. He is attending an unnamed feast, and Jesus focusses on an unnamed unwell paralysed man.

Jesus Raises the Paralysed Man: Usual or Unusual? (vv. 1-15)

This is a simple healing story, at first glance. It is unusual for us, but pretty usual for Jesus. The pool we read about was thought to have healing properties. There was a tradition that the first person down in the water when the water was stirred would be made well. And the pool attracted a myriad of disabled people. And Jesus is among them, observing. Also there was one who was long-term disabled, an invalid for 38 years. And Jesus does what we expect Jesus to do. Verse 8:

5:8Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.” 5:9And immediately the man became well, and took up his mat and began walking.

Here is the powerful voice of the Son of God. Jesus speaks dead legs into working. After 38 years, useless legs are used (vv. 8-9a).

Usual

This miracle seems to be quite ordinary: “so far so good, nothing to see here”. This seems to be just what Jesus always does. There’s a paralysed man, so Jesus heals him. In Mark’s Gospel, the first recorded miracle is very similar. Jesus says to the man let through the roof, “Rise, take up your mat, and go to your house” (Mark 2:11). And Isaiah 35:5-7 gives us the expectation that the lame will leap for joy at the coming of the Messiah. So it seems to be just the usual miracle the Jesus the Messiah does.

But Unusual

But then, as we look again at the passage, questions arise. There are some unusual things about this quite usual miracle for Jesus.

Firstly, why does Jesus zero in on this man? There are many disabled people who encircle the pool (v. 3). But Jesus takes the initiative to help and thus enter relationship with this man. Jesus knows, somehow, that this man has been crippled 38 years (v. 6), just like he knows that the Samaritan woman at the well has had five husbands. [4] But why does Jesus heal him? This paralysed man does not seem to be a great example of faith. His faith is not even mentioned, probably because he doesn't have any. [5] He is not like the paralysed man carried by four friends in Mark, who show their faith by digging through the roof of someone else’s house. We can compare the previous story in John’s Gospel, of the healing of the royal official’s son. The royal official sought Jesus out. Twice John mentioned that the royal official believed (John 4:50, 53). But John does not say that this paralysed man believed. Sure, the paralysed man gets up at the command. But he doesn’t even know who healed him (v. 13). And when he finds out who healed him, that it was Jesus, he dobs Jesus in to the authorities (v. 15).

So, the question is, ‘Why this man?’ Why does Jesus choose him out of the crowd of the sick, the blind, the lame, and the withered? And I think the answer might be because Jesus raised him up. He was lying down, paralysed, and the miracle of his being raised up will be a sign to what Jesus speaks about later in the passage, that will happen at the end of the age.

The second question I have is why does Jesus asks him in verse 6: “Do you want to get well?” It is an unusual question, isn’t it, for our Lord to ask?

If someone went into the hospital today, randomly picked a bed, and asked a patient, ‘Do you want to be healed?’, we’d say it was a stupid question at best, or that it was unkind or cruel at worst, in that it implied the person was bludging and didn’t really want to get better, or something like that.

Perhaps Jesus is implying that the man’s condition, or the prolongation of it, was in some way caused by not wanting to be well, because the man had been paralysed for so long. And there was an opportunity to be healed in the pool (cf. v. 4). What, for 38 years, he couldn’t be the first in the water?

Then, thirdly, Jesus slips away into the crowd after he heals the man (v. 13). Why does he do this? Is this perhaps because he knows that the man is a dobber, or that he is not really interested in Jesus?

And finally, fourthly, Jesus meets up with the man again, and he has some harsh words for him. Verse 14:

5:14After these things happened, Jesus found him in the temple and he said to him, “See, you’ve become well! Stop sinning, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” [6]

And this takes us by surprise. Is Jesus saying that the man was sick because he sinned? That’s possible, because in the Bible, sometimes, but certainly not always, people’s sin causes their sickness. There are examples like Annanias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11), or the Corinthians who got sick and died because they misused the Lord’s supper (1 Cor 11:30; perhaps also those mentioned in Jas 5:15-16).

But my guess is that I don’t think Jesus’ words are about a sin that caused sickness. I suspect Jesus’ harsh words are about the fact that even when the man is healed, the man doesn’t respond properly to Jesus. He prefers the darkness rather than the light. He is not a man who trusts Jesus, even though he is healed by him. Jesus’ warning is a stark reminder that there are worse things than profound disability. There are some things worse than being crippled for 38 years. There are some things even worse than death. And Jesus will get to them in the fullness of time.

A Spat Over A Picked-Up Mat (vv. 9-13, 16)

Have you ever done something where you thought you’d be thanked, but all you get for yourself was trouble and grief? That’s what happened to Jesus, except that Jesus knew he wouldn’t be thanked.

We read in verse 12 that the Jewish religious leaders instigate an inquisition. It’s not the Spanish inquisition, but it’s close enough. The religious leaders see the man and say, ‘Hey, isn’t it great you’re walking again! It’s been 38 years!’ Instead of focusing on a miraculous and merciful healing, they rally around to defend the Sabbath command. Verses 9-10:

5:9 […] Now it was Sabbath on that day. 5:10So the Jews were saying to the man who had been healed, “It’s the Sabbath, and it’s not lawful for you to pick up your mat.”

And after the healed man passes the buck, verse 12:

5:12They answered him, “Who is that man who said to you ‘Pick it up and walk!’?”

So for the Jewish leaders, the healing is not a miraculous act of mercy. It is not an amazing sign, showing God’s glory. It is not a pointer to Jesus, and who he is. It is simply evidence that someone has broken the law, and they must be found and punished.

The fourth commandment said ‘rest’ on the Sabbath, the Saturday. This man is carrying his mat, and that is work. And what is worse, Jesus is working. He is healing on the Sabbath. So we read in verse 16:

5:16And because of this, the Jews were pursuing Jesus, because he did these things on the Sabbath.

So what started off as Jesus’ initiative in healing an undeserving man, has become an argument about whether you can heal on the Saturday.

Jesus’ Explanation For His Actions (vv. 17-23, 39-40)

Jesus immediately responds with a defense. Jesus’ defense actually extends from verses 17 to verse 47 of chapter 5, and part of that defense involves pointing to three witnesses. The first is John the Baptist (vv. 32-35). Jesus doesn’t really want to rely on human testimony such as that of John the Baptist, but he will accept it so his hearers can be saved. The second is the Father, in that the Father bears witnesses through the signs, the works, that Jesus does (v. 36). And the third is the Scriptures spoken through Moses by the Father. Jesus points to the witness of the Old Testament in verses 39 and 40. Verses 39-40:

5:39You search the Scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life, and these are the Scriptures testifying about me. 5:40And you don’t want to come to me so that you might have life.

The Old Testament is a book all about Jesus. Jesus says so himself.

The Old Testament, John the Baptist, and the works or signs that Jesus does: all these bear witness to him. But if that wasn’t enough, in verses 17 to 23, Jesus is going to make an even bigger claim.

Equal with God (vv. 17-18)

Jesus puts the debate on a whole new footing. Jesus increases the stakes in the debate. In Jesus’ hands, it’s no longer an argument about what you can and cannot do on the Sabbath. It is an argument about who is or isn’t God. Verse 17:

5:17So Jesus answered them, “My father is working until now, and I also am working.”

Jesus says that God is always working. God never takes a day off. The sun comes up, and God made it happen. The sun goes down, and God brought it to be. Not a sparrow falls to the ground, not a hair is lost, apart from the will of the Father. In other words, God is always busy at work, and never rests, never sleeps.

When God created the world he did not make a watch, wind it up, and then set it off, only intervening when there is a problem. He is more like a masterful juggler, who continually keeps the countless things constituting creation turning and revolving, with ease and effortlessly.

In the creation account, on the seventh day God rested from his work of creating (Gen 2:3). That is true. But who does the work of sustaining and upholding the world since then? God. So God, in his rest from creating, still does the work of sustaining his creation. God rests and works at the same time. He rests from creation and works in sustaining creation.

Well, that much is not controversial. The Jewish leaders all believed that. They knew that God was at work every moment of every day sustaining the world. But what they didn’t expect was Jesus’ title for God: ‘My Father’, that is, not even ‘Our Father’, the words he taught us to pray, but ‘My Father’. It is as if Jesus is saying, “I am in a unique relationship with God, that you don’t have.” And the Jewish leaders knew exactly what Jesus was claiming. Verse 18:

5:18So because of this, the Jews were looking out all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.

As if breaking the Sabbath wasn’t bad enough! The Jewish leaders heard blasphemy in Jesus’ words. The Jewish leaders upgrade the charges against Jesus. By working on the Sabbath, and calling God ‘my Father’, Jesus claimed equality with God. And John wants us to understand that the Jewish leaders have perceived something that Jesus taught. It is a claim as readers of John’s Gospel that we are already familiar with. John chapter 1 verses 1, 14:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God […] The Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us.

Inside God (vv. 19-23)

But what is the relationship between the Father and Son like? That is what verses 19 to 23 are about. Jesus is giving us an insider’s look at God, a look inside God. These are the internal relationships within the Triune God.

Now, few sons follow their fathers in the family business nowadays. But in the community to which Jesus spoke, most sons learned their father’s profession. For example, Jesus learned the trade of carpentry from his earthly step-father, Joseph. [7] He watched and saw and followed and copied and did.

And in his role as creator and sustainer of the universe, Jesus the eternal Son of God watched and copied his heavenly father.

• Verse 19, “whatever the Father does, these things the Son likewise does also”
• Verse 20, “the Father loves the Son and shows him everything which he does”

The Father doesn’t do what the Son shows the Father. That would upset the order of Father and Son. [8] No, the Son obeys and depends and conforms to the Father. The Son does what the Father does and shows him.

That is why Jesus can heal the man on the Sabbath. He is God the Son. When Jesus heals the man, he does so as God whose ongoing work is to sustain the world, Sabbath or not. Both God the Father and God the Son sustain the world. And thus the miracle, happening on the Sabbath, is a sign of Jesus’ equality with God.

You can see why the Jewish leaders understood it as blasphemy and wanted to kill him.

But there are two things even more amazing than Jesus’ ongoing work of sustaining the world (v. 21). Yes, that Jesus sustains the world is amazing in itself. But there is a God’s marvelous twofold future work, that the Father has committed into the Son’s hands.

More Amazing Thing #1: Jesus Gives Life (vv. 21, cf. 24-25, 29)

The first more amazing thing is that Jesus gives life. Verse 21:

5:21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, in the same way also the Son gives life to whoever he wants.

The Son is God, and is self-existent (v. 26). So the Son can give life (v. 26). Thus, Jesus is able to give us life now and later. He says we who believe have life now in verse 24:

5:24Truly, truly I say to you, that the one hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life eternal and is not going to come into judgment, but has crossed over from death to life.

Jesus is promising everyone who believes eternal life now. We have it. He promises we believers will not be condemned. By faith in Jesus, by believing in him, we have crossed over from death to life. Like the old illustration, Jesus is the bridge to life. On our side, is sin and death and condemnation. On the other, is eternal life. And believing in Jesus is the bridge. And Jesus says, if we believe, we have crossed over from death to life.

Do you believe this? Do you believe that you are no longer condemned for your sins? Do you believe that you have crossed the bridge that is Jesus Christ? I hope you do.

Because Jesus Christ wants us to enjoy the certainty of that now. We do not say, like Roman Catholicism, “Oh, you can never have assurance of your salvation”, only to say at the funeral that “the person is now in heaven” and “you can pray to them, not even for them”, because they had the last rites, and were a good person, and were baptized with water in our church, in the right church, when they were a baby. No, Jesus says, the one who believes has crossed over from death to life. So believe and receive now the comfort of the knowledge that you will not be condemned.

And Jesus also promises to give us life then, on the last day. The Son will call to the graves, and all will rise. Those who’ve believed in the Son, and consequently done well, will rise to live. And those who’ve done evil will rise to condemnation. For a good tree bears good fruit, and a bad tree bears bad fruit.

And Jesus’ healing of the paralysed man is a little visual aid of this. Jesus says in verse 8, “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.” Literally, he says, ‘rise’. The rising of the paralysed man, whose legs were dead, points forward to the resurrection of the dead. Because the healing is a sign, it points to something bigger. It points to the resurrection on the last day, when Jesus will raise both the righteous and the wicked. And so the ‘raising up’ of this paralysed man, whether he believes in Jesus or not, will prefigure the general resurrection on the last day.

More Amazing Thing #2: Jesus The Judge (vv. 22, cf. 27, 29-30)

The second more amazing thing is that Jesus is the judge. Verses 22 and 23:

5:22For the Father doesn’t judge anything, but he has given all judgment to the Son, 5:23so that everyone might honour the Son just as they honour the Father. The one who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who him.

Jesus is the one God has chosen to judge the world (cf. Acts 17:30). The Father has committed to the Son all judgment (v. 22). And the Son judges only in conformity with the Father’s good pleasure (v. 30). Jesus is the Son of Man of Daniel 7:13-14, to whom the Ancient of Days has given authority to judge (v. 27, cf. Dan 7:13-14).

This suggests the reason why Jesus says in verse 14 to the formerly paralysed man:

5:14 […] See, you’ve become well! Stop sinning, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.

Jesus is aware of another meeting he and the man will have. Jesus raised the man once from paralysis to his feet. But after a short few years, this man died. He was given a few extra years when he could use his legs. But death came and claimed him, as it will us, unless Jesus comes back first, and one day, when he returns, Jesus will meet the man again. Jesus will raise the man to life from the dead. And He will judge him. And because Jesus seeks to please his Father, those who’ve done evil will rise to be condemned. And so, in view of that next meeting, Jesus lovingly warns him to stop sinning.

As Jesus does to us now. Dear friends, Jesus warns us not to continue in sin. If you are stuck in a sin, you need to extract yourself, or rather, you need God to extract you.

Is it sexual sin? Perhaps you have gone somewhere with someone that should never have happened. And now your stuck. Is it pornography sitting on your hard-drive? Jesus says: Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you. Is it stealing? Copyright theft of mp3s or computer programs or photocopying? Is it not paying what you owe, not paying taxes or debts? Jesus says, “Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.” Is it greed, the continual desire to consume things and gobble up resources which is never satisfied—eating too much, drinking too much, wanting too much? Is it the sin of the tongue, the bitter words, the anger, the gossip?

Or is it the worst sin of all, the ingratitude of seeing that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, and receiving his blessings, but not believing in him?

Here is Jesus’ word for us, “Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.” And Jesus knows, because the Father has entrusted all judgment to the Son.

Let’s pray.

[1] “Blow, blow, thou winter wind, Thou art not so unkind As man's ingratitude: Thy tooth is not so keen, Because thou art not seen, Although thy breath be rude.” William Shakespeare Quotes: Source: As You Like It (Amiens at II, vii): http://www.worldofquotes.com/topic/Ingratitude/1/index.html.

[2] http://www.dumb.com/quotes/ingratitude-quotes/.

[3] Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10 seem to be different. Matthew and Luke’s account involve a centurion’s servant, not the child of a king’s servant.

[4] The ESV ‘knows’ is better than the NIV ‘learned’.

[5] He hasn’t come looking for Jesus, like the royal official in John 4:43-54.

[6] Carson and Morris argue that the man’s suffering is linked with his sin, but contrast Beasley-Murray. It is possible that Jesus is referring to a sin that caused the sickness. Not all sickness is caused by specific sin. Sometimes we are sick because we are part of a fallen world. But in Scripture sometimes people become sick because they sin.

[7] D A Carson, The Gospel According to John: Pillar (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), 250.

[8] “The very obedience and dependence that characterize Jesus’ utter subordination to the Father are themselves so perfect that all Jesus does is what the Father wills and does, so it is nothing less than the revelation of God” (Carson 1991: 252). Also John 14:28 “also attests to the pattern of functional subordination of the Son to the Father, already alluded to, that extends backward into eternity past […] The Father is Fons divinitatis […] in which the being of the Son has its source; the Father is God sending and commanding, the Son is God sent and obedient” (Carson 1991: 508).

(4) English Translation

(5) Exegetical Notes

Bibliography

Leon Morris, ‘The Atonement In John's Gospel’, Criswell Theological Review 3.1 (1988) 49-64, accessed at https://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/ntesources/ntarticles/ctr-nt/morris-johnsatonement-ctr.htm on 6 January 2017.

The particular festival or feast referred to in verse 1 is not identified nor named, but the phrase ‘a feast of the Jews’, suggests the tabernacles or Passover, and the reading without the article is better attested (Carson 1991: 240-1). Some have advocated that it was Rosh ha-Shanah (the Feast of Trumpets: Lev 23:23-25), others that it was the feast of Purim, established when the Jews were delivered in the time of Esther. Other festivals or feasts mentioned by John are that of Passover (John 6:4), the feast of tabernacles or booths (John 7:2), the feast of dedication or hanneka (John 10:22), and the final Passover of Jesus’ earthly ministry (John 12:1). The naming of a particular feast is significant, and the fact of the feast not being named, as it is here, indicates that the actual identity of the feast is not significant. In each instance where John mentions the particular feast or festival, Jesus is shown to be the fulfiller of the feast, and Jesus does things to show that he fulfills the Jewish institution.

Jesus is either accepted or rejected at the feasts. Those who did the rejecting are οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, ‘the Jews’. Cornelis Bennema recently examined the referent of οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι in John’s Gospel to determine to whom it refers. Suggestions include the religious authorities only, or a particular religious party, or to the religious authorities together with the people, or simply to the Jews in general. He finds that Second Temple Judaism used the term to those who followed the Judaean religion, and John has this religious group in mind. Bennema argues that it refers to a mixed group led by the chief priests rather than the Pharisees: Cornelis Bennema, ‘The Identity And Composition Of Οι Ιουδαιοι In The Gospel Of John’, TynBull 60:2 (2009): 239ff.

The Greek word stoa denotes a colonnade, cloister, portico or porch. There were five of these covered and columned areas. The pool was huge—around a couple of football fields—and deep, with the five covered areas surrounding it. An upper reservoir would empty water into the lower pool, creating a bubbling effect. In this beautiful watered and shaded area have congregated the sick, miserable, crippled, and dried up.

Verse 4 is omitted by P^{66, 75}, א, B, C*, D, but included by A, C³, Byz. It is translated, “For an angel of the Lord from time to time would bathe in the pool and would agitate the water. So the first person going in upon the agitation of the water became cured of whatever kind of disease was oppressing him.”

In verses 7-9, Jesus shows he isn’t subject to the reputed healing mechanism of the pool. He just commands and the man commands. In verse 9, the man obeyed Jesus. He is an enigmatic character. We see the power of Jesus in overcoming the 38 years of illness with one word. But we are not told that he believed and walked. We see Jesus’ initiative rather than the man’s faith.

In verses 9-10, the issue of the Sabbath is raised. Various restrictions were associated with the Sabbath observance of the Jews at this time. The rabbis divided work into 39 classes, including carrying things from one place to another (except carrying a paralytic), and lifting something over one’s head (Carson 1991: 244-5, 7).

In verse 16, διωκω can mean prosecute as well as persecute or pursue. Jesus is presented as on trial in the narrative. In the first century Jewish world, courts were held by Herod, but there was a semi-official court system, where a trial could be called on the spot. So the rest of this chapter is about Jesus’ calling witness in his defence, and he brings counter charges.

In verses 17-23, Jesus describes his own relationship as the Son to God the Father. “Though the unique Son of God may truly be called God (1:1, 18, 20:28) and take to himself divine titles (8:58) and divine rights (5:17), yet he is always submissive to the Father; he always does what pleases the Father (8:29) and he can only do what he sees his Father doing.” […] “The Father initiates, sends, commands, commissions, grants; the Son responds, obeys, performs the Father’s will, receives authority.” (Carson, 1991: 250)

In verse 24, we have a clear expression of the realized eschatology of John the Evangelist. The following extract is an interesting statement concerning John’s realized eschatology:

“L Goppelt concludes his examination of ‘The Distinctiveness of Johannine Eschatology’ with these words:

‘The Gospel of John emphasized more emphatically than any other document of the New Testament that in Jesus’ ministry the eschaton was present; whoever believed had already passed from death to life! Whoever did not believe was already condemned! This apologetic antithesis did not aim at a perfectionistic decision, but at the faith that found in Jesus everything that was called the salvation of God: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (14:6).’ (Theology of the New Testament [2 vols; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981-82] 2.305, quoted in Morris 1988: 53).

Regarding verse 27 and the phrase ‘Son of Man’, the absence of the article indicates that this is the predicate of the verb. Cf. the absence of the article in John 1:1c, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος, indicating θεὸς is the predicate, while the nominative ὁ λόγος is articular. This is certainly the Daniel 7:13-14, ‘Son of Man’, as Jesus’ identification as the Son of Man is given as a reason for his authority to judge.

These Jewish religious leaders approach to the Scriptures was wrong. Jesus points out that their primary motivation for study is their hope of final acceptance by God. Thus, for example, Hillel affirmed that the more study of the law, the more life, and that if a man gains for himself the words of the law he has gained for himself life in the world to come. But there is nothing about the law per se that saves. It is Christ, the subject of the Scriptures, that saves.

While verse 31 formally contradicts John 8:14, the reality is that Jesus’ testimony can only ever be truthful, given who he is.

5:31Ἐὰν ἐγὼ μαρτυρῶ περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ, ἡ μαρτυρία μου οὐκ ἔστιν ἀληθής·|| If I testify about myself, my testimony is not truthful.

8:14κἂν ἐγὼ μαρτυρῶ περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ, ἀληθής ἐστιν ἡ μαρτυρία μου, ὅτι οἶδα πόθεν ἦλθον καὶ ποῦ ὑπάγω·|| And if I testify about myself, my testimony is truthful, for I know where I came from and where I am going.

John 5:31 should be understood as saying that if it was truly the case that Jesus’ massive claims rested only on his own testimony, of course it would be a lie. Of their very nature, Jesus’ claims must be supported by the testimony of the Father. John 8:14 simply reasserts that Jesus always and only tells the truth.