The Seven Signs of Jesus - Part 3

John 5:1-18 (TNIV)

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[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3[4] Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.  [b] 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, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

 11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

 12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

 13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

 14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

 16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

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Footnotes:

[a]  John 5:2 Some manuscripts Bethzatha; other manuscripts Bethsaida

[b] John 5:3 Some later manuscripts and some ancient witnesses, wholly or in part, paralyzed—and they waited for the moving of the waters. From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first person into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had.

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Would You Like To Get Well?  Really?  I used to think this was was a silly question.  After all, what person who was disabled for such a long time, given the opportunity, would not want to get well?  That is indeed the question, but I don't think it's a silly one anymore.  In fact, it is quite a serious one.Believe it or not, given the choice, many of us decline to offer of health and healing.  We have lots of reasons for doing this, and at times put a lot of energy into trying to make them sound respectable.  But in reality, many of these find their roots in fear.  Sometimes it seems less scary to stay with what is debilitating but predictable than to take the risk of discovering what it might mean to actually be whole and healthy again.  In a world where we struggle with uncertainty and anxiety, we too often push away what we need the most, and settle instead for far less than what God offers us.

But the good news is, that God offers us a life that is characterized by healing.  While this does not always mean that we are freed from the things that make life challenging, it always does mean discovering that we can live free from the control of those things that keep us from being fully alive in the fullest sense of the word.  He asks us if we want it.  We get to decide whether or not to accept the offer.

In this "fourth sign of Jesus" that takes place at the Pool of Bethesda, John encourages us to believe that God has come to us in Jesus, out of His shear mercy, to offer us true life - a life that can be intimately lived out with God no matter what our current circumstances are, or where our circumstances find us.  This is what Pastor Jon explores with us in the sermon this week.  If you would like to listen to the sermon once again, or perhaps for the first time, you can access our sermon library by clicking here.

Questions for Reflection:

• Take a few moments to slowly and reflectively read through the scripture passage to the right.  As you do so, which phrases seem to connect with you the most? 

    Do you want to get well?

    I have no one to help me

    When I am trying, someone else . . .

    Get up!  Pick up your mat and walk

    The man who was healed had no idea who it was

    See you are well again, stop sinning or something worse may happen

• Why do you think you are drawn to the phrase(s) that you are?  What do you think God might be saying to you as you reflect on them?

• How do you understand the tension around the misunderstanding of Sabbath in this passage?  Where had the understanding of the significance of the Sabbath gone wrong?  How do you experience this same tension today?

• Do you think there are people who experience the graciousness and healing of God, but could not tell you exactly Who it was that healed them?  What does this tell you about the way that God works in His world?  What do you also notice here about how people sometimes react when God works like this?

A Sequel to an old story about getting well (source not known)

Archaeologists have found evidence at the site of the Pool of Bethsada that this location was previously used by the Greeks in the worship of the Greek god of medicine.  This may be part of what contributed to the legend about the healing properties of the waters in the pool.  The way the pool was constructed, there was a tiny channel of water that flowed in to keep the pool full.  The the level of the pool rose to the level where the channel of water entered, it would create a ripple effect across the surface of the water.  This may also be part of what contributed to the idea of the waters being troubled from time to time.  It may be that the Jews had modified the legend of the pool by indicating that it was an angel of the Lord rather than a Greek or Roman god that troubled the waters.  In any case, the Biblical record does not comment on whether or not the belief was true, only that this is was what some believed about the pool.