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| Healing a Lame Man at the Pool of Bethesda |
By:
Paul George |
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Lame at the Pool of Bethesda
John 5:1-19
"After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem" (John 5:1). There is nothing to indicate which of the Feasts this was. Some think it was the Passover, but this is most unlikely, for when that feast is referred to in John it is expressly mentioned by name (John 2:13; 6:4; 11:55). Others think it was the feast of Purim, but as that was a human invention and not of Divine institution, we can hardly imagine Jesus going up to Jerusalem to observe it. It was probably the feast of Pentecost. Pentecost is one of the three great annual Feasts that the law required every male Israelite to observe in Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 16), and here we see Jesus honoring the Divine Law by going up to Jerusalem at the season of its celebration.
"Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches" (John 5:2). Scholars believe the reference here is to the sheep "gate" of Nehemiah 3:1. Nehemiah 3 describes the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem in the days when a remnant of Israel returned from the Babylonian captivity. Various portions in the work of reconstruction were allotted to different individuals and companies. These portions or sections were from gate to gate. Ten gates are mentioned in the chapter. The first is the sheep gate (verse 1) and the last is "The gate Miphkad" which means "judgment," and speaks, perhaps, of the judgment-seat of Christ; and then the chapter concludes by saying, "And between the going up of the corner unto the sheep gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants." Thus, the circle is completed, and at the close, we are brought back to the point from which we started, "The sheep gate."
What is interesting in Jesus coming to the pool near the sheep gate, the sacrificial animals were brought to the temple through this gate. Here we are told the pool that was called Bethesda, meaning mercy, was by the "sheep gate." We are also told the sick, blind, lame and withered, symbols of the effect of sin upon the soul of man, were waiting for the stirring of the water by an angel (v. 3-4). Who comes through the sheep gate, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world? Who is the only One that the poor sinner can find mercy and deliverance from the bondage of sin, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world? How is the poor sinner delivered from the bondage of sin, through the sacrifice on the Lamb of God?
Do you see the importance of noting carefully every little word in Scripture? There is nothing trivial in the Word of God. The smallest detail has a meaning and value, every name, every geographical and topographical reference, a message. As a further example of this, notice the last words of the verse—"having five porches." The number of the porches here is also significant. In Scripture, the number five is the symbol for grace or favor. It was with five loaves that Jesus fed the hungry multitude. The fifth clause in the Lord’s Prayer or the disciple’s prayer is, "Give us this day our daily bread." The fifth Commandment was the only one with a promise attached to it. There are many more references in the Bible to the number five.
John tells us, in these five porches “lay a great multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame and withered” a picture of the condition of the Jewish nation at that time, a description of the spiritual state of Judaism, as it then existed and a description of the condition and spiritual state of our nation. Israel had the Law, made their boast in it, but was unable to keep it. Not only were they unable to keep the Law they were blind to their wretchedness and their desperate need, and so blind to the Divine and moral glories of the One who now stood in their midst "they saw in him no beauty that they should desire him." Israel had the Law but they were unable to walk in the way of God’s commandments. A blind man is able to grope his way about but a cripple cannot walk at all. Again, we are told this "great multitude" was "withered." This, no doubt, refers to those whose hands were paralyzed (Matthew 12:10; Luke 6:6), and as a description of Israel it tells us that they were totally incapacitated to work for God. What a pitiable picture. First, a general summing up of their state, second a detailed diagnosis of their condition, were unable to walk in the ways of the Lord, unable to work in the harvest field of the Lord. Second, they were waiting for the promised Messiah, and all the time ignorant of the fact that He was there in their midst, who but the Holy Spirit could have drawn so marvelously accurate a picture in such few and short lines!
We must not limit this picture to Israel, for it is equally applicable and pertinent to sinners of the Gentiles too. Israel in the flesh was only a symbol on the state of fallen humanity. What we have here is a description of human depravity, described in physical terms; its moral application is to the whole of Adam’s fallen race. In this incident at the pool near the sheep gate, we have a picture of what men and women are by nature. The picture is not flattering because it was painted by One who searches the innermost recesses of the human heart. The natural man is "without strength" (Romans 5:6). This sums up in a single word his condition before God: altogether helpless, unable to do a single thing for himself, "Waiting for the moving of the water."
The waters of this pool represent the Law that promised "life" to him who did all that it enjoined, who kept the law? Who obtained life by meeting its demands, no one of Adam’s fallen race. The law was "weak through the flesh." A perfect man could keep it, but a sinner could not. Why, then, was the law given? That the offense might abound; that sin might be shown to be exceeding sinful; that the sinner might discover his sinfulness. His very efforts to keep the law, and his repeated failures manifested his utter helplessness. In like manner, when the angel troubled the water of Bethesda so that the first to step into it might be made whole, this only magnified the sufferings of those who lay around it. How could the helpless “step in,” they could not. Was God mocking man in his misery? No, He was preparing the way for that which was "better" (Hebrews 11:40).
"A man was there who had been thirty-eight years in his sickness” (John 5:5). Why should the Holy Spirit have been careful to tell us the exact length of time this particular sufferer had been afflicted? What is the meaning and message of this "thirty and eight years"? Are we left to guess at the answer? No, Scripture is its own interpreter if we will but take the trouble to patiently and diligently search its pages and compare spiritual things with spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:13). Thirty-eight years was exactly the length of time that Israel spent in the wilderness after they came under law at Sinai (Deuteronomy 2:14). There it was, in the Wilderness of Sin that of old Israel manifested their helplessness, under the law.
"When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” Here is Light shining in the darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not. The very shining of the Light only served to reveal how great was the darkness. There was a great multitude of sick ones lying around that disappointing pool, and here was the great Physician Himself asking the representative of Israel, “Do you want to be healed?” Is it any different today? The great Physician is not wanted; He passes by unnoticed. Such is fallen human nature. The whole world lies in the wicked one (1 John 5:19), and were it not for sovereign grace every member of Adam’s race would perish eternally. Grace is the sinner’s only hope. If salvation is to come to him, it must be by grace, and grace is unmerited favor shown toward the hell deserving. Who shall presume to tell God the ones on whom He ought to bestow it if salvation is a gift? Was salvation provided for the angels that fell? If God has left them to reap the due reward of their iniquities, why should He be charged with injustice if He abandons those of humanity who love darkness rather than light? God does not refuse salvation to any who truly seek it.
In this account of the healing of the man at the pool near the sheep gate, we have an illustration of the sovereignty of God. It would be no difficult thing for the great Physician, God Himself incarnate, infinite in power, with inexhaustible resources at His command to heal the multitude instead of a single individual. For some reason not revealed to us, He passed by the "great multitude’’ of sufferers, singled out one man, and healed him. There is nothing whatever in the narrative to indicate that this "certain man" was any different from the others. We are not told that he turned to the Savior and cried, "Have mercy on me." He was just as blind as were the others to the Divine glory of the One who stood before him. Even when asked "”Do you wish to be healed” he evidenced no faith whatever; and after he had been healed he did not know who it was that healed him. It is impossible to find any ground in the man himself as a reason for Jesus singling him out for special favor. The only explanation is the mere sovereign of Jesus. This is proven beyond the shadow of doubt by His own declaration immediately afterwards, "For just as the Father raises up the dead, and gives them life; even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes (v. 21).
This miracle of healing was a parable in action. It sets before us a vivid illustration of God’s work of grace in the spiritual realm. Just as the condition of that helpless multitude depicts the depravity of Adam’s fallen race.
Not only are we told that Jesus "saw him," but it is added, "and knew that he had been now a long time in that condition." Yes, Jesus knew all about him, just as He knows all about you and me. Truly, Jesus is the good shepherd, and knows His sheep (John 10:11), and “said to him,” it was not the man who spoke first, but Jesus. The Lord always takes the initiative, and invites Himself into our lives. We were like this helpless man when sovereign grace sought us out. We were lying amid the "great multitude of helpless people, "for by nature you were a child of wrath, "even as others" (Ephesians. 2:3). Yes, we were lying in all the abject misery of a fallen creature, blind, lame, withered, unable to do a thing for ourselves, when the Lord, in sovereign grace, drew near to us.
Does it seem strange that Jesus would ask the man if he wanted to be healed? The very fact that he was lying there by the pool was an indication of what he wished. Why, then, ask him "do you want to be healed?’ This was not a meaningless question as some might suppose. Those who are in darkness are not always willing to come out of the darkness. Is there something deeper in this question? Did Jesus ask the question to impress upon this man the utter helplessness of his condition? A man must be brought to recognize and realize he is unable to solve his problems with out the aid of another. The one who promises himself that he will reform, alter his lifestyle, has not learned that he is "without strength." It is not until he discovers he is without strength that he will turn to the one that is able to give him the strength he needs to turn and alter his lifestyle and live a life pleasing in the sight of the Lord.
No doubt one reason why Christ selected so many incurable cases on which to show forth His power, was in order to have suitable objects to portray to us the irreparable ruin which sin has wrought and the utter helplessness of man’s natural estate. Jesus was impressing upon the man the need of being made whole. However, more: when He asked the man if he wanted to be healed He was asking the man are you willing to put yourself, into My hands? Are you ready for Me to do for you what you are unable to do for yourself? Are you willing to be my debtor?’
Instead of answering the question the man said, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up” (v. 7). In one sense, the man was telling Jesus he was willing to put himself into the hands of Jesus, he failed to realize or did not understand Jesus could heal him by a word. He supposed he must get into the pool and Jesus would help him get into the pool when the water was stirred. This man had his eyes on the means, the pool, for his healing. His eyes were fixed on man and not God; he was looking for human kindness. How true to life this is, where do we look for help before turning to the Lord. Jesus told the man, “Get up, pick up your pallet, and walk” (v. 8).
In this command, there are four elements; first, there is human responsibility, we must respond to the word of the Lord. Jesus told the man to get up. He did not take hold of the man and lift him to his feet. There must be recognition of the authority of Jesus, and immediate response to His orders. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved” is something more than an invitation; it is a command (1 John 3:23). Second, "pick up your pallet” implies there must be no thought of failure, and no provision made for a relapse. How many there are who take a few feeble steps, and then return to their beds. ! ‘The last state of such is worse than the first. If there is faith in the person of Jesus, a submission to His authority, then the new life within will be revealed by an outward action. Third, "And walk." There are duties to be faced of which we have had no previous experience, and we must proceed to discharge them in faith; and in that faith in which He bids us do them will be found the strength needed for their performance.
"And immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk” (v.9). The cure was both instantaneous and complete. Jesus does not put the believing sinner into a savable state. He saves us with a perfect and eternal salvation the moment we believe: "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it" (Ecclesiastes 3:14). We need hardly say that we are here shown, once more, the Word at work. The Savior did nothing but speak, and the miracle was accomplished. It is thus the Son of God is revealed to us repeatedly in this fourth Gospel.
“Now it was the Sabbath” when the man was healed, picked up his pallet, and walked and “the Jews were saying to him who was cured, ‘It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet (v. 10). How true of life, even today, the one who obeys the Lord must expect to encounter criticism. The one who regulates his life by the Word of God will be met by the opposition of man; even the religious world will oppose him, if he does not abide by its creed and observe its rules of conduct. Unless we are prepared to be brought into bondage by the traditions of the elders, we must be ready for their frowns. Jesus was not ignorant of the current teaching about the Sabbath, and He knew what would be the consequences should this healed man carry his bed on the Sabbath. However, he had come here to set His people free from the shackles that religious zealots had bound the people. Never did He bow to the public opinion in His day; nor should we. There are thousands of religious zealots who need to be reminded of Galatians 5:1: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." If the child of God is living according to the Scriptures and knows that he is pleasing his Lord, it matters little or nothing what his fellowmen or his fellow-Christians may think or say about him. Better far to displease them than to be entangled again in the yoke of bondage, and “frustrate the grace of God" (Galatians 2:21).
"He answered them, ‘He that made me well was the one who said to me, pick up your pallet and walk’” (v. 11). This sets a fine example for us. How simply he met his critics. He did not enter into an argument about their perverted view of the Sabbath: he did not charge them with lack of sympathy for those who were sufferers, though he might have done both. Instead, he hid behind Jesus. He fell back upon the Word of God.
This man did what most people do not do today. They request prayer when trouble and death is knocking on their door and God hears the prayers of the righteous and intercedes and they are delivered from their situation. Where do you find them following their deliverance? Do you find them in the worship service? You find them returning to the same situation that put them in the situation that threatened their lives.
The second meeting of the man and Jesus occurred in the temple, a place of public worship the same day Jesus healed him (v. 14).
There are several reasons why the man went to the temple, first, because of his infirmity he was not able to go to the temple prior to his healing by Jesus. Second, he went to the temple to thank God for his recovery. When God has at any time restored us our health we ought to make a public testimony of the goodness of God, not to bring praise to ourselves but to the One who has delivered us from evil. Third, because he had carried his pallet on the Sabbath and it was viewed as an act of contempt for the law his going to the temple revealed his obedience to the law. Works of necessity and mercy are allowed; but when they are over, we must go to the temple.
We must go to the temple because after healing us Jesus is not done with us, He applies Himself to the healing of our soul. Notice what Jesus did when He met the man in the temple. Jesus reminded him he has been healed (v. 14). How soon we forget what Jesus has done for us. Then Jesus cautions him, “do not sin anymore” (v. 14). This implies that his disease was the punishment of sin, whether some remarkably flagrant sin or only of sin in general, we cannot tell, but we know that sin is the cause of sickness. We know from experience while disabling diseases last, they prevented the outward acts of many sins, and therefore watchfulness is more necessary when the disability is removed. Jesus warns that those who are made whole are in danger of returning to sin. Jesus warned the man to go and sin no more “so that nothing worse may befall you” (v. 14).
Jesus, who knows all men's hearts, knew that the man He healed was one of those that must be warned of the dangers of returning to a sinful life. Thirty-eight years' lameness, one would think, was a thing bad enough; yet there is something worse that will come to him if he relapses into sin after God has given him deliverance. The place where the man lay on his pallet was a sad, depressing, mournful place, but hell is much more so: the doom of apostates is a worse thing than thirty-eight year’s lameness.
Having dealt in "grace" with the poor helpless sufferer Jesus applied the "truth." "Sin no more" is a word for his conscience. Grace does not ignore the requirements of God’s holiness. The apostle Paul told the Corinthians, "Awake to righteousness, and sin not" (1 Corinthians 15:34) this is still the standard set before us. "Lest a worse thing come to you" reminds us that the believer is still subject to the authority of God. "Whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7) is addressed to believers, not unbelievers. If we sin, we shall suffer chastisement.
After meeting Jesus in the temple, the man “went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well” (v. 15). He probably intended this to bring honor to Jesus and the benefit of the Jews, little thinking that He who had so much power and goodness could have any enemies. Here is evidence that the followers of Jesus must have the “wisdom of the serpents” and must not cast pearls before swine, “For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath” (v. 17). See, how absurd and unreasonable their enmity to Jesus was, because He had made a poor sick man well, they persecuted Him, because He did good in Israel, they persecuted Him. See how bloody and cruel they were, nothing less than His blood, His life, would satisfy them. See how they covered up their evil, zeal for the honor of the Sabbath. “Because He was doing these things on the Sabbath” as if that rendered Him obnoxious whose deeds were otherwise most meritorious. Thus, hypocrites often cover their real enmity against the power of godliness with a pretended zeal for the form of it.
In verse 17 we have Jesus’ defense against the charge of breaking the law, He answered them “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.” The example of God resting on the seventh day from all His work is the foundation of the fourth commandment. What Jesus is telling us is, on the seventh day God rested only from such work as He had done the six days before. Having finished His creative work God, is working every day, Sabbath days and week-days, upholding and governing all the creatures and the movement of nature, therefore, when we are commanded to rest on the Sabbath day, yet we are not restrained from doing that which has a direct tendency to bring glory to God, as the man carrying his bed did. Jesus tells His persecutors what they consider heresy, He compares His work with and part of the work God is now doing. This sets what He does above all exception; He that is doing the work of the Father is not under the authority of man or the powers of nature.
Jesus’ defense made matters worse because in the eyes of the Jews, Jesus was not only a lawbreaker He was “Making Himself equal with God” (v. 18). What was happening two thousand years ago is still happening, those that will not be enlightened by the word of Jesus are enraged and provoked by it, and nothing disturbs or upsets the enemies of Jesus more than asserting His authority (Psalm 2:3-5).
The enemies of Jesus pretended a zeal for the law and now they pretend a zeal for the honor of God and they charge Jesus a heinous crime that he made Him worthy of death. He had said that He worked with His Father, by the same authority and power, and hereby He made Himself equal with God. However, it was an unjust charge that he equaled himself with God, for He was and is God, equal with the Father (Philippians 2:6) and therefore Jesus in answering this charge, makes His claim and proves that He is equal with God in power and glory by the miracle He performed. |
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