The Pool of Bethesda

John 5:1-29

v.1: The “feast of the Jews” is not identified and thus John is telling us
that this sign was not something related to the particular festival. Jesus was
there for the feast, but the meaning of the feast had no bearing on the meaning
of the miracle.

v.2: The pool in question was by the sheep gate. It was called the pool of
Bethesda and was a well-known locale among the Jews of Jerusalem. It is
mentioned in the Copper Scroll of Qumran (Dead Sea Scroll) and is there
referred to as the “place of poured out water”. Archeological remains from AD
135 indicate that the Romans also sought healing at this pool after taking over
Jerusalem. The pool was most likely built over a spring and originally intended
for ritual cleansing for pilgrims headed for the Temple.

v.2: Bethesda means “place of grace”, and this is an important fact in
our study of the miracle, because it reminds us that every miracle God does is
purely grace.

v.4: This tradition is widely
questioned. Some historians point out that the stirring of the water likely had
the physical explanation of the spring bubbling up from beneath. Be that as it
may, it appears that genuine miracles occurred when the waters were stirred and
so they understood that an angel was stirring the waters. The first one in
would be healed.

v.5: The man had been an invalid
for 38 years. However, judging by v.14, this was not from birth.

v.6: “Would you like to be healed?” Jesus’ question is prompted by the
fact that the man had been there such a long time, and yet had never managed to
get into the water first. Jesus was questioning his desperation and desire to
be healed. The pool of Bethesda had covered colonnades. It was a cool, pleasant
place. To some it might have been preferable to lie here by the waters, rather
than toil away in the hot sun. Jesus will not force Himself on anyone, but will
first await our co-operation and desire for Him to work … even for such a
wonderfully life-changing miracle as this man was given … and even for the
greatest miracle of all – salvation.

v.7: “I have no-one to help me: For all of his seeming desire to be
well, this man suggested that after 38 years of trying to get into the pool
first – that was about 4000 attempts – he had never been able to get in first
… because someone else was not there for him. Notice the blame-shifting that
has been a classic human tactic since Adam first blamed Eve. If I had been sick
for 38 years I would have done some serious begging to get enough money to PAY
someone to get me into the water first!

v.8: “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk!” Notice that Jesus instruction
to the man is to do something that is impossible for him. The WORD of Jesus,
however, heals the man … and immediately (v.9) he picks up his mat and walks.
There is this unique combination of Jesus speaking a word and the man making
the effort to respond to Jesus’ command that releases an amazing miracle of
healing.

v.9b-10: The Sabbath controversy: Rather than celebrating a miracle, the
Jews in the crowd at the pool complained bitterly that the man was carrying his
mat on the Sabbath. The man had experienced the power of God but the crowd was
far more concerned about religion than about the power of God. The man had just
met God Himself in human form … but they wanted him to follow the rules in
order to meet God! The Sabbath was made for man to encounter God. He had
encountered God! They, however, did not deal in the reality, they only dealt in
the rules!

v.11-12: The man who healed me told me to do it: There are two ways to look
at this. Either this is just the man continuing in his habit of blame-shifting
… or it is a genuine case of  him
standing up to the authorities and claiming the authority of someone who MUST
have authority to be able to heal him on the Sabbath. If this man has the
authority to heal me on the Sabbath, then He must have the authority to
instruct me to break the Sabbath.

v.13-14: Jesus met him at the temple: Jesus had initially slipped away in
the excitement – not wanting to draw attention to Himself. This miracle was a
sign to the disciples and an act of compassion on a hopeless and desperate man
… so being acknowledged for it was not the point. However, when the fuss had
died down, Jesus found the man in the temple crowd and did some “follow-up”
with him. Jesus’ words to the man are: “Stop
sinning or something worse may happen to you.” Now we know that Jesus
teaches in John 9:3 that infirmity is not always a direct consequence of sin.
However, it seems that in this instance it was because Jesus implies:

a)      You were well

b)      You got sick

c)       You were made well again

d)      Now don’t sin or if you do …

e)      Something worse will happen.

We need to ponder what this says to us in terms of the “sign” of this miracle … but for the man, Jesus was
deeply so concerned to protect him from his own sinfulness that he risked
exposure by discipling the man.

v.15: “The man went away and told the Jews” – my cynical side tells me
that the man did not like being rebuked and so he went to tattle on Jesus. On
the other hand perhaps he went to tell them because he wanted them to know Who
it was that had this much authority … innocently expecting them to
acknowledge Jesus’ authority … and not realising that they would persecute
Him. Surely, he might have reasoned, they would honour a man who clearly had so
much authority.

v.16: “Because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews
persecuted Him”: The Jews did not respond as we might expect to the good
news that someone with such amazing authority was among them … and all
because He did not operate within their very narrow religious constraints. This
is an example of how they had exalted religion and ritual above reality!

The miracle as a SIGN

Figuring out what this miracle
signifies is a fairly straightforward exercise, because Jesus spells it out for
us almost word for word in the verses that follow the miracle. I am not going
to do an exhaustive study of the verses, but I would like to simply use the
passage to illustrate the deep truths that this miracle displays for us.

v.16-19: The Son lives by the Father’s Principles: As I have
said, the Pharisees and most religious Jews were most concerned with rules. The
Sabbath rule was one of the most complex. One example is the huge debate that
raged over whether a man with a wooden leg was allowed to walk on the Sabbath.
Some said no, because he was carrying the burden of his wooden leg. Others said
yes, because the leg was not a burden, it was part of his body. Jesus did not
have time for such childishness … I think for Him this was ridiculous because
He knew how far it was from God’s original intention for the Sabbath. Jesus was
not a person who lived by rules … rather he lived by principles … and not
just any principles … the Father’s principles. Jesus says that the Father is
always at work and so he is always at work. He is living by the same principles
the Father lives by.

So in this instance he lives by
the principle that the end is what
matters. The Sabbath was a means to the end of intimacy with God …  “the Sabbath was made for man and not man for
the Sabbath” … and so if something needed to be done on the Sabbath that
would not interfere with intimacy with God, it could be done. Did the man’s
healing promote or detract from intimacy with God? It obviously promoted it
because the man went straight to the temple to celebrate!

When it comes to principles,
there are also always some principles that take preference. If we look at
Jesus’ attitude towards the Sabbath, He always gave the principles of kindness
and compassion higher value than that of Sabbath observance … as he
continually healed and ministered to people’s needs on the Sabbath.

Note that His principles were
based on Who the Father is and what the Father is doing. So if the Father is
faithful, we must be faithful … if the Father is forgiving, we must be
forgiving … etc.

So here we have an amazing
turn-around. The Jews lived in a certain
way to try to get close to God … Jesus lived in intimacy with God and
therefore He behaved the way He did.

v.21 The Son gives Life

The man who had been a broken and
disabled person encountered Jesus and when his encounter with Jesus was over,
he was whole and able-bodied. This was a physical sign of what Jesus is able to
do spiritually. People who are spiritually broken come to Jesus and, having
encountered Jesus, they are spiritually whole and well … they are living the
abundance of life that Jesus came to give.

v.24 The Son gives life by His Word through our faith

Amazingly, the man hears Jesus’
command, and acts on it … and this releases his healing. This is a sign of
how salvation works too. Jesus speaks His word – the word of the gospel – and
we need to act on that word. What do we do to act on it … well we believe it
and we surrender our lives to the Lordship of Christ, living in obedience to
His Word! His Word alone is not going to do it … because He always respects
our freedom of choice. If the man had not tried to stand up in response to
Jesus’ word, he would have died next to that pool. So many of us hear the word
of Jesus calling us to follow Him, but we stay lying in our sin and shame and
refuse to take His hand and be saved!

v.22-27 Judgment is based on what we do with Jesus

This brings us to the point that
the Father has handed all judgment over to the Son. The judgment is not that
Jesus actively has to judge people … the judgment is based on what we do with
the Son. If we hear the word of Jesus and push Him away, then we are choosing
the cool, lazy Bethesda lifestyle over the fullness of life. And hordes of
people do exactly this. What we do with Jesus and how we react to Him is enough
to make plain to God whose we are and who we serve. The Son of God reveals what
is in us!

v. 28-29 Eternity depends on Jesus

The healing of the man was a sign
that confirmed the authority of Jesus. Just as this man had been in the tomb of
a broken body, so we are in spiritual tombs of death and are destined to spend
eternity right there! But Jesus is able to release us spiritually just as he
released the cripple man physically.