(This is the fourth in a blog post series highlighting the seven signs of the Gospel of John. You can read the each of the three previous blog posts by clicking the following links: Introduction To The 7 Signs Of The Gospel Of John, Sign 1: Water Turned To Wine, Sign 2: Healing Of The Son Near Death)
THIRD SIGN: HEALING OF THE LAME MAN AT THE POOL
Today we are considering the third sign of the Gospel of John, the healing of the lame man at the pool.
The text is found in John 5:1-17.
It reads:
1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.
3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.
(John 5:3 Some manuscripts insert, wholly or in part, waiting for the moving of the water; 4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and stirred the water: whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had)
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?”
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.
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.”
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13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.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.
17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
EXEGETING THE TEXT: JOHN 5:1-17
To begin with and as an introduction to exegeting the text, I would like to comment on how 2 Thessalonians 2:9 speaks of Antichrist who comes “with all power and false signs and wonders” and how this will be happening prior to the second coming of Christ.
This Antichrist will deceive the people of the earth who refuse to love the truth and so be saved.
Jesus speaks of this also in Matthew 24:24 saying, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.”
The point is that we ought not to be looking for signs and wonders apart from the signs that the Scriptures afford us that Christ did as evidence of His Messiahship.
If we look to other signs and wonders, we will only be deceived and run the risk of losing our salvation.
And so now we turn to an exegesis of the story and text of the healing of the lame man at the pool.
We pick it up in v. 1-3a where Jesus travels to Jerusalem for what may be the Feast of Booths (commemorating the Israelites escape from Egypt under Moses) or the Feast of the New Year (Rosh Hashanah).
Christ visits the pools at Bethesda (there were two) near the Sheep Gate where sheep were washed before entering the sanctuary.
Bethesda means “house of grace” or “house of mercy.”
And at the pools under the columns were gathered many who were disabled.
In v. 3b-4 (which are missing from the English Standard Version) we learn of the myth (Greek cultic belief) about miracles (signs, wonders) which drew the disabled to the pools.
Among the disabled at the pools was a man who was lame for 38 years.
Jesus sees the man, knows the length of his condition, and then asks a question to get his attention.
Note the man doesn’t answer Jesus’ question.
He may think that Jesus can help him to reach the pool in time to be healed.
Without missing a beat, Jesus commands the man’s healing in v. 8.
And immediately the man is healed, picks up his bed and walks in v. 9 in response to Christ’s command.
This all takes place on the Sabbath.
The man’s “bed” (ESV) or “pallet” (NASB) was a mat or pad that could be rolled up and carried.”
And the Jews take the man carrying his bed as a violation of Sabbath law. (v. 10) No work was to be done including carrying burdens from one domain to another. (Cf Ex. 31:12-17)
Necessary works, however, were not forbidden.
God desires mercy, not sacrifice. To show mercy on the Sabbath is keeping the Sabbath.
How is it possible that the Jews did not rejoice at the man’s healing? (v. 10)
(John 5:10 The Greek word Ioudaioi refers specifically here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, who opposed Jesus in that time; also verses 15, 16, 18)
The man is healed without knowing who Jesus was. (v. 11-13)
This completely blows out of the water so-called faith preachers that say you must have faith to be healed or the reason you aren’t healed is due to a lack of faith.
The story closes in v. 14-17 with Jesus finding the man, admonishing him not to sin anymore lest something worse happen to him, which allows for the man to tell the Jews that it was Jesus who healed him.
And so the opposition to Christ grows since the Jews hold that He is breaking the Sabbath by healing people on that day.
And so we have the third sign of the Gospel of John.
And it’s purpose along with all the other six signs of the Gospel of John the Apostle gives us himself:
They are written so that you (the reader) may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31)
(Watch for the next installment of the 7 Signs Of The Gospel Of John Series to come soon.)
(The Pool Of Bethesda via wikipedia)
About Pastor Mike
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