John 5:1-18: The Cure at the Pool of Bethesda

John 5:1-18:

The Cure at the Pool of Bethesda

By Dr. Hal Harless

Foundation Fellowship of Greenville, TX

August 30, 2009

I. Introduction

A. Please turn to John 5:1.

B. While you are turning.... C. S. Lewis writes:

Then comes the real shock. Among the Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time. Now let us get this clear. Among Pantheists, like the Indians, anyone might say that he was a part of God, or one with God: there would be nothing very odd about it. But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God. God, in their language, meant the Being outside of the world Who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips....

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.[1]

II. Exposition

A. Background

1. We are still in Jesus' public ministry (John 2:1-12:36a).

2. Last time, we examined the second sign in John's gospel: the healing of the royal official's son (John 4:43-54).

3. This week, we will look at the third of Jesus' signs in John's gospel: the cure of a paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda and the controversy that sparked.

B. Exposition: The third sign: the cure at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-18)

1. The context (John 5:1-5)

a. When: the feast (John 5:1)

^5:1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem (John 5:1).

1) After an indefinite amount of time, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for an unnamed feast.[2]

a) "A feast of the Jews"--In the majority text, this is "the feast of the Jews," which would probably be Passover.

b) This would have to be at least one year later since we have just had the first Passover.

c) However, the oldest texts have "a feast of the Jews."[3]

2) The three required pilgrim feasts were Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Exod 23:14-17; 34:23; Deut 16:16).

a) The feast could have been Pentecost/Shavuot (May 13-15, AD 31 or Sivan 5-7, AM 3791)[4]

b) Or Tabernacles/Sukkoth (September 17-24, AD 31 or Tishrei 14-21, AM 3792).[5]

b. Where: the pool of Bethesda (John 5:2)

² Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes (John 5:2).

1) The location of the cure was the pool of Bethesda or Bethzatha by the Sheep Gate.

a) The Sheep Gate is a small gate in the North wall of the temple mentioned in Nehemiah (Neh 3:1, 32; 12:39).[6]

b) The pool was likely used to wash the sacrificial lambs.[7]

c) Where else would we find the Lamb of God (John 1:29) than at the Sheep Gate?[8]

2) The name of the pool was Bethzatha or Bethesda.

a) The word said to be "in Hebrew" is actually in Aram.; both John and Josephus do not sharply distinguish between Heb. and Aram.[9]

b) "Bethzatha" refers to the northeastern section of Jerusalem.[10] The name may have been derived from the Aram. bêt zaytā' ("house of olives").[11]

c) The majority text has "Bethesda" (Aram. bêt Êisdā'), which means "house of mercy."[12]

d) A pool has been excavated at the Church of St. Anne that meets the description.[13] It had two trapezoidal pools with four covered colonnades and an additional colonnade to separate between the pools.[14]

c. Who: the paralyzed man (John 5:3-5)

³ In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters; ⁴ for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted. ⁵ A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years (John 5:3-5).

1) "In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters."

a) This pool was a congregating place for the sick. Apparently, it had a reputation for curative powers (see John 5:7).

i) The Gk. word translated "withered" literally means a "total loss of moisture, dry, dried up."[15]

ii) By extension, it means "shrunken or withered and therefore immobile because of disease, ... shrunken, paralyzed." It refers to limbs that have atrophied.[16]

iii) Jesus did not heal all of them; He picked only one sick man on that day.

b) The words, "waiting for the moving of the water" (KJV, NKJV), are not in the oldest texts. They were probably added as an explanation of "when the water is stirred up" in verse 7.

2) "For an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted."

a) This entire verse is not in the oldest manuscripts.

b) It was also probably added as an explanation of "when the water is stirred up" in verse 7.

c) The stirring of the water was held to lead to a cure, but the original text gave us no details.

3) "A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years."

a) That man had been sick longer than many men would live in the first century.

b) The average life expectancy in antiquity for males was forty years.[17]

c) He had been ill as long as Israel had wandered in the wilderness.

d) This man is the very picture of despair.

2. The conversation (John 5:6-9a)

a. Jesus' examination (John 5:6)

⁶ 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 wish to get well?" (John 5:6).

1) Knowing the man's condition, Jesus asked a strange question of him.

2) He asked him if he wanted to be healed.

3) We would expect an emphatic affirmative answer, and yet that is not what we see.

b. The man's rationalization (John 5:7)

⁷ The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me" (John 5:7).

1) Instead of answering in the affirmative, the man began to give Jesus excuses for his condition.

a) After all, the sick man had no responsibilities. His needs were taken care of.

b) True, his life was boring and empty, but no one placed any demands on him.

c) Perhaps, he had hoped once, but thirty-eight years of frustration had killed hope.

d) Perhaps, it simply hurt too much to hope anymore.

2) One has said, "his will was as paralyzed as his body."[18]

3) There are reasons why some do not really want to be well.

c. Jesus' command (John 5:8)

⁸ Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk" (John 5:8).

1) Jesus commanded him to do the impossible. Pastor Chuck Smith notes:

Jesus commanded this lame man to pick up his bed and walk. The man could have argued with Jesus, explaining why it was impossible for him to get up and walk. But instead he somehow found the faith to obey the impossible command from a perfect stranger.

When we will to obey what is for us an impossible command, at the moment we obey it, we will discover that God has given us the ability to obey it. If He commands us to do something, He will enable us to do it.[19]

2) The Christian life is not hard; it is impossible.

a) We only find that we can live it when, relying on His power, we step out in faith and try.

b) Then, like this man, we find that we can do the previously impossible.

d. The man's compliance (John 5:9a)

^9a Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk (John 5:9a).

1) When the man complied with Jesus' command and tried to stand, he found that he could.

2) Then as, Jesus had commanded him to do; he rolled up his sleeping pallet and walked.

3. The controversies (John 5:9b-18)

a. Working on the Sabbath (John 5:9b-17)

1) The Jewish leaders' accusation: Work is not permitted on the Sabbath (John 5:9b-10).

^9b Now it was the Sabbath on that day. ¹⁰ So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet" (John 5:9b-10).

a) The cause of the subsequent controversy was that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath.[20]

b) The Jewish authorities objected that the cured man was not allowed to carry his pallet on the Sabbath.

i) Here John uses the term "the Jews" in the sense of "the Jewish leaders."[21]

ii) Carrying things from one domain, public to private and vice versa, to another was forbidden.[22]

iii) Strangely, you were allowed to carry a bed with someone in it, but not one that was empty.[23]

iv) Intentionally violating the prohibition to carry things on the Sabbath was punishable with death by stoning.[24]

2) The cured man's answer (John 5:11-15)

a) He who healed me commanded it (John 5:11-13).

¹¹ But he answered them, "He who made me well was the one who said to me, 'Pick up your pallet and walk.'" ¹² They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Pick up your pallet and walk '?" ¹³ But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place (John 5:11-13).

i) "But he answered them, 'He who made me well was the one who said to me, "Pick up your pallet and walk."'"

(a) To avoid his own liability the man directed the blame to Jesus.

(b) In effect, he indicated that it was Jesus' fault and he was merely following orders.

ii) "They asked him, 'Who is the man who said to you, "Pick up your pallet and walk"?'"

(a) The Jewish authorities naturally want to know the healer's identity.

(b) They do not speak of Him in respectful tones, "So they asked him, 'Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?'" (NIV).

iii) "But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place."

(a) At this point, the cured man did not know the name of his healer.

(b) Jesus had "slipped away" into the crowd.

b) He who healed me was Jesus (John 5:14-15).

¹⁴ Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you." ¹⁵ The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well (John 5:14-15).

i) "Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, 'Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.'"

(a) Jesus sought out and warned the cured man to avoid sin so that something worse than his illness not happen to him.

(i) Ironside tells the story "of a little boy's answer when someone said, 'My son, have you found Jesus?' He, looking up, said, 'Why, sir, I didn't know He was lost. But I was and He found me.'"[25]

(ii) The NIV captures the Gk. grammar, "Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."[26]

(iii) Perhaps Jesus was referring to eternal judgment rather than temporal illness.[27]

(iv) There are consequences to sin.

(b) The conventional rabbinical wisdom was that "there is no death without sin, and there is no suffering without iniquity."[28]

(i) This may be the case sometimes and may have been so in this case.

(ii) However, Jesus rejected such simplistic explanations (Luke 13:1-5; John 9:1-3).

(iii) When the disciples asked Jesus concerning a blind man, "who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" (John 9:2).

(iv) Jesus replied that "it was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him" (John 9:3).

(v) Not all illness is due to sin.

ii) "The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well."

(a) The man informed the Jewish leaders that Jesus had healed him.

(i) This could be seen as a betrayal or merely incompetence.[29]

(ii) In any case, "The man went away and informed the Jewish leaders that Jesus was the one who had made him well" (NET).

(b) He was grateful on some level for the miracle, but John does not give us any hint of real faith in this man.

3) The Jewish leaders persecute Jesus for working on the Sabbath (John 5:16).

¹⁶ And this was why the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did this on the sabbath (John 5:16).

a) They viewed Him as a Sabbath-breaker.

b) The Jewish leaders' opposition has begun to harden into persecution.

4) Jesus' answer: My Father is working (John 5:17).

¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working still, and I am working" (John 5:17).

a) Jesus' reply to their charge of Sabbath-breaking was to point out that He was imitating God, His Father.

i) The Gk. word translated "answered" has legal overtones.[30]

ii) Jews might refer to God as "our Father," but not "My Father."

iii) Psalms 89 does this, but it is Messianic:

I have found David My servant;

With My holy oil I have anointed him,

With whom My hand will be established;

My arm also will strengthen him.

The enemy will not deceive him,

Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

But I shall crush his adversaries before him,

And strike those who hate him.

My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him,

And in My name his horn will be exalted.

I shall also set his hand on the sea

And his right hand on the rivers.

He will cry to Me, "You are my Father,

My God, and the rock of my salvation."

I also shall make him My firstborn,

The highest of the kings of the earth.

My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever,

And My covenant shall be confirmed to him.

So I will establish his descendants forever

And his throne as the days of heaven (Ps 89:20-29).

iv) This answer did not help! The implication of calling God, My Father, was not lost on the Jewish leaders.

b) In the rabbinical commentary on Exodus, we find that it is not possible for God to break the Sabbath:

it is related of Rabban Gamaliel, R. Joshua, R. Eliezer b. Azariah, and R. Akiba that they went to Rome and taught there: The ways of God are not as those of man, who makes a decree enjoining others to do a thing whilst he does nothing; God not being so. There happened to be a sectarian there, who accosted them as they were going out with the taunt: "Your words are only falsehood. Did you not say that God says a thing and fulfils it? Then why does He not observe the Sabbath?" They replied: "Wretch! Is not a man permitted to carry on the Sabbath in his own courtyard?" He replied: "Yes." Whereupon they said to him: "Both the higher and lower regions are the courtyard of God, as it says, The whole earth is full of His glory (Isa. VI, 3), and even if a man carries a distance of his own height, does he transgress?" The other agreed. "Then," said they, "it is written, Do not I fill heaven and earth?" (Jer. XXIII, 24).[31]

c) By working on the Sabbath, which is God's prerogative, and calling God His Father, Jesus left Himself open to the charge of blasphemy.[32]

b. Making Himself equal with God (John 5:18)

¹⁸ This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God (John 5:18).

1) Now the Jewish leaders view Jesus as not just a Sabbath-breaker, but also as a blasphemer.

a) Therefore, they are constantly seeking (Gk. present tense) to kill Him.[33]

b) Jesus was clearly "making Himself equal with God." Jesus said that seeing Him was seeing the Father (John 14:7-9).

c) Pastor Chuck Smith comments that "anyone who makes Jesus less than God doesn't understand Jesus at all."[34]

2) Instead of trying to clear up any misunderstanding, Jesus' third discourse will make the case for His deity.

II. Applications

A. Jesus

1. Is sovereign in His choice of healing.

2. Is sovereign over the Sabbath.

3. Is equal to God.

B. Us

1. There are consequences to sin including sickness, but not all illness is due to sin.

2. There are reasons why some do not really want to be well.

3. Obedient faith releases God's power to do the impossible.