Strength in the Lord - John 5:1-9a
In case you’re wondering, this portion of the book of John is often referred to as “the book of signs.” And you can probably tell why. This portion of the gospel of John documents miracle after miracle after miracle.
These verses deal with another one of Jesus’ miracles and there will be more!
But it’s important to always remember that Jesus never healed for the sake of healing. It served two purposes: first it demonstrated that he was the Son of God and had divine authority over the natural realm. And second, it points to the fact that we’re all sick with sin and are in desperate need of spiritual healing.
Last week, the official sought out Jesus as a last ditch effort to save his son’s life. Jesus healed the official’s son from a distance. He thought that only his son needed healing, but learned he needed to be healed spiritually because his soul was sick with sin.
He went to Jesus hoping his son would be healed, but he was healed spiritually in the process as well.
Obviously, there are similarities between last week’s passage and this week’s passage. There are both healings. They were both sick and infirmed. Both are sad, heartbreaking situations. But that’s really where the similarities end.
Probably one of the biggest differences between last week’s passage and today’s passage is that the lame man didn’t seek Jesus out. He was simply minding his own business, never expecting to be healed.
This passage is a glorious reminder that we’re all helpless, weak, and needy, apart from the Lord. As we’ll see in this passage, situational helplessness and misplaced hope sets the stage for merciful divine intervention.
Jesus makes this point in John 15. He says, “I am the vine, you are the branches… and apart from me you can do nothing.”
Do you believe that?
Are you keenly aware that apart from Christ is spiritual death. Our natural spiritual condition is far worse than this man’s physical condition.
So we’ll be looking at the second half of this passage next week. This week, we’ll be looking at the actual healing in verses 1-9a, and then next week, we’ll be looking at the fallout of Jesus healing the lame man on the Sabbath.
Situational Helplessness (vv. 1-5)
Let’s look at verses 1-5.
Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem during one of the Jewish feasts. There’s some debate over which feast John is referring to here, but it really doesn’t matter.
Jesus then ends up at the pool at the Sheep Gate in Bethesda. And interestingly, Bethesda means “House of Mercy.” And we learn in verse 2, that within this impressive structure there was a “multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.”
John does a great job of painting this incredibly ironic scene. Because within this beautiful structure, in a place called the “House of Mercy” were a “multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.”
It certainly seems that the people in the “House of Mercy” had not received much mercy in life. It seems that most of these people had experienced everything in life but mercy. In fact, something like the “House of Hardship” would make more sense.
These are all the people that have gotten the short end of the stick in life. The people lying around in this place had been hit with the greatest hardships that life can throw at you.
But it’s also incredibly ironic because lavish mercy was about to be poured out in an incredible way.
It’s important that we pause right here for a second and notice where Jesus deliberately chose to go. He doesn’t go to the place where all the important people hang out. He goes to, for lack of a better way of describing it, he goes to the homeless camp. It’s probably one of the nastiest places in Jerusalem.
And Jesus goes out of his way to visit this place. It really provides another angle to his words, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
There are several of these homeless camps in Roanoke. There’s a pretty well established one out there near the airport. As far as I can tell, there are dozens of homeless people that have made the little patch of grass between the airport and Sam’s Club their permanent residence.
I imagine the pool at the Sheep Gate in Bethesda to be similar to a homeless camp but only much worse. I’m not an expert on homelessness, but I’d expect that most homeless people either have a serious addiction or some sort of mental health struggle.
The pool at the Sheep Gate in Bethesda is worse because what’s keeping everyone there isn’t an addiction or mental health, rather the reason the people were camping there was because of their physical handicaps. People can overcome their addictions and mental health struggles with therapy and medication. But how do you overcome physical handicaps in the ancient world? It’s incredibly sad to think about isn’t it?
What makes this picture so sad is the thing that’s keeping these folks there is something they likely had no control over. They were born handicapped or had some sort of traumatic experience. That’s why John gives us additional information in verse 5, “One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.”
That’s probably longer than the average life expectancy at that time. He was an invalid at the pool longer than Jesus’ earthly ministry to put things into perspective for you.
It’s unclear if he was born disabled or if he was disabled for a portion of his life. But regardless, thirty-eight years is an extremely long time.
The whole situation is totally helpless.
Doesn’t this mirror the spiritual condition of a life apart from Christ? Broken, sad, and desperate?
We receive a steady stream of information packed with ways to improve your life, but they’re almost always Christless.
I googled, “how to be happy” just to see what kind of results I would get. One of the top results came from healthline.com. Healthline.com has twenty-seven ways to be happy but I’m only going to give you their top ten suggestions.
Smile more.
Exercise.
Get plenty of sleep.
Eat with mood in mind. [Foods affect our moods, so certain foods will make you happy, I guess.]
Practice gratitude.
Give a compliment.
Breathe deeply.
Acknowledge the unhappy moments.
Keep a journal.
Face stress head-on.
It’s incredibly weak and superficial.
Just imagine with me for a second, going up to the paralyzed man in our passage and saying to him, “hey buddy, you should really try smiling more.” Or, “hey friend, you don’t look like you’ve been eating with mood in mind.”
It’s absurd.
And you know, there are helpless and hurting people all around us. Again, imagine going to Lewis Gale or Roanoke Memorial and walking up to someone who’s been diagnosed with terminal cancer and asking him or her if they’ve, “acknowledged the unhappy moments?”
And yet, this is the useless advice we all consume daily. And sadder still, this is the best advice the world has to offer. It’s at the top of google for a reason. People click on this stuff. And it’s helpless because it’s Christless.
We need words that we can stake our lives on.
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” (1 Peter 5:10)
That’s the message of hope that you and I must speak into those helpless situations. The glorious message of the gospel is that in Christ, there is an end in pain, sorrow, and heartache. The Lord will make all things new.
Eternity is a long time and all of our stories are really just beginning.
Misplaced Hope (vv. 6-7)
What’s so sad is that people really think that articles on the internet, likes on social media, or partying with their friends is what will give their life meaning. Their hope is in the advice of strangers and affirmation from people that don’t care about them.
Because we’re naturally hungry for answers and we all want somewhere to put our hope. Is it really that different from people sitting around a pool hoping that its waters will heal them?
This is exactly that the paralytic told Jesus in verses 6 and 7.
Jesus asks him a very straightforward question: “Do you want to be healed?” How would you expect the man to respond? “Yes! Can you please help me?”
But rather than expressing a desire to be healed, he explains the superstition of the pool. He tells Jesus, “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.”
The pool was believed to have some sort of healing powers. Apparently, when the water would stir up (perhaps it was some sort of spring) it was thought that the first person into the water would be healed.
Obviously, a paralytic would be at a severe disadvantage if the pool rules were “first come first healed.”
I hope it’s clear to all of you how ridiculous this whole thing is! I know a lot of people think that salt water has healing properties. Maybe it clears up some eczema or heals up a wound a little faster or something like that - but hopefully none of you think there’s a body of water out there that will heal someone that’s been paralyzed or worse, restore your youth.
If you think that, I have some snake oil at my house that I want to sell you! We might chuckle at that because it sounds so ignorant to us doesn’t it?
Just as we should give hope to those living in helpless situations, we should give real hope to those searching for it in the wrong places.
Not only was the paralytic’s situation very depressing and sad, he was hoping that the waters of the pool would heal his paralysis.
Again, this is not as naive and silly as we might initially think.
There’s a baptist pastor by the name of Justin Peters. And he was born with cerebral palsy and is wheelchair bound.
He has a powerful testimony, and a major part of his testimony was how he went to prosperity gospel events in hopes of having his cerebral palsy healed. Prosperity gospel events are often characterized by fake miraculous healings. And their supposed “healings” are nothing more than lies and sleight of hand tricks.
But one of the most compelling parts of his story is that in his experience, prosperity preachers would deliberately avoid him because there is no trickery that one can perform to heal a clearly handicapped man.
And they have these subjective excuses for why people aren’t healed that consist of not having “enough faith” or “reaping and sowing.” You haven’t sowed enough money into their ministry which could prevent a healing as well.
It wasn’t until Justin Peters began to study the Scriptures for himself and was truly converted that he saw how they preached a false gospel and deliberately distorted the word of God.
And the prosperity gospel isn’t a gospel at all - because they’re trading the good news of Jesus Christ for hope in improving circumstances.
It’s hope misplaced. It’s no different than expecting a pool to heal you. The gospel of Jesus Christ transcends your immediate circumstances. And hope in something other than Christ isn’t really hope anyway.
Divine Intervention (vv. 8-9a)
You probably noticed this, but the paralytic didn’t expect Jesus to heal him. It’s also interesting because Jesus doesn’t talk about the man’s faith or anything. And there’s no conversation about the ineffectiveness of the waters. Jesus just heals the man.
Ironically too, the guy can’t get anything right either. He doesn’t even answer the question “do you want to be healed?” correctly!
He’s his own worst enemy and yet, Christ mercifully heals him. Jesus simply commands him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”
What did this man do to be healed? The obvious answer is, he didn’t do anything. And that’s the point. What we see here is the incredible grace of God. The Lord just pours out his grace on this paralyzed man.
To be fair, I do believe Jesus healed the man at least in part to set up the debate with the Jews over the Sabbath - which we’ll look at next week. But regardless, Jesus isn’t obligated to heal anyone. No one is entitled to the grace and mercy of the Lord, and if we were, it would no longer be grace and mercy would it? It would be us getting what we rightly deserve.
But that’s not how God’s grace works is it? The fact that it’s unearned and undeserved is what makes it gracious.
If you’re familiar with this passage at all, one of the really fascinating aspects of it is that the healed paralytic man doesn’t seem that grateful.
He gets healed, stands up and goes about his business. He doesn’t appear to be born again. Which again, draws a stark contrast between this passage and the one from last week. If you remember, the official and his household got saved. Why would Jesus heal someone that wouldn’t appreciate it?
This raises a profoundly important question: does God have the right to be merciful upon those that fail to recognize his mercy in their life?
To say it more plainly, does God have the right to be merciful to people that aren’t believers?
We’ve all wrestled with this question at some point. Doesn’t it seem like all the wealthy, powerful elites around the world are unbelievers?
There’s a real temptation to say, it’s not fair for God to pour out his mercy on people that don’t appreciate it!
The word of God answers this question for us in Romans 2: “... do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”
God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. This helps us understand how Jesus can say in Matthew, “[The Lord] makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Is this not a glorious reminder of common grace? All of the good things in life that everyone experiences comes from the gracious hand of the Lord.
You see if you have a good family, work a good job, and have gotten what you wanted out of life - whether or not you realize it, that’s the grace of God in your life.
Every good thing in life comes directly from the hand of God. God has every right to show grace upon people that don’t deserve it.
Isn’t that what we fundamentally believe about salvation? That we’re all sinners. We all fall short of the glory of God and yet, God in his sovereign grace has rescued us from sin and hell?
We’re all spiritually helpless, weak, and needy and in desperate need of the Lord’s grace. If this is our starting point then there’s absolutely no room for any sense of entitlement. We certainly have no room to say that we got what we deserve or that someone else received something they didn’t deserve.
The Lord’s grace and mercy that you and I have received is the same grace and mercy that we should pray for others receive.
We can’t look out at the world and say, “they got something they didn’t deserve.” Rather, we should say, “I can see God’s grace in your life. I hope that you give him the praise, honor, and glory that he deserves.”
May we all recognize God’s grace in our lives with humble thanksgiving. Amen.
