John 5:1-9
Band Aids
As you know there is a lot of kids that live in my house.
Loud, active vibrant kids. I love it and would not have it any other way.
However, with so many young kids there’s also the occasional scrap and/or cut.
We have our fair share of band-aids. We have the fun band-aids as well
spiderman, star wars, paw patrol and those are just for me! The kids have some
as well. What do we use band aids for? To help with temporary minor wounds.
Band Aids are a temporary solution for a temporary problem. In fact, by definition, band-aid is a
makeshift or temporary solution. Keep that in the back of your mind for
tonight’s message entitled “Band-aids.”
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, which is
called in Hebrew, [a]Bethesda,
having five porches.
Jesus has been doing
ministry for a while. In Judea, then Samaria, then Galilee where we saw the son
healed from a distance. His ministry and his fame has been growing with each
miracle and with each sermon. Jesus now heads back to Jerusalem for a feast.
Passover, Purim and Pentecost were the three main feasts that required
attendance. We don’t know what feast specifically, but the popular guess is
Passover.
Jesus is at a pool named
Bethesda, meaning house of mercy, near the
Sheep Gate on the northern side of the temple. This area has been used
in the past to call into question the reliability of the Bible and the Gospel
of John in particular. Yet, in the early 1900s this area was rediscovered by
archaeologists exactly how and where John described it. Whenever we can travel
safely again you can go see this yourself on a tour of the Holy Land.
3 In
these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, [b]paralyzed, [c]waiting
for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went
down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever
stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever
disease he had.
Jesus gets there and
there is a great multiple of sick people with various illnesses. They were all
there in hopes of being healed. Verse 4 is a source of much debate in
seminaries as to whether it should be in the gospel of John at all. That
however is a discussion for another time. The popular belief was that an Angel
stirred up the water occasionally and the first person to get into the water,
with the proper faith, was healed.
Did an Angel actually do
this? Or was this just a common belief to explain away a natural occurrence
like a hot spring? Were these people legitimately healed or was it more of a
placebo effect. We have seen repeatedly this year that our opinions are easily
swayed by things we want to hear vs. actual documented facts. I know that
statement upset some of you just now. I would like to point out to those of you
that as of this recording Benny Hinn, “faith healer” has a net worth of
somewhere between 60-70 million dollars.
If there were people
genuinely healed by the waters of the Pool of Bethesda, it was one of many
unusual occasions healing in the Bible.
· Some were healed by a
purified pot of stew (2 Kings 4:38-41)
· Naaman was healed by
washing in the Jordan River (2 Kings 5:10-14)
· One was healed by
touching the bones of Elisha (2 Kings 13:20-21)
· Some were healed when
the shadow of Peter fell upon them (Acts 5:14-16)
· Some were healed when
Paul’s handkerchiefs were laid upon them (Acts 19:11-12)
God can and does do
things in unexpected ways. God will do what God will do. The one thing God will
not do is contradict Himself.
5 Now a
certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When
Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that
condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you
want to be made well?”
I read this and I just
have so many questions. How many people were there? How long had they been
sick? What were they sick with? Why did Jesus pick this particular man? There’s
nothing in the text that implies that Jesus healed anyone else. He could have.
We know He could have. Yet, He doesn’t. He picks this one man. Why? If you were
had a terminal illness or disability and you thought your only hope was to be
the first in the pool once it was stirred up where would your attention be? On
the water! You don’t want to the make the mistake of looking away and missing
out do you!
This man takes a moment
to look at and respond to Jesus. Spurgeon said “A blindness had come over these
people at the pool; there they were, and there was Christ, who could heal them,
but not a single one of them sought him. Their eyes were fixed on the water,
expecting it to be troubled; they were so taken up with their own chosen way
that the true way was neglected.” (Spurgeon)
Spurgeon pictured the
multitude waiting around the waters of the Pool of Bethesda, all of them
waiting – instead of looking to Jesus. How foolish this was of the, how foolish
this is for us as well. What are you waiting for? I know plenty of you are. A
more convenient season? Dreams and Visions? Signs and wonders? Revival? Another
job? Better weather? A specific feeling? Oprah? Ellen? The president &
government officials? There is always going to be an excuse to not do what God
has called you to do.
Jesus knows this man. He
knows this man’s heart. He knows that this man wishes to be made well. He longs
to be healed yet in 38 years that has yet to happen. Imagine the disappointment as month after
month, year after year. Everyone makes it into he pool before him. He has
pleaded, begged and bribed yet no one helps him. Does he want to be made well? Of
course, he does! He holds out hope that this time, someone will get him into
the water first.
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.”
You would think after 38 years someone would have helped him with
this, like taking a number or a line system. In 2011 I went to Boston with some
friends for a convention and we stayed with my cousin James. One night after
dinner he took us to this place called Mike’s Pastries. He warned us, “There
are no lines it’s first come first served. Walk up, place your money on the
counter and speak clearly what you want.” I thought he was pulling our legs at
first. After I watched a couple of people get there order that way while other
people were trying to figure out a line I walked up right up and said “Two cannoli’s”
and put my 20 on the counter! I got my food, and it was delicious.
The more people that want something, the less likely an orderly
line is going to form for it. This man desperately wanted to get well, and this
man had hope that he could be made well, yet his hope was misplaced.
A lot of us in 2020 desperately want our lives and country to get
better! We also have hope that things can get better. Yet our hope is placed in
the wrong things.
8 Jesus
said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And
immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.
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