Sign 3 - Healing at the Pool (John 5:1-15)

Last Friday our speaker wasn't able to make it, so I filled in for them. I did have a week's notice, so this wasn't as last minute as that sounds. I have appreciated studying John's Gospel and seeing trends, and common ideas throughout his Gospel. I think you could spend an hour thinking about a little section of John's Gospel and not come to the end of some idea that he is playing with.

I also plan on giving an adjusted version of this talk on Tuesday at one of our old peoples' services.

Below is about what I said, give or take a few lines here and there.

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Change, good or bad?

Do you like change? When I first moved to Canberra, I was about 21 and I thought this place sucked. There was nothing to do, it was cold in winter, it was boring town. The people were nice though. Yiu see, I am someone who likes routine.

With big changes, you go from one routine or environment into something that is different. It could be good, it could be hard, it may even be worth the change, but initially, things are hard

Some of you have moved to Canberra from overseas, I know some of you have changed schools this year. It is uncomfortable. Who will you hang out with, what is life going to look like now? Where are all the things?

Tonight, you may be challenged to change, and it may be uncomfortable.

The other two signs

This is week 3. So far we have seen Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding. From this, his followers believed in Him. They saw something of the abundance that Jesus offers, they see this man is different. He can change things.

Last week we heard about how Jesus heals a nobleman’s son from a distance. The man had to take Jesus at his word, that Jesus can heal from a distance. On the way back home, the man hears the news that his kid is better and learns that Jesus is good at keeping His word.

Which brings us to this story. Where Jesus heals a guy who couldn’t walk for 38 years.

Jesus’ Question

And here, Jesus asks the guy if he wants to be better. Isn’t that a strange question? Like is it even needed? Of cause, the guy wants to be made better. He is lying next to a healing pool with the intent of getting healed. Why even ask this question?

Now, maybe some people may get used to their current lifestyle. Change will bring in new challenges. It may be better in the long run, but change is hard. To be abled body you then can’t rely on others to get you through life. You will have to be independent. But you’re thinking, so what, you can walk. You will have to work to buy food and look after yourself. After 38 years of not doing that, this would bring about a massive change of lifestyle. But, so what, you can walk. That is worth it. The change would be for the better, right?

When the sick man replies to Jesus’ crazy, almost redundant question, he answers that there is no one to help him in the pool. He can’t do it. He needs help from others. He wants to get into this pool and he can’t by himself. In his answer, he is only thinking of the current means in front of him, in how he could be made better by this special pool[1].

The pool really isn’t magical, but when you don’t have hospitals or medicine and you have been sick for so long, you get desperate and look for anything that may help. This guy was beside this pool as legend said once the water got stirred, the first person in would be healed. Of cause this may sound like a bit of a rort as obviously those who can move better can get in first. We read there are the blind, lame and paralysed, around this pool. Those guys don’t stand a chance when someone with like a sore knee or a headache show up to jump in first.

Jesus’ Command

But Jesus breaks that way of thinking, Jesus just says “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk”. Just by saying the command to the guy it immediately makes him better. Here we see the power of Jesus’ words. Just by a command, people can be saved. God Himself in Genesis[2] was able to create just by a word, and here Jesus is doing something of that calibre.

This is great. The guy can walk now. You would think everyone would be happy about this. But enter the Jewish leaders. They are not pleased because this healed man is… carrying a mat on the Sabbath! Shock. Oh no. How dare he! This man was a lawbreaker - in their eyes. How dare he carry the mat he has been lying on for 38 years. Couldn’t he have waited just one more day to do this simple task?

Now, according to the Bible, this man wasn’t breaking the law. In the 10 commandments, you were not to work on the Sabbath, but unless this guy was a furniture removalist and getting paid to move this mat on the Sabbath, then it was all good in the hood. Except the rabbis had their own definition of work, in fact, they had 39 definitions of work[3]. In one of their rules on work, on Sabbath you could carry a mat with someone on it, but not an empty one.

The Jewish leaders weren’t happy about this healing they were upset this guy was carrying a mat. In this, they missed the whole miracle. They had been studying the scriptures waiting for the messiah and looking for eternal life, but they miss the One they have been waiting for over a legal technicality (John 5:39-40).

The leaders ask the healed guy why he is being such a lawbreaker and he responds: it wasn’t my idea, someone came and healed me and told me to pick up this mat[4], I’m just doing what he says. The leaders naturally then ask who this guy is. In their mind it is one thing to be working on the Sabbath, it is another thing for someone to be going around telling people that they be lawbreakers. It would be bedlam if more people were carrying mats around on the Sabbath. Can you imagine the anarchy that would cause? They want to go to the source but get this: the healed man doesn’t even know who Jesus is. He can’t point to Him as Jesus has left the scene by now.

Jesus’ Warning

But later Jesus comes to the man and tells him to stop sinning, otherwise, something worst is going to come to him. This bit is a bit serious. Jesus tells an ex-disabled man who couldn’t walk after 38 years, that there is something worst than not walking for a lifetime. Sin is worst. Do you believe Jesus? If you were the lame man would you be like, “yes sir. I have been given these new legs, I will not use them for evil”

Instead, the healed guy’s immediate response is to dob Jesus into the Jewish rulers. Maybe it was to show the leaders that he wasn’t making his healing/mat story in the first place. He dobs on Jesus and then for the rest of chapter five (which you can read along in your devotions this week), Jesus goes on to compare himself with God and as the one the Scripters have been written about.

Jesus is challenging and changing up the Jewish leader's comfortable rule-keeping. They had a neat order to things, but Jesus is messing with what was normal and safe. They didn’t care much for the healing but instead cared about breaking their own rules on a certain day.

Jesus and us

And believe it or not, in this sign, I think we are essentially faced with the same question Jesus asked the sick man: Do you want to get well?

You may not even think you are sick. But the truth is, apart from Jesus, we are all under the curse of death. There is sin and the result of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus (Rom 6:23).

For you, is the question as obvious as it was for the sick man? Of cause the sick man wanted to walk again, what type of question was that? But what about you? Do you want eternal life? That sounds good, right? All who believe in Jesus have eternal life.

In just a few verses Jesus says:

Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life (John 5:24)

We are all going to be judged because of our sin. Those who are guilty of sin will face death, but those who believe in Jesus will not be judged they will have eternal life.

This sounds good. Would you like to be healed?

There is a cost. Not money, or works, or anything like that. This is a free gift. But there is a cost to it, it will change your whole lifestyle, as you go from death to life[5].

You are to stop sinning if you are to follow Jesus. This means a dramatic change in your lifestyle. Some things you may like doing you will have to stop. Some sin is enticing and seems quite enjoyable, but it does lead to death.

To follow Jesus you will have to give up your own comfort. It takes effort to love. You have to control your words, watch over your heart attitude towards others. You will have to go out of your way for your neighbour or friend, even when you have your own stuff going on in your life. To consider others better than yourself, as Jesus does.

And to follow Jesus your friends may think you are different and your new lifestyle may make them feel uncomfortable. They may call you names, either to your face or behind your back. You may stick out against the crowd and not get invited to things anymore.

Are you willing to face the costs? Are you willing to stop sinning, to give up your own comfort and to stand out?

Jesus asks you if you want to be made well from sin and death. We think the question he asks in the first place was a silly question, because who doesn’t want to be healed, but this is the question now, for us.

Is it a silly question? I hope some of you still say "yes". Of cause it is, you get eternal life with God. Yes the world may not like you as a follower of Jesus, it is a real battle to fight against sin in your life and it is hard to put others before yourself, to show love and kindness to others, but it is by far worth it. You get God, now and forever.

Jesus offers eternal life to all who hear his words and believe he is God. He offers to forgive all your sins, which separate you from God.

Do you want to get well?

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[1] Köstenberger, Andreas J. (2004), John (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament)

[2] I bring up creation because the sabbath and God working/resting comes up later in John 5

[3] R. C. Sproul (2009), John (St Andrew’s Expositional Commentary), Milne, Bruce (1993) The Message of John (Bible Speaks Today)

[4] R. C. Sproul (2009), John (St Andrew’s Expositional Commentary)

[5] The sentiment of this bit has been taken from J.C. Ryle’s The Cost, chapter 5 of Holiness