Whatever the Father does...

John 5:1-23 (NASB)

The Healing at Bethesda

5 After these things 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 Bethesda, having five porticoes. 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. 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?” 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.” ⁸ Jesus *said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” ⁹ Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.

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.” 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. 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. ¹⁶ For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”

Jesus’ Equality with God

¹⁸ For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

¹⁹ Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. ²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. ²² For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

A few days ago when we looked at the account of the Samaritan woman at the well we saw the divine appointment of God. We saw how Jesus and the Father were intentional about their plans and purposes to have an encounter with that woman that day. In today's text we also see this aspect of divine appointments, encounters with Jesus Christ, ordained and orchestrated by God the Father.

The text says:   Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes.  In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters;  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.

I don't know the history of this pool, if there actually were miraculous healings that happened there or not. What we are told though is that there were a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame and withered gathered there. So either there really was some miraculous power or it was a place of hope for the hopeless.

That's the impression I have of this man who has an encounter with Jesus. The text says he had been ill for thirty eight years. I am sure in that time he had tried other things seeking his healing. He probably tried everything medically known to man. Much like the woman from the account in Mark 5:25-27

A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, 26and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse-- 27after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak.… 

The man in today's account had been suffered this crippling infirmity for thirty eight years. It seems he was truly hopeless since he was there by this pool seeking a mystical healing even though he says:  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.”

Here is the part of today's text that is both amazing and yet can be hard for us to understand and accept when we see and experience it personally. The text tells us that multitudes of people gathered at this pool hoping for a miracle. Yet we see Jesus go specifically to this one desperate, hopeless man. In verse 19 Jesus gives us some explanation of His actions.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.

As hard as it can be to understand and accept, God is sovereign. He orchestrates and ordains encounters with Jesus for specific people at specific times. In many of the accounts of Jesus miraculous healing works scripture says things like, He healed all who were sick. This can cause us to feel like we are doing something wrong when we don't see the results we hope for and expect. In today's text there was a multitude of people who has various sicknesses and infirmities. Jesus was led by the Father to this divine appointment, a life changing encounter with Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals.

When we pray for healing for ourselves or others and we don't see the results we hope for and expect it can cause us to question why the multitude was left lying by the pool that day and this one man was given the revelation of Christ as healer. I personally so believe in the power of God to heal that I struggle with why we don't see favorable results more often. I believe with everything in me that God can heal every person of any sickness, disease or infirmity. Yet many will not be healed.

I believe the key for us is to yield to the Holy Spirit. In John 16:13 Jesus says:       But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.          The Spirit will guide us so that we like Jesus can see and do what the Father is doing. Does that mean we shouldn't pray for people unless the Father has revealed His plans for that person to us? Of course not. When we don't have the revelation of God's will, by the Spirit, we simply pray according to His Word, which is the revelation of His will we do have. We claim the promises of His Word in scripture. We ask the His will would be done here on earth as it is in heaven. 

Through Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross, by the power of the resurrection, every need of every man is already complete in heaven. There in the heavenly realm all who are in Chist are redeemed and restored. The man in today's text was healed both as a path to his personal salvation and also as a testimony to others.

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

We need to seek the Father, to be in His presence so that we know His will and what He is doing. In today's text Jesus says:     For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.      In John 14:12-14 Jesus says this speaking of our future empowered by the Holy Spirit in sync with the will of God:

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. 

The results are up to God alone. After all He is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals. Our responsibility is to align with The will of the Father, to see and know what He is doing, to be willing if He leads us, to ask as Jesus did; “Do you wish to get well?” We need the courage and the confidence in God the Father and Jesus to say to those whom the Father leads us:  "Pick up your pallet and walk.” Blind eyes and deaf ears be opened, even the dead be raised.

God is able. Jesus said we would see and do greater works. The results are in God's hands alone. He is sovereign. We need to join Him in His work and His will. We need to focus on the one He leads us to even though there may be a multitude around us.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.  Amen