“Do you wish to get well?”

John 5:1-23 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

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.”

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.

There are mysteries in scripture, things we cannot fully understand or comprehend. In today’s text it describes the scene at the pool of Bethesda:     In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters      There are places in scripture, accounts which speak of healing such as in Matthew 4:23-24, where it says:   Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.       If Jesus was/is capable of healing all diseases, everyone, why didn’t he? Why doesn’t He? The answer is in part revealed by Jesus answer to the Jews who were persecuting Him:    “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.  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.  For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.      God the Father is sovereign. We cannot fully understand all that He is or all that He does. Jesus did and does what the Father is doing, the Father and the Son are in complete agreement and unity.

Perhaps in the case of this man in today’s text, he was chosen for this encounter with Christ because he, among all of the multitude there at the pool that day had no other hope. He had suffered from his condition for 38 years and he knew that he could not receive his healing through the stirred waters of the pool. He was incapable of doing what was necessary for his healing. He was without hope, yet that day the hope of the world found him. That’s what Jesus does, He says: “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10) Jesus seeks after those who don’t fit in and conform to the regulations and the philosophies of man. Jesus is hope for the hopeless, love for the unlovely, healing for those whom the methods of man have failed. Certainly that doesn’t mean we should not seek medical help from doctors. It only means that we should understand that the doctors cannot over rule or over ride the sovereignty of God. He is first and foremost the one who heals. He has the final say, we should always seek His opinion above the opinion of man.

In today’s text, even after the man had been healed, after he had his encounter with Christ and the kingdom of heaven the religious Jews tried to make him again fit into and align with the rules and regulations of men.    …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…    Jesus though, had a different view and a different answer and exhortation for the man. Jesus said:    “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.”    Even after he had received his healing from God, even after he had had his encounter with the kingdom of heaven, Jesus warned him that there are consequences to sin. Jesus often equated forgiveness of sin with healing. Luke 5:23-24 is one of those examples:    “ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?  But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—“I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.”    This doesn’t mean that if we are not healed we are not forgiven. It does on the other hand though mean that just as Jesus warned this man, because we are forgiven, we should not continue in sin. There are consequences to sin.

Even as in today’s text when the man had an encounter with the kingdom of heaven, the realities of heaven were manifested here on earth in his body, even then in the presence of the kingdom of heaven there are consequences for sin. Jesus says: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”(John 10:10)   In order to live the abundant life Jesus came to give we must choose to walk with Jesus and hear His word to the healed man: “do not sin anymore”     We don’t need to adhere to the rules and the regulations of man. We don’t need to fit into a religious box, but if we would continue to live in the presence of the kingdom of heaven we must choose to not sin any more. Living free from sin may seem impossible, it may seem hopeless. Jesus is hope for the hopeless. When we fail we must turn again to the cross and have an encounter with the one who saves, forgives and heals.

Even in the presence of the kingdom of heaven there are consequences of sin. We must choose the abundance of Christ or the lies of the thief. In Revelation 21:1-8 it says:     Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them  and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”      When God dwells among us and we abide in Him the power and the curse of sin is removed.          And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”  Then He said to me, “It is done.     Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished”      I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.  He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.  But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Jesus is hope for the hopeless. Our first hope, our last hope, our only true hope.

Thank You heavenly Father; Lord Jesus Christ my Savior for the finished work of the cross. Thank You that through the cross I can live in the kingdom of heaven. Holy Spirit I yield to You. I choose to live the abundant life in Christ. By the power of the cross I choose to sin no more.   Amen