Healing & Conflict (The 3rd Miracle)
Notes
Transcript
Welcome
Welcome
Morning!
Please turn your bibles to John Chapter 5
we will be in the first 16 verse this morning
hopefully if we have enough time
While you are finding your place I would like to tell you a quick story
One day a father decided to take his son to play at the local park. The boy quickly gravitated to the sandbox and found himself mesmerized by the colors and textures surrounding him. After a short time, he began digging around to see what treasures might reveal themselves to him.
As his hands plunged under the sand he discovered something rather large, and having pushed enough of the sand away, realized it was a large rock. Instantly he knew he needed to move that rock, no matter how big it was. This rock was the obstacle to his dreams of a sandbox clear of all extraneous matter.
So the boy tried as hard as he could to move the rock. He pushed and pushed and pushed, and finally he was able to get it to the edge of the sandbox. But the next step would be the hardest. How could he get it over the edge? Again the boy pushed and pushed until his energy was completely fried. The rock’s stuckness matched the boy’s feelings of the situation. Eventually he started to sob.
The boy’s father watched all this, and just when the meltdown began, the father went over to his son and began to comfort his overtaxed, dejected son.
“Why didn’t you use all the strength available to you to move the rock?” the father asked.
The boy was confused, “I did daddy, it’s just too heavy.”
“No son,” you didn’t. You didn’t ask me to help.” And at that, the father lifted the rock with a single hand and tossed it out of the sandbox.
See its easy for us to try to go at it alone. To try and navigate this world that is full of misery and darkness when we obviously do not have the power to do so
However, we serve a God that does
We serve a God that is powerful
Just like this father was in the eyes of his son
And that same God is merciful and ready and able to help
sometimes it takes us to ask
and sometimes he helps anyway
Just like the father in that story did
See a brief biblical definition of mercy is “the gift of God’s undeserved kindness and compassion.”
On a human level, mercy is the benevolent or compassionate treatment of someone suffering or in need.
Mercy is an attitude that moves us to act on behalf of the unfortunate.
And that is exactly what we will learn about this morning.
As we get yet another glimpse of Gods mercy
his power
and the Conflict that comes with it
Text
Text
John 5:1–16 “After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.” “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk. Now that day was the Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.” He replied, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your ma…”
Introduction
Introduction
This part that we just read is actually the beginiing of a new
portion i guess we could say of the book of John
a new section if you will
In Chapters 1 we got an introduction to the entire book
in fact we spent I believe 4 weeks just on the prologue
and introducing Christ as seen through Johns eyes
Last week we concluded chapter 2-4
which showed Jesus’ initial ministry in both Judea
the area around Jerusalem
and Galilee
we learned how Jesus and us
are to spread the gospel
and this message of hope to entire world
Now, one thing we saw in those initial chapters was that Jesus was not yet being
persecuted
we saw some pressure
we saw some curiosity
but no persecution
only, curiosity
right, the people
generally the Jews
were interested in his miracles
his signs and his wonders
because that did not play against their “religion”
His miracles didn't impede on their way of life
Much like we see today right
Where everyone is fine with Jesus until you find out who he really is
until you find out that he requires life change
until you figure out that it isn’t about signs and miracles
its about submission
it’s about putting away yourself
and putting on a new life in Christ
And that is exactly what the Jews did not want to do
See they had formed a legalistic foundation to their faith
based on practices and works
and now, with Christ on the scene
he is transforming the way in which we are to enter into right standing with God
right, we are to enter though mercy and grace
laws and regulations
So,
This morning, we are going to see a shift in that paradigm
A shift from curiosity
to opposition
We will also begin section in which is called the miracle - message method
explain how that works in this chapter
In which a miracle performed by Jesus will
lead way to or lay the ground work for a sermon
Our points this morning are
The Mercy of Christ
The Power of Christ
The Persecution of Christ Begins
The Mercy of Christ
The Mercy of Christ
John 5:1 “After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”
After this, is our time stamp this morning
This is Johns transition to the next teaching
See as we move from the previous section
the section which included Jesus initial ministry that started in Cana, went down to Judea, back up through
Samaria, and the back up to Cana
Some time has passed
so after those things happened
Jesus went up to to Jerusalem
Remember it was an hilly uphill climb
Now the Jewish festival is not listed
But, it must have been one of the 3 major festivals because it was one Jesus felt was worth the travel to
Now if it was the passover, we are looking at roughly a year to a year and a half difference
it it was pentacost it would have been roughly 50 days later
or it could have been the Jewish Festival or lights or tabernacles
Either way if it was intended for us to know the specific festival
John would have been specific about it
However, he is not,
so I will not dwell on it.
Instead this festival opens up a larger section that revolves around 4 of the seven festivals
I will say though, that based on other evidence there is a higher probability that
this is the pass over feast
So, Jesus headed back to Jerusalem
Now in V 2 John gets specific
John 5:2 “By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades.”
So, if were standing on the temple platform
the large grounds I could say
and if you travel to the north wall
and north east of the temple
and you walk out and down some stairs you will find a small road coming up from the kindred valley
on this corner of the temple grounds
is the sheep's gate
it is most likely called the sheep's gate because
that is where the sheep were led in for slaughter etc
now if you go across this street you will find
the place John is speaking of
So it is very close to the temple
and its very close for a reason
remember water and pools
and cleansing are very important to the Jews
especially around the temple
Also, there are a lot of them
But this one specifically
is there
and isn’t it a thing of beauty
it was found in 1888
and you know what they found when they excavated it
Five colonnades
or porches
exactly how it is described in our text this morning
anyway,
These pools were called Bethesda
and you know what that means in Hebrew?
“House of Mercy”
And it was named that
before, Jesus performed his 3rd miracle there
Verse 3 picks up with
John 5:3 “Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed.”
So we see here as our scene us set up
that Jesus has walked into a relatively crowded
place
a place filled with folks that are blind, lame, and paralyzed
Now, before we move to V5
I want to point one thing out
And that is the fact that in some of your bibles,
mostly the later versions
including mine, which I am using the CSB
the end of verse 3 and V4 is not there,
or, it is bracketed, or there is a subscript down at the bottom
Now, the reason for this is that based upon the earlier manuscripts discovered
most New Testament scholars believe that this section was added later
as a margin or something along those lines by the
scribes that were making these copies
and not only is this verse not in the earlier manuscripts but it also doesn’t fit with John’s writing style
Now, I will read it because it does add some value,
however, it is not in the original manuscripts and therefore it cannot be taken as scripture
..3b and 4 read like this - waiting for the moving of the water, because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water. Then the first one who got in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment him
So, this was mostly likely added by the scribes to show the readers why these blind, lame, and paralyzed folks were congregate in this area
They believed, based on folklore, that an angel would stir the water
and if they happened to be the first one in
they would be healed
Can you imagine putting your hope in that
that my friends is superstition
But let us not digress too much
This pool was in fact most likely fed by
an intermittent underground spring
which would bubble and thus give those laying under the covered porches hope
John 5:5 “One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years.”
It doesn’t say the exact reason for his illness
but we will soon find out that he was either extremely weak or was paralyzed
and not only that but he had been that way for
38 years
Can you imagine
what it must feel like to be lame, paralyzed,
unable to move for 38 years
I know i have had instances where I was sick
or had partial surgery or something and was down for just a few days
how it made me feel
The sense of hopelessness that comes with not even being able to take care of yourself
right
to being absolutely dependent on those around you
and to add to that hopelessness is the
helplessness we would feel along with it
Or maybe it isn’t a physical illness at all
Do you know that today 1 in 25 people have some sort of mental illness
That today drugs and pharmaceuticals are a multi billion dollar industry
And the number one mental health problem is depression
Most likely driven from our current societies
obsession with business
and popularity
or the need and want to fit in
social media telling us what we should look like
how we should act
the constant comparison to those with more
all of this can add to our sense of helplessness
maybe it was a scarred childhood
or maybe a rough marriage
or maybe a life lived that’s full of regrets
Any way you put it
many of us live with things
live with burdens
that aren’t new
that have been there
that keep festering up
and coming back trying to bring us down yet again
so much so that
see we tend to think that time produces hopelessness
surly the longer we deal with these ailments
the harder it will be to overcome them
its often thought that the longer a person has lived in sin and without Jesus
the less likely they will come to Him at an older age
I mean statistics show that we as a church should minister as much as possible to the younger ones because we know as they age it become more difficult to lead them away from the world and to Christ
But let me say that we serve a God
that is master over all things
And that same God is merciful
see, we can all probably identify with this lame, sick, paralyzed man
in one way or another
doing everything in his OWN power to heal and save himself
with no prevail
That is until a man walks in
A man that is full of the same mercy as God
that also displays the same power as God
a man that is God
which leads us to our next point
The Power of Christ
The Power of Christ
John 5:6 “When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?””
Jesus in his supernatural way knew this man had been like this a long time
Longer than Jesus had been walking the earth as flesh
this man had been putting his hope in this pool
Now why would the Lord ask this man
if he wanted to get well?
of course he wanted to get well
or he wouldn’t be at that pool day in and day out
But by asking this question Jesus assumed the mans full attention
he focused on the man’s need
offered him healing
and offered him mercy
Now instead of embracing this
healing from Jesus
the man expressed that his belief was in the pool
Verse 7 says the disabled man answered with
John 5:7 ““Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.””
Now if there was healing in this pool
Jesus could have just picked him up
and carried him to the pool
and ensured he got thrown in first
but he didn’t
in fact the man was probably hopeful of this
he probably thought that this was exactly how Jesus was going to heal him
by getting him into that pool first
but instead,
Jesus says
John 5:8–9 ““Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk. Now that day was the Sabbath
That brothers and sisters is the 3rd miracle
recorded by John
By the power of Jesus this man was healed
Instantly!
See this mans expectations for Jesus were based on
his expectations of him
They were limited to what he thought was possible
but with Jesus, all things are possible
and that is precisely why John recorded this miracle
right
I mean the very reason for Johns gospel
as written in John 20:31 “But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
See when we learned of the miracle of water into wine
(The first miracle recorded)
we learned that Jesus is the master of quality
how instantly he made the best wine one could imagine
now normally it takes wine a long time to get good right
but Jesus, produced perfect quality wine instantly
Then in the healing of the officials son last week
(the second miracle)
we learned that Jesus is the master of distance
That he had the power to heal that boy from 15 miles away
Shoot, that boy could have been 100 miles
1 hundred miles
or 1 million miles
and Jesus could have healed him
And this morning
(The 3rd miracle)
The purpose of John recording this miracle is so that we can see that Jesus is the master over time
See he is able to heal and show mercy no matter how long you have been in your current condition
no matter how far gone
no matter hopeless you feel
Jesus can bring you out of that
This man was grumpy
He did nothing of his own merit to deserve this healing
He didn’t get healed because
he gave more than expected with his tithe
he did get healed because he never missed a Wednesday night bible study
He didn’t get healed because he understood
the doctrine of justification
He got healed because HE is merciful
HE is grace full
and HE is powerful
And it is because of these attributes that HE can see
past our failures
past our sin
and can restore us
no matter our illness
whether physical, mental, or emotional
and no matter how long we have been dealing with them
Faith in Christ is the only way that we are made whole
and healed from the inside out
PAUSE
Now unfortunately
It was God’s mercy
as displayed through his power
which will lead to his persecution
and that is our final point this morning
The Persecution of Christ Begins
The Persecution of Christ Begins
John 5:9–10 Now that day was the Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.””
This man had just been healed
after 38 years of illness and disability
and the first thing the Jews said to him was
the law prohibits you from picking up your mat
Do we now understand the legalism I described this morning
see their tradition
their rules
their legalism
outweighed their compassion
Legalism isn’t a word that we find in the bible
however, it is a word used to describe a concept which is widely discussed throughout scripture
Legalism describes a position that emphasizes a system of rules or regulations, or traditions
in order to achieve salvation
and spiritual growth
and it is probably one of the biggest reasons society and some people opposes the church
See legalism is directly opposed to grace
and these Jews began to oppose and persecute Jesus because
he imposed on their religion
he didn’t fit the mold they thought a religious person should fit
he did look how they thought he should look
and he didn’t play by the rules
even though he essentially made the rules
See many legalists back then
and now
make the error that their own personal
biblical interpretations and even their own traditions outweigh that of grace
and isn’t that what the jews were doing, interpreting the scriptures in a fashion that bred legalism
and dismissed grace and compassion in the process
That is something that I pray we are able to avoid here
John 5:11–13 “He replied, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. But the man who was healed did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.”
See the Jews specific problem was that Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath
and it’s obvious Jesus did this for that very reason
to open the doors for the opportunity to provide
the message for this miracle
as we will see next week
But let us not look past the fact that this man lacked faith
while Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, and royal official all seeked out Jesus
This man did not
Jesus found him
See Christ is there
sometimes we are looking for him
and sometimes we dont even know we need him
and sometimes He finds us
John 5:14 “After this, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.””
This final verse of the morning
because we are going to go ahead and stop here
points to the fact that this man most likely did not put his faith in Christ
Even after he was healed
But Christ isn’t as concerned with physical healing as he is with spiritual healing
Remember the fact that he could heal was only
to show his authority and point to the fact he is the son of God
See Jesus’ real concern is spiritual healing
healing that saves the soul!
not just the body
not everyone whom asks or prays for physical healing will be healed
and that is according to God’s will
and sometimes not being healed is precisely his will
because while we may not understand it
sometimes the testimony and faithfulness
that comes through trials and sickness advance the kingdom just as much as a miraculous healing
And please do not even equate faith with healing
But to finish out this morning
Jesus tells the man to stop sinning
so that something worse does not happen
and what is worse than 38 years of debilitating disease?
Well, eternal seperation from God is worse
namely eternity in hell
And that is exactly what Jesus is saying here
Conclusion
Conclusion
See Jesus offers us salvation through his great mercy, grace, and power
as offered on that cross, through his burial
and with his resurrection
Should we turn to him, repent, and believe that he can save us
no matter how long we have been lacking
no matter our illness
no matter our depression
no matter our short failings
no matter our sin
Jesus can save us
and he will
BUT
should we instead turn to legalism,
should we put our own ways
our own ideas
our own passions
in front of His
then unfortunately worse things will happen
So lets humbly submit to God
and accept that free gift of grace and mercy
that only He provides
Let us Pray!