FRIDAY 01 September 2023 “He Touched Me!” (John 5 Bethesda)

We find the story in John 5. Without any explanation, John reports that Jesus started chatting with one of those cripples. John writes: “One who was there had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for such a long time, Jesus asked the man, ‘Do you want to get well’? (John 5:1-6) Now put yourself in that scene my friends. Look at all the people, dozens of them, lying around under the awnings protecting them from the sun, and often dipping their lamb limbs into the cool water. Why are they here?

There was evidently a superstition that occasionally the water in one or more of these pools would miraculously be stirred and whichever person got into the water immediately after that occurrence would be healed! The Bible gives us no record of such a healing actually happening, but we all know how powerful belief can be, right? People will do amazing things if they have strong hope of a good result. 

For this man, it appears he had grown accustomed to spending his days here, perhaps brought here by family members. We have no idea if this man had ever seen anyone healed, nor if he really held on to any hope that someday he might experience a miracle, but at least here he was surrounded by people in much the same condition of helplessness. 

Now ponder that for a moment. Do you know anyone who feels stuck, trapped, maybe even lost in a pit of despair with no reason for any real hope that life will ever get any better for them? As you contemplate the question Jesus asked the crippled man, does it seem cruel and insensitive? “Do you want to get well?”

Archeologists and historians tell us these pools appear to be both collections pools for rainwater and a Jewish ritual bath, a ‘mikveh.’ The name of this place, “Beth Esda“ means “house of Mercy” in Aramaic, the language especially spoken by the people of the Sea of Galilee region. Apparently, cripples were brought here hoping the cool water, the shade of the awnings, the visits of friends or family, and the probably unreasonable hope, but yet a hope, that some miraculous stirring of the water would bring comfort to these cripples who had long since given up hope of any medical cure for their problem. 

The question Jesus asked was not cruel, it was one of the fundamental life questions EVERY person must answer. Why? Because we all are cripples! We are crippled by the sin nature we were born with and there is no escape, no cure! It’s a condition which separates us from God, provides fertile ground for the dark kingdom to dabble in our lives, and is a terminal condition, for there is no human cure. Only God can fix our sin problem, but the truth is many, many people prefer remaining in their sin nature rather than yielding themselves to any work of God in their lives.

We have no reason to believe this cripple had any idea who Jesus was, nor if he’d ever seen Jesus before, but to the outrageous question, this cripple simply responded: “Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I’m trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” (John 5:7)

Oh my, do you hear the despair in this man’s voice? And yet do you also hear a humble respect for Jesus who asked the hard question? I imagine Jesus looked around the pools at all the people. Perhaps there were other visitors chatting with other cripples. I imagine Jesus got down on one knee to be close, or at least bent over and extended His hand to the cripple and then made this amazing statement: “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”

Did the cripple laugh or at least snicker? Did he look away shaking his head in disbelief? Or did he look deeply into the face of Jesus and feel a ray of hope pierce his heart? Evidently something stirred inside the crippled man awakening hopeful courage like never before, and John records: “At once the man was cured of his paralysis; picked up his mat and walked!” (John 5:9)

The question Jesus asked the man, ‘do you want to be well?’ combined with the meaning of the word Bethesda, a house of mercy, and the power Jesus demonstrated in healing this man, once again provide a powerful picture of the unique HOPE available only in Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus came to earth to provide spiritual deliverance and healing to a human race deserving of God’s judgment and wrath for their sin. 

As this healed man walked through the array of cripples and mats and visitors, I have no doubt there arose an uproar of shouts and appeals for Jesus to come do for them what He had just done for this man. John gives us no further details of anything Jesus did at the pools that day, so we don’t know if Jesus spent a long time there and healed many or how Jesus responded to what must have been sudden chaos.

John only tells us that the day on which it occurred was a Sabbath and therefore Jewish religious leaders were thrown into a frenzy of frustration. Who was this healer? By what power did He heal this man crippled nearly 40 years? Why would He defile the Sabbath day by performing such a miraculous feat and then urge the crippled man to also break the Sabbath by doing the work of carrying his mat? 

John’s summary statement about this event is amazing to me: “So because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute Him. In His defense Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at work to this very day, and I too am working.’ For this reason, they tried all the more to kill Jesus; not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” (John 5:16-18)

May I ask us a challenging question? Do we sometimes do the same thing? In our frustration that we think God is not doing exactly what we want Him to do, is our response ignoring God, or resisting God, or worse, do we reject God or His Truth?

Let’s pause right here, in the rubble and ruins of what 2000 years ago was a remarkable collection of 5 covered pools around which sat many people simply waiting. Waiting for something to change in their life that would bring them hope. Look around your world. How many people do you know who are waiting for some hope, some change, some answer that could make a big difference in their life? Look in the mirror… are you waiting for hope? 

Now the very same Jesus who walked into the Pools of Bethesda area that day is alive and from His position of sovereign authority over the universe, resurrected Jesus sees your need and mine and are we ready for Him to ask us the same question today? Are we confident Jesus is more than fully capable of doing something remarkable, something amazing, something that could change the rest of our life? What are we waiting for, why not ask Him, right now, to do for us what He did for that man? 

Yes, I have found a song describes and personalizes this miracle. You’ll recognize the song, and you’ll have a chance toward the end to join in the singing and I hope it’s your story too…