David Bahn – Reflections

John 5:1-18

After this 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, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. ³ In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. ⁵ One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him,“Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” ⁹ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. ¹⁰ So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me,‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”¹³ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. ¹⁴ Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. ¹⁶ And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

¹⁸ This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

How many times have you been unable to do something because there was no one around to help you? Whether it’s holding the ladder while changing a high light bulb, or gathering data for the business proposal, pulling off a particularly complex presentation, or hosting a dinner party: we all need help to some extent or another.

Recently my own mom fell while out alone. Had she not been helped by a passing motorist she would not have been able to get up! Somehow this man had been taken to the pool at the Sheep Gate. But whoever got him there would not stay and help him into the water at the opportune time. There apparently was a belief that the waters there had healing powers, but he had no one to help him get in.

When Jesus hears this he intervenes dramatically and heals the man. True to form, the concerns of the Jewish leaders at this point was that the man was violating the Sabbath by carrying his bed. But their concern goes far beyond the man’s Sabbath-breaking to Jesus himself and his own identity, for Jesus had made it clear that he was doing the work of God. Their criticism went all the way to seeking to kill Jesus because of this. But it didn’t stop Jesus from doing what his Father had called him to do.

It’s doubtful that you or I will be called on today to help someone by healing them of a disease – or even giving them access to miraculous waters. But there may be many opportunities to do the work of the Father by helping those in need. With Vacation Bible School going on back home at St. John, Cypress, dozens and dozens – well over 100 people – will be helping or have already helped to pull off this program touching the lives of nearly 600 children and their parents.

But surely there will be many opportunities to criticize others: from fellow drivers on the roadways, to fellow employees’ performance or lack of commitment, to our server’s slowness at lunch. Remember how Jesus interacted with people in need and even his critics. He sought always to do the work of God. Although he was God in the flesh, he sought to honor his heavenly Father, and to help others in need.

One final thought about all this. Jesus warns the now-healed man not to sin so that something worse does not happen to the man. His warning – based on the whole witness of Scripture – is not a “God’s gonna get you if you do a bad thing” warning. But a warning against using his new-found freedom and mobility to walk away from God and end up physically well for a time only to face eternity apart from God.