1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie — the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
Background information is important to the story. Without it we would not have the setting and circumstances. Since it is a feast of the Jews, it was one which most likely required all males to attend, the city would be very crowded. In addition to this, the number of people surrounding the pool were numerous. We need to get the picture in our head. I can see something like a wading pool or a decorative fountain that we see in town squares or parks. It isn’t all that large and it is a bit lower than the surrounding area. All around it are people. If you wanted to go to the pool, you would have to step over people as there probably wasn’t any clear path to it.
Early manuscripts don’t include these words including all of verse 4, [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.] They are eliminated from both the NIV and the ESV. Obviously, someone added them at a much later date. The problem with them is that they state that an angel did something that appears to be more superstition than the words of God. I believe that this is what the people believed but their belief doesn’t make it true. It explains why the people were laying there and explains the man’s response to Jesus.
It is a problem that many Christians face today. They believe in supernatural manifestations of angels and other beings that go beyond what the Bible has to say about them and their ministry. For example, the apparition of Mary to three kids in Fatima, Portugal. 30,000 people went to see her promised appearance on May 13, 1917. Then on October 13, 1930, the Catholic church endorsed the whole thing.
Coming back to Scripture, Jesus cuts through all the superstition and asks the man if he wants to be healed. This is a significant question. God has been trying to get his attention for thirty-eight years. Here is this guy not looking to God for his healing, but a superstitious stirring of the water. When we are witnessing to people, we are doing what Jesus did. Do we cut to the chase? Do you want to get saved? Of course, we have to make sure they know what they are getting saved from. But in this case Jesus is setting the guy up for something greater.
7 "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
He has no idea that this is Jesus speaking to him. He doesn’t know it is the Messiah, the second person of the Trinity. Had he known and cared, he would have turned from the water to Him. He does express his limitations and his need for help. This could be an opening for a person to turn to God, but it also reveals that his mid is far from seeing God in his situation. You can compare his response and awareness to blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52) who only heard Jesus walking past and identified him as the Son of David. He cried for help even when others tried to shut him up. He asked for his sight, but he didn’t look to superstition, but the one who could heal him. Jesus told him to go his way but instead he followed Jesus.
8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat." 11 But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'" 12 So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?" 13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
In the same way as he spoke to Bartimaeus, Jesus tells the man to pick up his mat and walk. Does he follow Jesus? No. He heads home. He doesn’t even ask Jesus who he is or thank him. This is a guy who has tasted the gift of heaven and has not one ounce of change in his life on the inside. His body is healed but his soul is still unresponsive to God. He does respond to the Jews. He blames someone else for his lapse of judgment in working on the Sabbath. He doesn’t even mention that he was healed.
The Jews (Pharisees) are ticked to see someone “working” on the Sabbath. But they are even more upset when they learn that someone had the audacity to tell him to disobey the Law.
It wasn’t hard for Jesus to slip away and he probably had his reasons other than making this a test for the invalid. Will this guy give glory to God, or will he continue in his pursuit of superstitious religion?
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Jesus identifies himself to him at the temple. What a place to do it. This is the house of the Lord. This is where the man should have come for his healing, both body and soul. Notice it is at the temple, not in the temple. If the guy had come to offer a sacrifice for his healing, it was still in his superstitious religion. Like Catholics who go to confession, get absolution then keep on doing the same old stuff day after day. There is no true repentance but only a religious observance, trusting that their works will save them.
Because the man goes away and tells the Jews it was Jesus shows that his allegiance was with the religiosity of the day and there was no desire to give God the credit. He just wanted to keep on in good graces with the established religious leaders.
Notice that Jesus tells him to stop sinning. Jesus knows his heart. Nothing has changed. What did Jesus mean that something worse would happen? If he doesn’t turn to Jesus for salvation rather than his religion or his superstition, then his fate will be hell. That’s a whole lot worse than being an invalid for thirty-eight years.
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