John 5:1-15
(1) After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. (2) Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. (3) In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. (4) For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. (5) And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. (6) When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? (7) The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. (8) Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. (9) And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. (10) The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. (11) He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. (12) Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? (13) And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. (14) Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. (15) The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.
A lot going on here in the passage and we will touch on a few things.
The Bible tells us that and angel came to the waters and stirred it up. Whoever got to the water 1st would be healed of any disease they may have had. Think of the miracles that are taking place even when Jesus is not present in the flesh. God’s power has no boundaries. We do not have to have this "great moment of spirituality” for God to be blessing and providing miracles us in our life. For these people by the waters it was simply staying tuned, alert and responding to God’s movement. To them, it was their only hope. Romans 15:13 says "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” Does our walk in life make us desperate to the point that God is our only Hope? Or is He our only hope when we need him.?
Jesus comes to the man and asks will you be made whole. The man comes up with the excuses (which we can say are very valid being in the state he is in), on why he is not being able to make it to the water. I think Cindy touched on this last week or the week before, he could have positioned himself closer, the Bible does say he was able to move, just not fast enough. So Jesus tells him to rise and take up his bed and walk.
I do not want to get into so much about this taking place on the sabbath and the people’s response, for we will be doing a big study on that in the future.
I want to focus on verse 14. Jesus found him in the temple and tells him that he is made whole, sin no ore, lest a worse thing will come unto you. This verse really stirs in me, especially the sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto him. Roman 3:23 says "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. But usually when Jesus tells someone that, that were already in the process of living in sin that he was addressing. So what sin was this invalid living in or lived in? I have been rapping my head around this for a few days. And then I went back, do you think maybe the man was making the excuses on why he wasn’t getting healed, he blamed everyone but himself for not being healed, all the other invalid’s hade someone to help them, he didn’t. Did he show any joy and happiness while others were healed, or was he full of envy? James 3:16 For where envying and strife is , there is confusion and every evil work. Was he living his life in self-pity? Jesus response it very harsh, sin no more or a worse thing will happen. It seems Jesus might of thought this guy was so full of nothing is my fault, it is everyone else’s fault attitude.
I can think of many excuses I have come up with for not receiving God’s grace in my life.
Examples: I did not pray today, things were just hectic here. I did not read my Bible for I was too tired. List of excuses can go on. In my opinion anything that takes us away from getting close to God can be considered sin.
Was it the man’s sin that made him an invalid? And if so what? Would live to hear your thoughts.
Note: The man never had to enter the water to be healed and made whole!
COMMENTS
[ posted by Megan, 07/02/2023 02:34 PM ]
I think I made reference to this story a week or two ago and appreciate your detailed thoughts Mike because in my mind the best route was to position himself closer, what did he have to lose? But he retreats each time. James 5:14 also ties into these principles and perhaps you're right, it's much easier for us to make excuses for why something isn't happening then to except that we could have done more of. It's much easier to receive pity than put the work in to be better.
[ posted by Cindy, 07/02/2023 09:24 PM ]