"Healing at the Pool: Jesus gives Life and Purpose"
Jn.5:1-27 June 22/03
Baptism & Reception of Charter Members
Heading for the Pool
This morning we get to go to a pool! On hot summer days, swimming pools are a refreshing place to go in order to escape the heat and dust. They can be relaxing and truly re-creational, in a physical sense. But that's not why we're heading there this morning. Jesus ordained baptism as one of the marks of obedience for those who would be His disciples. It's a sign that a believer is choosing to be united with the Saviour, to have our sins washed away and to receive the inner filling and refreshing of the Holy Spirit. A dive into the pool can make you feel energized and refreshed when it's hot and muggy; but Jesus offers the "living water" which renews and gives life into eternity. The account in John 5 of the healing of the lame man at another pool suggests 5 ways Jesus frees us from things that would paralyze us spiritually, and 5 aspects of what it means to be Christ-centred. You might follow along using the fingers on each hand - here we go!
Jesus Frees Us From...
1. Darkness, weakness, paralysis (5:3)
5:3 describes "a great number of disabled people" who used to lie around the Bethesda pool in Jerusalem, which was reputed to be a place where healings had occurred in the past when a natural spring bubbled up in it. John says there were "the blind, the lame, the paralyzed." In the spiritual plane, these could represent darkness, damage, and addictions in our former way of life that have a stranglehold on us, a blinding or paralyzing effect. Some of us have experienced Christ's liberation from alcohol or other addictions. For others, our families of origin hampered us by neglect, cruelty, or emotional incest. There's the darkness of occult activities, dabbling with the demonic, or twisted religious movements that ensnared us in a cult. Others were knocked to the ground by vocational failures, or the unfaithfulness of a mate. Whatever it may be, we have all experienced sin's damage at some point in our life. We've been hurt and paralysed in our spirit, whether or not we've let on -- for some, the "paralysis" is a locked heart or John Wayne "tough guy" attitude. There comes a point at which we realize we're "stuck", we can't make it on our own, our dreams wither and fade as the Enemy mocks and jibes us for supposing we could be our own gods. Jesus comes to the pool where invalids have gathered needing to be free.
2. Superstition and Competition
In vv.4 on, Jesus singles out one individual who has been lame or paralyzed for 38 years. Jesus asks a question to determine he still wants to be healed; after all, some handicapped people made a livelihood by begging, and wouldn't be wanting to lose their source of income. The man explains in v.7 that his problem is that he doesn't have a helper to put him into the pool when the water is stirred. It seems a natural spring or siphon fed the pool, and caused intermittent bubbling; the locals had a superstitious belief an angel was stirring the water, and the "first one into the pool" would be healed. One commentary notes, "No doubt many were, even without a miracle.In nervous diseases, faith is the greatest healing power."
Superstition can have a binding and crippling effect on people's lives. Some are fearful whenever there's a Friday the 13th. While it's generally common sense not to walk under a ladder, too many read extra meaning into spilled salt, and "knock on wood". Frequently you'll hear people talk wistfully of winning the lottery; unfortunately too many in our society are chronic gamblers, superstitiously ordering certain "lucky numbers" on tickets or paying a visit to the nearby slot machines. Money that could have been spent more constructively is lost to the family and the local economy. We read even of wives of former presidents who based their plans on what their astrologer said. Jesus can free us from the grip of superstition.
The other factor mentioned here is competition - somebody else always beats this poor guy into the water first. Our society runs on competition. The entertainment industry idolizes those who are good looking. Business applauds the corporation with the biggest bottom line, the number of digits in our income. Farmers park their big new tractor and cultivator up near the road so the neighbours can see their success. But sooner or later, no matter how good we are at the competition game, we'll encounter somebody else who's prettier, richer, younger, smarter, or otherwise superior in some area to us. Jesus can free us from the drivenness that's a symptom of competition.
3.Legalistic Religion
When Jesus healed the lame man, he told him to pick up his mat and walk. Phenomenal! But not everyone was impressed. V.10, "so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat." Actually, the man wasn't breaking any Old Testament law; but the religious leaders had added hundreds of interpretive by-laws, making it a very picky matter. They were legalists, intent on keeping the letter of the law while forgetting the spirit of it. Imagine - here's a guy who's been lying there begging for 38 long years. Suddenly he's completely healed, up walking around. What's the reaction? "How wonderful that you're better! Praise God!"? No - the great miracle is completely overlooked: "You can't carry that around today! Do you want to be stoned?"
Unfortunately, much of what passes for "religion" in the word is just that - man-made rules designed to make those who keep them look good, with no real spiritual or eternal value. Religious training becomes a matter of mastering a "code" of laws, with no real growth in one's heart. It's important for a Christian church to be "Bible-believing" - and many of us are here today because we sensed that was lacking elsewhere; but truth must be balanced by grace, being "Christ-centred". It's grace, not law, that is unique in Christianity. Else we'll become legalistic, judgmental, hypocritical, and generally no fun to be around. Judgment is the Spirit's job, not ours; we're to "speak the truth" but make sure it's spoken "in love". Jesus frees us from legalistic religion.
4. Self-justification
When the Jewish authorities were putting on the heat for carrying his mat on the Sabbath, the healed man replied in v.11, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'" We can understand his eagerness to excuse himself; the ultimate penalty for breaking the Sabbath was stoning. What do we do when somebody accuses us of something for which we don't feel we're responsible? Evasive tactic #1 - blame somebody else!
Our quickness to justify ourselves comes as naturally as breathing. "Oh, no, it's not MY fault!" I'm particularly bad at this - no matter how small the mistake, I've got an excuse. There's always some reason I can invent, somebody else I can blame it on. "Why so excited about the gas gauge being on empty? The warning light hasn't come on yet - there's still enough gas to get there and back.Besides, if I'd taken time to fill it last night, that would have made me even later than I already was." Oh, we're masters at self-justification. In this view, not a single person on earth needs the cross - it's always somebody else's fault!
This is why repentance is an essential part coming to believe in Jesus, why baptism is an apt symbol: when we repent we confess and "own up" to our sins, our own true responsibility, that we're not teflon-pure after all but need a Saviour to wash us morally clean. Jesus frees us from self-justification.
5. Judgment
Legalism involves judging others; Jesus also saves us from God's (deserved) judgment of us at the last. Vv.22,27: "the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ...And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man." In the divine plan, Jesus is the One best suited to judge us at the end of time, because He became a human being like you or me. One writer comments, "The Judge of men must partake of human nature Himself." Jesus shared in our flesh and blood, our sweat and tears, He experienced our temptations so He'd be qualified to be our perfect Standard as well as our Saviour. By our rejection of God and our selfish decisions to pursue less than God's glory, we had earned and chosen eternity in hell. But in v.24 Jesus promises that those who believe in Him "will not be condemned." He frees us from the threat of judgment; He is the real "Bethesda" which means "house of mercy".
"Christ-centred" means...
Those are 5 things Jesus frees us FROM; this passage also hints at 5 positives, good things we can have and enjoy when we acknowledge Him as Lord and locate ourselves "in Christ".
6.Receive LIFE - spiritual & eternal
Jesus' healing ministry was an expression in time and space of what He would like to do for all people, in their souls and in eternity. Jesus is our healing Pool, He wants to give Life to all who'll receive Him. We've mentioned the supposed curative powers of the Bethesda pool; Jesus steps up to this fellow who's been waiting for 38 years to get into this pool at the right moment, and heals him on the spot, bypassing the pool altogether! Vv.8-9, "Then Jesus said to him, 'Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.' At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked." And that was that. Who needs a pool, when you've got the Maker of the Oceans standing in front of you? In John 2, Jesus changes water into wine for a wedding banquet; John 4, He offers living water to the thirsty woman coming to the well in Samaria; John 7, He promises streams of living water would flow from within the person who believes in Him, through the Spirit; here in John 5, Jesus takes the place of the healing Pool. Baptism is a picture of a spiritual reality, becoming immersed into, bathed in the Saviour's healing power and love, belonging to and identified with Him.
Jesus offers healing for our spirits now, what He calls "eternal life" in John 17(3) in the sense of knowing the Father, "born again" from above. He is our Pool of Life; vv.24-26 allude to both the spiritual life Jesus gives now, and the everlasting life which those who put their trust in Him will experience after their physical death: "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life [already, right now] and will not be condemned [at the time of judgment, yet to come]; he has crossed over [already] from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming [then] and has now come when the dead [physically dead, then; spiritually "dead", now] will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself." So Jesus is our healing Pool, when we centre ourselves in Him, He gives Life in abundance and wholeness - now and forever. (Because He's the pool, we're the well!)
7.Avoid Sin with its Damaging Consequences
There's not a lot of point fixing something if it's just going to immediately get broken again. So Jesus not only makes believers whole, but helps us avoid sin and the damage that it causes. A while after Jesus healed the lame man, v.14 tells us Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again.Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." Similarly, He told the woman caught in adultery in Jn.8(11), "Go now and leave your life of sin."
To be a disciple means to follow the Master, to walk in obedience, copying His pattern. That involves saying "no" to other things. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth, and teach us about sin and righteousness. After we've experienced the harmful effects of sin in our former way of life, we come to appreciate the divine warning light flashing in our conscience so we can avoid making the same mistakes again. The baptismal ceremony asks, "Do you renounce the world with all its sinful pleasures...Do you renounce the works of the devil, and the authority of all spiritual principalities and powers?" To renounce is to say "no" to sin, lest "something worse" happen to us - whether this refers to disease, bondage, or final judgment. To be Christ-centred means to resist sin and its deadly toll.
8. Partner in the Father's Projects
God has much better alternatives for us. Jesus gives Life; He also gives new Purpose. In vv.17 and 19 Jesus explains that "My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I, too, am working..." The Son "can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." Jesus is saying that all He did was God-initiated; the Father invisibly showed Him what to do, step by step, and Jesus was just working alongside, partnering in the Father's projects.
The Christ-centred life becomes an adventure, because you're watching out for the next God-sized-thing the Lord'll be bringing about in your life. The Father will show you people who are hurting that you can help, perhaps because of your own wounds that He's healed. He brings exciting new things into being that you can be part of - our first 2 years have been like that. The Holy Spirit gifts and equips each member of the Body of Christ for particular ministries, tasks and talents that are unique to you - we're not meant to be carbon copies. From singing to teaching to encouraging to visiting, to helping your neighbour to making casseroles to building a youth centre - the Lord has a meaningful part for each person to play.
9. Enjoying an Affectionate Relationship with the Father
"Christ-centred" doesn't just involve DOing, but BEing. Christianity isn't simply a "religion" in the sense of a system of principles and habits, but a RELATIONSHIP, a living interplay between you and Almighty God. V.18 says the Jews tried all the harder to kill Jesus, not just for breaking the Sabbath, but because He called God "His own Father, making Himself equal with God". V.20, "the Father loves the Son..." - the Greek verb phileo means love as in an intimate friendship, fellowship, there's affection involved.
This was shocking familiarity to the religious experts who would never address God so intimately. Part of this is Christ's uniqueness as part of the Trinity, being the "only begotten" Son of God; that's a unique closeness no one else can claim. But the Bible says those who are Christ-centred will experience a similar familiarity with God: in Galatians 4(6) Paul writes, "Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father.'" We are deeply loved by God; Rom.5(8) says, "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." The Father pulled out all the stops in His plan to enjoy affectionate community with those who would believe in Christ and so become spiritual sons and daughters.
10.Honour the Son
Finally, those who are Christ-centred honour Him. V.23 says the Father has entrusted all judgment to the Son "that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him." We're not getting baptized today because we like to get wet, or because we're particularly deserving of it, or to highlight our own worthiness or holiness - far from it: if we were so perfect, who'd need to be baptized? No, we're joining ourselves to Christ with the help of this visible sign because HE gave His life for our sins, HE suffered our punishment, HE is risen from the dead, HE was chosen by the Father to have life in Himself, and HE has been given authority by the Almighty to come again and judge the living and the dead. We're honouring Him by obeying His command. What was His great commission? How did He introduce it at the end of Matthew 28(18-20)? "Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
When we make our promises, we're not just saying them in front of the people standing around (intimidating as that may be!); we're owning Jesus as our Lord and Saviour before all the invisible spiritual forces, angels and demons, too. The Spirit loves that, because the Spirit's aim is to glorify Jesus and testify about Him (Jn.15:26; 16:14). Satan and cronies shudder, because it's a reminder to them that they're defeated and losing territory to God's Kingdom. Heaven's ears will be listening today with keen interest; Jesus promised in Mt.10(32), "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven." We honour Him today, but at the end of time He will lift up those who've humbled themselves to confess their need of Him as Saviour, and to serve Him as Lord.
Privilege of Knowing a Great/Little God
It really rattled the cages of Jesus' enemies to hear Him refer to God the Father as being in an intimate relationship, an affectionate partnership, with humans. It catches the attention of seekers still today, the astounding fact that each of us by faith can enjoy fellowship with the Lord. In the 1600s, an English deist name Anthony Collins was walking one day when he crossed paths with a commoner. Collins asked, "Where are you going?" "To church, sir." "What are you going to do there?" To worship God, sir." Collins asked, "Is your God a great or a little God?" "He is both, sir." "How can He be both?" "He is so great, sir, that the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him; and so little that He can dwell in my heart." Collins later declared that this simple answer had far more effect on his mind that all the volumes he had ever read about God, and all the lectures he had ever heard. And indeed, isn't this absolutely amazing? Let's pray.