A Hopeless Situation

A Hopeless Situation

John 5:1-15

We are in the midst of a Lenten series on the “signs” of Jesus in John. 

Began with “water into wine” of John 2.  Last week, the nobleman’s son healed, Jn 4.

If you recall, with each of those signs a request was made of Jesus, for Him to do something.  This sign is just a little different.  This time, Jesus takes the initiative.

I once read the story of Ashley Barker.  Ashley was a teacher at Laurel Elementary School in Polk County, Florida. She told the school she and her father were dying.

She claimed she had an illness that kept her from working an entire year. Turns out she was home the whole time for a year while everyone at school thought she was sick and dying.

Laurel Elementary did everything they could to accommodate Barker's needs due to her fake illness. She came and went as she pleased -- basically making her own schedule. Barker was never at doctor appointments or the hospital as she claimed. She wasn't anywhere special during her time off from teaching -- just home. Evidently she didn't want to work

As unbelievable as this teacher illness story is, Barker has hired a lawyer and is fighting her termination from the school. Now, that’s someone who didn’t want to get well! 

Some people are just like Ashley.  For whatever reason, they don’t WANT to get well.  

Now, Let’s take a look at Jesus’ encounter with the cripple by the pool.

 As we read the story in John chapter 5 we notice …

Jesus visits the needy. (vv. 1-5)

Jesus questions a man. (vv. 6-9a)   and

Jesus warns the man. (vv. 9b-15)

1. Body
1. Jesus visits the needy. (vv. 1-5)
1. By the Gate and the Pool
1. Any guess as to why the "Sheep Gate" was called that? This was the gate in Jerusalem through which the sheep were brought in to be sacrificed. It was on the eastern wall just north of the Temple. It is mentioned several times in Nehemiah (3:1, 32; 12:39).
2. William Hendriksen writes about the Bethesda pool: "After much guess-work with respect to the identity of this pool, its site has finally been established to the satisfaction of most scholars. The pool (or, in reality, the reservoir which formed it) was laid bare in the year 1888 in connection with the repair of the church of St. Anne, in n.e. Jerusalem. A faded fresco on the wall pictures an angel 'troubling' the water. It appears, therefore, that by the time of the early church this pool was viewed as Bethesda. (Literally means “House of Mercy.”)   In the time of our Lord it had five porticos or covered colonnades where the sick could rest, protected from inclement weather.” 
3. According to verse 4, it’s believed that somehow an angel of the Lord would periodically, and we don’t know how often, would stir the water and there would be some type of healing properties which would be supernaturally put in the water and the first person in, would be healed. When the water would bubble, the people believed this indicated the presence and power of God.
4. Scholars offer a more probable explanation for the troubling of the water noting the presence of springs that occasionally gushed water into the pools below the surface of the water. In addition, the water may have had a high mineral content that had medicinal benefits for people suffering from muscle and joint ailments, thus some might have, indeed found relief.
   

1. Why was Jesus there? 
1. It was a feast of the Jews
2. Here in John 5, a festival scene in the holy city is juxtaposed with the pool with five porticoes, those were covered areas, full of invalids. Imagine dropping by the nursing home on your way to Christmas Eve services. One place is festive, filled with pretty clothes, color, light and music. The other location features crutches, canes and people who cannot hide their desperate need for healing.
3. All of the “in crowd” are at the festival in their fancy clothes wanting to be seen with like-minded folks.  Jesus is by the pool with those who are suffering and hurting.  Where else would you expect to find Jesus?
2. The man in a hopeless situation. 
1. This man has staked out his spot.
2. He is along the way of the pilgrims to the feast.  
1. It’s a good spot for begging. 
2. v. 3 says that there  “… lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed…”. Plenty of others have the same idea.
3. The man has been infirm for 38 years.
4. He is in the right place to - maybe - receive a miracle.  If only…
1. Jesus questions a man. (vv. 6-9a)
1. Why would He ask such a question?  
1. On the surface, this seems like a dumb question. We could imagine the man responding with a smart answer, “Uh, hello. What do you think I’m waiting by this pool for, swimming lessons?” Some questions have seemingly obvious answers. Like when your father asked, “Do you want a spanking?” However, Jesus never asked an insignificant question. This was really a question of deep significance.
2. So think about this.  How would you feel if you were unwell for close to four decades, and a stranger came along one day and asked if you really wanted to get better?  Implying that your ongoing sickness was at least partially your fault.  Implying that you were benefiting, consciously or unconsciously, from remaining sick.  Implying that you were somehow invested in your brokenness, that you had stakes in it, that your identity was so wrapped up in your infirmity, weakness, or defeat, you couldn’t imagine your life without your illness.
3. When Jesus looks at the man who has been languishing by the pool for thirty-eight years, he sees more than his sickness.  He sees defeat.  He sees resignation.  He sees psychological and spiritual stagnation.  He sees a man whose hope has dwindled.  A man whose imagination has atrophied to such a point that he can’t even articulate what he wants for his body, his soul, or his future.  Even so, Jesus asks him…
2. What does this man want?  
1. This was actually a question of deep significance. Since he was in this condition for a long time, and since his source of income was no doubt begging, he was accustomed to this particular lifestyle. Saying, ‘yes’ to Jesus would mean that all that would have to change. What he had grown accustomed to for all these years would now be completely changed. Was he ready for that? 
2. Speaking about the blind man in Luke 18:35-43 that Jesus healed, Kenneth Bailey says: "The difficulty with this profession [begging] is that some visible handicap is necessary. A man with one leg or one arm might manage to support himself by begging on a street corner, but a blind man is virtually guaranteed success. At the same time, a blind man, such as the beggar in this story, has no education, training, employment record or marketable skills. If healed, self-support will be extremely difficult. Indeed, is it not in his interests to remain blind?" [Kenneth Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes].
3. Certainly, the lame man was in the same boat as the blind man. What does he do if he gets healed? How does he support himself? James Baldwin observed (in Reader's Digest, 1/83), "Nothing is more desirable than to be released from an affliction, but nothing is more frightening than to be divested of a crutch." If he became well, the man would have to stop begging and start working for a living. So Jesus’ question to him is a literal question.
4. What about us? We might be ‘crippled’ by sin. We might be ‘crippled’ by comfort. We might be ‘crippled’ by convenience. These are things the Lord would wish to ‘heal’ us from but he would ask the same question, “Do you want to get well?  
3. The man is focused on the pool.  
1. Notice here the difference between the pool and Jesus. The cruelty of the pool was such that it offered healing only if you could get yourself into the pool and only for the first one in, at that. The chances of this invalid making it into the pool first was little to none. 
2. The man remains focused on his problem when he explains to Jesus that there is no one with him to help him get to the pool.  
3. That brings us to the critical moment of this story. What did Jesus say to a man who had lost all hope, a man who had given up on himself? 
1. Did he say, "Oh, come on, I'll help you get into the pool the next time the water is troubled"? No, he didn’t say that. He did not offer that kind of help. He could have, but he did not. 
2. Did he say, "Hang on. Keep coming here. Perhaps some day you'll make it in time. Some day it will all work out. Some day you'll be right at the edge of the pool when it's troubled and all you'll have to do is fall in"? No, he didn’t say that either. 
3. Did he say, "Let's at least make you comfortable. Let's get you a new mattress to lie on, put a few flowers around you and bring you two meals a day"? No, he did not. These are the suggestions of men, the things that we say to people. But Jesus does not say any of those things.
4. In fact, Jesus didn’t require the cripple to do anything to receive his healing. “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” You already have your healing.  Act on it.  Or, as John reports, “immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.”
5. The same is true with us. We can not earn our salvation; it’s the work of Jesus in us. However, even if we needn’t put forth effort to earn it, we are called on to put forth effort to show it. Although it’s true that the cripple wasn’t seeking Jesus for healing, it required faith for him to obey this impossible instruction from Jesus.  “Get up, man.  Get going.”
   
2. Jesus warns the man. (vv. 9b-15)
1. Sabbath tensions
1. John introduces yet another plot twist — It was a Sabbath.  
2. We read in the news that in certain Middle Eastern countries there are self-appointed men whose job is to police how women must cover themselves -- or even drive a car by themselves.  There were some guys like that in Jesus’ day.  They were called Pharisees.
3. John tells us that this healing took place on a Sabbath. Apparently, in Jerusalem some of the strict Jews, probably Pharisees who interpreted the Law quite strictly, saw this man carrying his pallet home, and took it upon themselves to confront him. 
4. Why would Jesus command someone to do something that was forbidden on the Sabbath? Albert Barnes’ commentary states that the Jews extended the obligation of the Sabbath beyond what was intended. They observed it superstitiously, and Jesus took every opportunity to convince them of their error, and to restore the day to its proper observance.
2. The man is on the spot
1. The penalty for Sabbath breaking was stoning.  His life has just been made right.  He doesn’t want to risk anything. 
2. The healed man's defense is to shift blame from himself to Jesus. "He told me to do it!” In essence, he throws Jesus under the bus. The guy who healed me told me to pick up my pallet and walk. In his defense he was just healed and didn't want to be stoned by the religion's leaders.  In fact, he continues his habit of making excuses.
1. Remember… “There’s no one to carry me to the pool…”
2. Now… “He told me to do it…”
3. We do not learn very much about this guy, but making excuses for himself seems to be an ingrained character trait.
3. It's interesting that the healed man didn't even know Jesus' name. You would think that he would have been exceedingly grateful and want to thank Jesus. But, apparently, his only thought was his own healing.
   
4. “Healed, but be wary…”
1. V. 14 has a wonderful phrase.  "Jesus found him." The man had gone to the temple because the Law required that one who had been healed had to make a thanksgiving offering. Jesus knew where to find him.
2. "Do not sin anymore"—this is a present active imperative with the negative particle, which often meant stop an act already in progress. It appears that this man's illness was due to his sin. Sometimes you're sick, and it's not a direct punishment for sin. But sometimes sickness is a direct punishment for sin. Paul said to the Corinthians, "Some of you are weak and sick and some of you have even fallen asleep because of the way you've desecrated the Lord's table." David said that God's hand was so heavy on him for his sin that his life juices were drying up.
3. "So that nothing worse happens to you"—what could be worse than 38 years of illness? To neglect the inner, spiritual healing is to risk something worse than his disease. He could miss out on the Kingdom of God… Miss out on everlasting life.
4. Syntactically, the two clauses, "Stop sinning" and "something worse may happen to you," cannot be interpreted independently. They are tied together: the meaning is "stop sinning lest something worse happen to you.”
5. What does this man choose to do?  v. 15 — The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  
6. This man’s actions don't show belief in the Healer, but passing on blame and persecution to Jesus so he can avoid it himself, hardly the mark of a disciple. 
7. He informs the Jewish leaders of our Jesus’ identity. He knew that they wanted to find Jesus, because they considered Him a lawbreaker. Clearly this ungrateful man wanted to save his own skin by implicating Jesus. In this whole text there is no expression of gratitude or appreciation toward Jesus from the healed man.
8. We could be even more indignant against him if he weren't so much like us. How often are we ungrateful for all the Lord has done for us?
1. Conclusion
1. The story of the healing of the man at the Pool of Bethesda is one of grace -- he didn't deserve anything, in fact, he wasn't a very good man to start with. But it is all about repentance also. If we try to separate grace from repentance we severely distort the gospel that Jesus and the apostles taught.
2. This message is titled, A Hopeless Situation.  Apart from Christ, all of us are in a hopeless situation.  With Christ, and only in Christ, do we find Hope.  
3. Both John the Baptist and Jesus preached, "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:2; 4:17). It is very clear that repentance from sin is necessary to believe in Christ.  
4. Former slave ship captain John Newton penned these immortal words:
1. "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
   That saved a wretch like me.
   I once was lost, but now I'm found,
   Was blind, but now I see.”
2. It follows, that if we can now "see," then we now avoid the things we used to be blind to and blunder into.
5. To receive the healing Jesus has for our lives we must put away our excuses.” Max Lucado in his book “Just Like Jesus” told a story about his little daughter Jenna. He writes, “When my daughter Jenna was a toddler, I used to take her to a park not far from our apartment. One day as she was playing in a sandbox, an ice-cream salesman approached us. I purchased her a treat, and when I turned to give it to her, I saw her mouth was full of sand. Where I intended to put a delicacy, she had put dirt. I carried her over to the water fountain and washed out her mouth. Why? Because I love her. God does the same for us. He holds us over the fountain. “Spit out the dirt, honey,” our Father urges. “I’ve got something better for you.” And so he cleanses us of filth: immorality, dishonesty, prejudice, bitterness, greed. We don’t enjoy the cleansing; sometimes we even opt for the dirt over the ice cream. “I can eat dirt if I want to!” we pout and proclaim. Which is true—we can. But if we do, the loss is ours. God has a better offer. He wants us to be just like Jesus.” Do you want ice cream or do you want dirt? Do you want to be healed or do you want to stay lame? Sounds like a no-brainer but yet if it’s really that simple then why are we not choosing to spit out the dirt?