Do You Want to Get Well?

Do You Want to Get Well?

John 5:1-15    

 

Illus. Q and A.

 

Throughout the gospels, we see Jesus, throughout His ministry, ask many questions. In fact, throughout the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), it has been cited that Jesus asked over 300 questions. 80 of those questions were “how” or “why” questions, “why did you doubt?” or “Why are you thinking these things?” Jesus asked questions like: “what do you want?” or “why do you call me good?” He would ask questions that challenged a person’s faith and fear, “why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” He would ask questions that challenged people to attach their words to their ways, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and not do what I say?” While Jesus asks over 300 questions throughout the four gospels, there are certain questions that stand out as surprising, shocking, and even uncomfortable.

This morning, we are going to study the story surrounding one such question. It is a question He asks a man who had been dealing with a sickness for 38 years, and when Jesus meets Him, He asks the question, “Do you wish to get well?”

Surely, Jesus’ question had great meaning, and just like in all things, Jesus would ultimately direct the man deeper and toward eternal things. This question, however, still stands out as surprising, but this morning, it is a question that I want to circle for you and me as we study John 5:1-15.

 

Read: John 5:1-7 (NASB 95’)

 

As we study these Scriptures, I want to draw your attention to three important considerations: Jesus’ compassion and our condition, Jesus’ question and our answer, and lastly, Jesus’ instruction and our response to Him.

 

1. Jesus’ Compassion and Our Condition

 

• From verse 1 we know that Jesus is back in Jerusalem. The text states that He was there for a Jewish feast. We don’t know which feast specifically, but most believe it was likely was one of the three major feasts held in Jerusalem that all Jewish males were required to attend (Passover, Tabernacles, Pentecost [Weeks]).

 

• While we don’t know the specific occasion, we do know the specific location, in Jerusalem at the pool called Bethesda by the Sheep Gate.

 

• The Sheep Gate was located on the northeastern section of the city wall, and north of the Temple Mount.

 

• This was the gate men would bring their sheep through for sacrifice in the temple. It was a designated gate that the sheep had to be brought through.

 

• Near that gate was a pool that was fed by a freshwater spring underground, called the pool of Bethesda.

 

• John mentions what it is called in Hebrew, which is two words put together “bayit-hesed” which means “house of mercy,” or “place of mercy.”

 

• The story, is one of eight miracles recorded in the book of John, six of them being unique to the book of John, and the location of this healing was one that was challenged and questioned for many years.

 

• The reason is that for centuries, archeologists had not found any pool near the sheep gate in Jerusalem. It caused doubters and detractors to question not only the story, but the validity of the gospel of John.

 

• It wasn’t until 1888 that the pool was discovered by archeologist Conrad Schick. It would continue to be excavated over the course of the next nearly 100 years and it is massive.

 

• In 1956 archeologists unearthed the pool, with 5 porticos, or porches, that divided the pool into two separate pools, both making up the pool of Bethesda.

 

• The pool itself is deep and wide. Combined, they were about 55 yards wide by 130 yards long, and over 40 feet deep.

 

• These are important facts for our understanding because prior to the pool being unearthed, there was question as to how a pool could have 5 porticoes, or porches. Answer: there was a porch in the middle that divided two sections.

 

• These porches were covered, and on the porches would lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, limping, or paralyzed.

 

• So, people with all kinds of conditions would go to this pool, and different translations of the Bible describe those at the porches differently.

 

• KJV uses the word “impotent.” An impotent person was a person without strength; a person unable to better himself; a person unable to do something for himself.

 

• The word used to describe the amount of people at the pool was “a multitude” of people there.

 

• NKJV calls it a great multitude! We don’t know exactly how many, but Matthew 15 tells us of a great multitude of people before Jesus at the Sea of Galilee that He ended up feeding. The number there is 4,000 men plus women and children.

 

• Commentators suggest that around feast times, the pool would be packed, with around 3,000 people or more.

 

• What we read at the end of verse 3 is that the sick who were there, were there waiting for a moving of the waters.

 

John 5:4, [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.] (NASB 95)

 

Illus. Missing?

 

• The belief was, if a person laying there could get into the water after it was stirred, they would be healed.

 

• It seems, based on the multitude that was heading there, there must have been some validity, or relief that was coming from the waters.

 

Illus. Healing?

 

• From verse 5 we know that there was an unnamed man there. This particular man had been ill for 38 years.

 

John 5:6(a), Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition…

 

• Aside from what the text describes, we don’t know any more about the particulars of this man’s life.

 

• But we know where he was now, and it seems that this was a place he would go to frequently hoping that something would change in his reality.

 

• He is in a place people go for healing, but he has been hurting for 38 years. He is helpless, cannot get himself into the water quick enough when it is stirred.

 

• These were his conditions. Jesus approached him, however, and had compassion on Him.

 

• To “feel compassion” for them; is a picture of a person who is stirred with love and sympathy to their deepest depth.

 

• Compassion means literally to be moved in one’s bowels, this is where people in Bible times considered emotions and feelings to reside…Jesus cares.

 

Lamentations 3:21-22, This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

 

Matthew 9:35-36, Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

 

• As Jesus looked upon the crowd at that pool, it is apparent that He would have looked upon all of them with compassion, but here, in this story, Jesus gets personal as he zeroes in on one man. 

 

• Jesus saw him lying there, and he knew that he had already been a long time in that condition.

 

• The man had been in this position 38 years, in his mind, it seems, there was only one potential cure, the pool at the house of mercy…And while he was close, he did not have enough strength to get in the water at the right time.

 

• It seems people would have trampled over one another to get into the water.

 

• This is his condition; these are his conditions…and Jesus comes to ask him a question.

 

• Jesus, when he looked at him, knew his condition, and he had compassion on Him.

 

Illus. Conditions.

 

1. Jesus’ Question and Our Answer

 

John 5:6-7, Jesus, upon seeing this man lying there and knowing that he had already been in that condition for a long time, said to him, “Do you want to get well?”

 

• Jesus approaches this man, aware of what he had been dealing for what could very well have been most of his life.

 

• He was immobilized by this sickness for 38 years, and the question Jesus asks him seems to fit under the category of questions not to ask a person in that situation.

 

• Not only this, the answer to the question, at least on the surface, seems obvious.

 

• He was there at the pool people went into to get well…But Jesus asks him the question… “Do you want to get well?” Why even ask the question?

 

• Jesus always has a reason! And this question, though a challenging one, is an important one for all to consider and answer.

 

Illus. Struggles.

 

• Jesus asks the question, because if He heals him, things are going to change for him.

 

• There are conditions in our lives when Jesus asks us similar questions, and the answer I encourage you to is yes, Lord, I want to be made well and to say that sincerely.

 

John 5:7,  The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

 

• The man was at the house of mercy and he was looking for specific means of mercy. To get into that water first.

 

• He wanted to get well, but he was focused on who or what he didn’t have. He, like most if in that situation personally, was focused on 38 years of things just not working out.

 

• And perhaps in that answer, he was hoping Jesus would respond by saying, “okay, I will stick around until the water is stirred and put you in…I will get you there first!”

 

• But Jesus was going to meet the man’s need another way.

 

• Jesus was going to work exceedingly, abundantly, far beyond what he could ask or think! Jesus had a different plan prepared for him.

 

Illus. Knocked down…

 

John 5:8, Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.

 

III.  Jesus’ Instruction and Our Response to Him

 

• Jesus’ instruction to the man was to pick up his mat and walk. In this case, the man was miraculously healed by Jesus and did just that.

 

• As I thought about the situation, this one, like many situations I have seen, display the power of Christ, and His ability to heal, but I am also struck by the fact that the man was not alone at that pool.

 

• There were others at that pool that day. And though Jesus saw them, and had compassion on them, He did not heal them that day physically.

 

• I don’t know why he chose that man and not others…There were others situations where Jesus healed some and not others.

 

• In Acts chapter 3 we introduced to a certain man who had been unable to walk from birth and was being carried to the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful.

 

Acts 3:3-6, When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple grounds, he began asking to receive a charitable gift. 4 But Peter, along with John, looked at him intently and said, “Look at us!” 5 And he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, “I do not have silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!”

 

• The man spent his life begging for alms, money, or charitable gifts from those who were entering the temple grounds.

 

• The man mentioned has never been able to walk. It is not as if he used to walk and can no longer walk, rather, his position, and disposition, or outlook on his life is, “this is just the way it is.”

 

• He has always been a beggar; he has never had the strength in his legs to be anything else. And from Acts 4:22, we understand that the man was more than forty years old.

 

Illus. Passed by?

 

John 9:1-3, As Jesus passed by, He saw a man who had been blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

 

2 Corinthians 12:7-9, There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

 

• I have prayed for healing and the Lord has responded “yes,” I have also prayed for healing and the Lord has said “no,” or “not right now.” The question for me is how will I respond to the Lord’s instruction?

 

John 5:10-15, Now it was a Sabbath on that day. So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is a Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.”  But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Pick it up and walk’?” But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. Afterward, Jesus *found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” The man went away, and informed the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

 

• Jesus’ first instruction was “get up and walk,” and then seeing him again, “sin no more, so nothing worse happens to you.”

 

• Based upon the situation this man was in, it would seem near impossible that something worse could ever come upon him.

 

• 38 years of physical difficulty and inability. What could possibly be worse?

 

• The answer to that is found in Jesus mission, He came to save sinners from spiritual death and eternal suffering.

 

• The sickness this man dealt with had no doubt robbed him of many things in his earthly life. And Jesus had helped him, healed him of his physical situation, but Jesus knew that sin would rob him of life eternal, and He wanted to make sure he instructed him not only to walk physically, but to walk righteously.

 

• John 1:14, Jesus is full of grace and full of truth and he loved him too much not to warn him.

 

Illus. Orders to stay well.

 

Illus. Run the play.

 

Psalm 139:23-24, Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

 

John 5:1-15