John 5:1-18
Title: Christ heals the Paralytic on the Sabbath.
Analysis:
John now quickly transitions from
Jesus being in Galilee to now back in Jerusalem for the feast of the Jews. As
we have seen in this gospel so far; we will continue to see the rejection of
Jesus as the Messiah. First he was believed in at Samaria (4:7-42), then he was
doubted to be the Messiah in Galilee (4:43-54), and finally he will be
persecuted by the religious elite while in Jerusalem (5:16-18) and ultimately
rejected and hated by them (7:20-52).In our passage today we see the Sign of
the Saviour (5:1-9), the Resentment of the Religious (5:10-15), and the Scheme
to Slay (5:16-18).
Jesus, who had now arrived in
Jerusalem came with His disciples to the pool of Bethesda, a place where those
who were lame, blind, withered, and sick stayed. Jesus singles out a man from
among the crowd, one who had been there ill for 38 years. The Lord observes him
lying there and asks the man, “Do you wish to get well?” (vs. 6). To us this
question seems almost laughable giving the fact that the man had been ill for
almost four decades. But our Lord had a greater motivation for asking the
question. He was looking for faith in the man and he finds it.
The
man does not respond sharply or mockingly of Jesus question but rather explains
his reason as to why he was not healed. Jesus sees his sincerity and opens His
mouth again to speak to the man saying, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.”
With a word, the Lord commands and heals this man in a supernatural display of
His divine nature and relationship with God. The cure is immediate (vs. 9) and those
who saw it were amazed by Jesus works.
Although this healing was
amazing John quickly switches gears in the end of verse 9 saying, “It was the
Sabbath on that day.” With these words the mood changes dramatically and one
can almost hear the approaching footsteps of the Pharisees as they come to us
in verse 10.
Instantly
the religious elite saw the man who was healed carrying his pallet and
confronted him. They bring to his attention not an O.T. law that was given by
God but rather one of the many Oral traditions kept by the Pharisees and
Sadducees. A rule they had created, saying it was not permissible for a man to
carry his pallet on the Sabbath. Rebuking Him they then ask who it was who made
him well but the man did not know. Jesus then finds the man in the temple not
much later and reveals to him that He is the Christ. The man then lets the
Jewish leaders know it was the Lord who made him well.
We now come to the third section
of this narrative by John and see the hatred that the Religious leaders had for
Jesus the Christ. Immediately after hearing that it was Jesus who healed the
man on the Sabbath they plotted against Him. The Lord answers their persecution
by saying in verse 17, “My Father is working until now and I Myself am
working.” Enraged that he was not only
breaking the Sabbath but also calling God His own Father, the Jews plot against
the Saviour as to how they might destroy Him. Jesus proclaimed boldly by making
Himself equal with God and the religious leaders hated Him for this. Jesus does
not back down from this challenge but rather, as we will see in the next few
sections, Jesus begins to prove to the Religious leaders His equality with God.
This was the purpose that He came to this earth, so that we might know that He
is the light and all who come to the Father must go through Him.
Blessings,
Lucas C.
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