The Paralytic's critics - John 5

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. (John 5:1-3, 5-9 ESV)

Picture certified insanity. . .you have a bunch of people who can't walk or can't see, with all sorts of physical defects.  They spend all day next to a decorative pool because there is a legend that when an angel comes in and stirs up the water, whoever jumps in the pool first will be healed.  Only these guys are blind or paralyzed.  What if a bird comes down to take a drink or a bath?  The water moves, the mass of people hobble, crawl, stumble, and fall face-first into the pool.  Only there's no healing, just a bunch of guys who can't swim trapped in a pool. . .its horrifying.  It may actually be fortunate for this man that he is two slow to reach the water.  

What do you do, when for 38 years you wait for healing that does not come?  

What is significant about the 38 years?  

We don't hear that he was 38 years old, but that he had been an invalid for 38 years.  At one point he wasn't an invalid.  He was a normal little kid running and playing and then one day an accident happened.  He fell off a roof or got tackled wrong while playing football, and life was never normal again.  His family couldn't take care of him and feed themselves at the same time, so they dropped him off by the miraculous waters.  

Only no miracle happened.  No family, no friends, no hope.  If he was lucky, some kind widow would bring him some food and bread.  He had human contact with the other sufferers, but the rivalry and competition to seek the miracle meant that they were never really companions.  The awkward race could begin at any second, and a neighbor had never helped the man in his 38 years.  

Thirty eight years, that's a really really long time.  

What is amazing about the man?  

He has not given up on healing.  

When Jesus asks, do you want to be healed, he explains the situation, that he is in a race that he will always lose, but that he tries to get down the steps first.  But he does realize that he is not going to bring about his own healing.  He has not succeeded in thirty-eight years, and on his own, it will not happen.  

Do you want to be healed?  

Is this a strange question for Jesus to ask?  

Yesterday we were driving in the car with a hungry Annabelle in the back seat.  "When are we going to have dinner?"  It's 3 o'clock, not for several more hours.  "But I'm huuuuuunnnnnnggggerrryyy!"  Did you eat your lunch today? "Yes."  Show me your lunchbox. . .there's still  food in it, why don't you eat that?  "I don't want food, I want dinner!!!"  

There's a bit of fundamental human nature here.  Do we really want what is best for us, or do we get attached to our current place and position and status and find it easier to complain than move up or move forward?  I want to be healed, but.  I want to do this with my life, but.  I want to go to this college, but.  I want this job, but.  

Do you have any buts?  

What would be different about your life it your buts went away?  

If Jesus came and offered to fix one thing in your life, what would it be?  

Picture a street corner in New York City.  There's a homeless man who had sat in a doorway near that corner pan-handling for years and years.  His sign reads, "crippled, please help, God bless". Every day people drop a few dollars in his can, and he will drag himself to a nearby McDonalds to get a little bit of food.  

Now there is a city cop working the best in that neighborhood.  He feels a little bit of sympathy, so when he walks by the man, he looks the other way, ignoring him.  The policeman tells himself that he is doing the generous thing by not arresting the fellow, or forcing him to move elsewhere.  But he doesn't know his name, know his face, or drop a dollar in the beggar's jar.  

One day the crippled man is not sitting in the usual doorway.  The officer looks at the place for a moment, thinks it's odd that not only the man, but all his things are missing.  But then he sees someone jaywalking across a nearby intersection.  He springs to action, blowing his whistle, waving his hands.  

Once the jaywalker has moved to the curb, the officer has strong words for him.  What are you thinking!  There's five lanes of traffic!  It's illegal!  You could have been killed!  

What was I thinking?  The man starts to grin.  Then to bounce up and down a little bit.  Then he starts singing and breaks into a full out dance.  What are you doing?, the officer asks, baffles.  

Don't you know me, the man says.  I'm the cripple, the beggar.  I've been healed, I can walk!!  

The policeman suddenly recognizes him, and likewise breaks into a smile.  Amazing, he says.  Who, how?  Amazing!!  Can I meet the guy who did it, he must be a real good doctor.  

I don't think he's a doctor at all, the beggar says.  No white coat or stethoscope.  He looked completely normal, just walking down the street, till he stopped at me and asked if I wanted to be healed.  I told him the story, how I injured my legs in the war, my family abandoned me, I couldn't afford a doctor even if I could get to one.  He said, get up, take your things, and walk!  So I did, right across the intersection, which is where you found me!  What is his name?  I don't know his last name, but he called himself Jesus.  

So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” (John 5:10-12 ESV)

Why do the Jews give the man a hard time?  

Because he is doing "work" on the Sabbath.  It's pretty much astonishingly ridiculous.  

What should they have done?  They first off should have recognized the man whom they walked past every day for thirty-eight years!  Why didn't they know his face or name?  

Second off, they should have realized what a big deal this is.  The crippled man is walking around!  Sabbath, scmabbath, this is a miracle, right before our eyes!  Who did it?  Can we meet him and celebrate him?

What if the officer gave the beggar a ticket for jaywalking?  Rules are rules, and I don't care how long you were crippled, you can't go walking across the street without the crossing light!  

That would be terrible, right?  But it's exactly what the men are doing - they are writing a ticket when they should be rejoicing.  Casting stones instead of worshipping.  

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:14-18 ESV)

What is the point of the Sabbath?  

To imitate God in creation, who worked hard for six days and then took a break.  This was in the 10 commandments - honor the Sabbath and keep it holy.  “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (Exodus 20:8-11 ESV).  No uncertain words there, right?  

But what are the first two

commandments?

You shall have no other God but me, and you shall have no idols.  

I would argue that the point of the Sabbath is to rest, remember, and worship.  To slow down enough to remember God's goodness.  To take time to be with friends and family.  To go to church.  To worship and pray.  To recalibrate life and priorities to focus on The Lord, which is very much keeping with the first two commandments.  

But I would argue that the Pharisees in our story have made an idol out of the law, that they are not worshipping God, but God's rules.  They are not resting, remembering, and worshipping.  They are chastising, plotting, and scheming on the Sabbath.  They criticize the man for carrying a mat, but they carry evil and hate.  They are following the letter of the law, but breaking the spirit of it.  The purpose of the law is to love and honor God!  

What would the Pharisees have said if they really were seeking God?  

Sir, put down your mat and enjoy a rest, we are going to the temple to worship.  Would you like to come?  

You bet, and I have a story to tell you on the way. . .I've been laying here for thirty eight years. . .

Wow!  That's amazing!  Praise God!  We need to find the man and thank him - do you know who he was?  

Have you ever criticized someone when you should have celebrated?  

Archaeological site - the pool at Bethesda