In the first miracle at Cana, we saw Jesus as Creator, instantly making wine from water. Faith was seen as obedience; the servants did as Jesus commanded, even though it made little sense to them to take pots of water to the ruler of the feast. The path to eternal life required a new creation, a change that only God can bring. In the second miracle, we saw Jesus as the God who is everywhere present. The nobleman believed because he took Jesus at His word. We see in this that Jesus offered healing from sin’s fatal disease. Now, we come to the third miracle recorded by John, the healing of the man by the pool of Bethesda.
In this story, Jesus was in Jerusalem for “a
feast of the Jews.” We don’t know which
one, but apparently, it’s not important (or the Spirit would have made sure we
did know). The entirety of John 6 takes
place at this time, and we learn that the healing of this man was on the
Sabbath (5:9) not necessarily the seventh day of the week, but more likely a
holy day associated with the feast). What
the feast does tell us is that there were a lot of people in Jerusalem at the
time. Thus, the miracle and related
teaching of Jesus were witnessed by many people.
“Bethesda” means “house of mercy.” It was near the sheep gate, and there is evidence
that sheep were washed in the pool before being sacrificed on the nearby temple
mount. Having five porches means there
were likely a lot of people there. There
is a question about verses 3-4 that say an angel came down to stir the waters,
and that the first to step into the water was healed. Older manuscripts do not have this part of
the text. However, v7 also refers to the
stirring of the pool. Whether or not it
was an angel, the man’s difficulty was that he could not get to the water for
whatever healing powers were available in the stirring. He was in a hopeless situation, having the
infirmity for thirty-eight years, helpless, unable to move himself, and without
family or friends to get him there.
On this day, the Lamb of God came to the pool
where the lambs were prepared for sacrifice.
Jesus saw the man, the one man out of the many at the pool. He learned the man’s situation. He didn’t ask him if he had faith, but simply
said, “do you want to be made well?”
Then Jesus simply spoke the word: “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” It happened immediately.
Again, this story speaks to us of Jesus’ offer
of eternal life to all who believe in Him.
Our situation apart from Christ is hopeless. As Paul put it, we are “without hope and
without God in the world.” We are
helpless to save ourselves. And
likewise, no friends or loved ones can help us either. The only one who can help is the Lord, and it
only takes His word: “… the gospel of
Christ … is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Rom.
1:16). Faith takes Christ at His word
and immediately begins to walk in newness of life.
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