John 5. 1-15 The Third Sign: The lame man at the pool

John 5. 1-15  The Third Sign: The lame man at the pool

This sign points to the fact that Jesus is trouble.  Or to put it more reverently and theologically – that Jesus as Lord and God, challenges our individual and cultural attitudes and ways of being.

This story is simple enough.  Back in Jerusalem, Jesus sees a disabled guy at the pool of Bethesda, apparently waiting for the waters to be stirred so he could get healed.  He asks the guy if he wants to be made better, and the guy begins to explain that he can never get into the water on time when it is stirred up.  Jesus orders him to pick up his mattress and go home. On the way he is stopped by some of the Jewish leaders because he is carrying something (his bed-roll) on the Sabbath.  He excuses this (the man is good at excuses!) by saying “the fellow who healed me told me to pick it up!” but he didn’t know who that person was. Later Jesus met up with him, and warned him to change his life, stop sinning – or something worse might happen to him (Jesus probably means on judgement day).   And he went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.  As a result, they began to oppose Jesus: following him around, picking arguments with him....

The point is clear:  Jesus pays no attention to the Sabbath, because of who he is.  He says “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” (v. 17)  The Jewish leaders interpreted that, as we should, to mean he was equal with God (v. 18)   As God's Son, he is King and Lord. (Psalm 2 associates sonship with kingship.)  Indeed, he is God the Son.  Yes he functions in submission to the Father (verse 19) but he does so with the full authority of the Father.   He is clothed in an authority that reveals who He is.  He is king.  He is Lord.  He is The Word.  He was in the beginning with the Father.  He is the Only begotten Son.  He is God.   

And that is trouble.  It is always trouble.  The problem with authority is that you can either submit to it, or you can oppose it.  You cannot co-exist with it.  And the Problem with Jesus' authority is that it cuts right across all other authorities. 

Individually   This man who got his healing – and he got healed on the outside only – is one of the least likeable characters in the New Testament. He's pretty well right up there with Herod, and Judas Iscariot. He's petty, wants to shake off any responsibility for his own actions, and is a tell-tale to boot.  He had no friends (nobody to help him into the water!) and frankly, I'm not surprised!  At the end of the story – and that is as much as we know about him – he had not really become a “believer”.  He eventually knew who it was that had healed him, but wasn't ready for the “sin no more” challenge.  And maybe he wasn't really ready for the challenge of the healing itself. 

What's not to like about healing?  Illness or disability can
1. be part of our identity.  After 38 years of being a paraplegic, the man possibly didn't know who he was apart from his disability. 
2. Manipulate those around us.  Some of us may have lived in a  family where it was said “Don't upset your mother – you don't want her to have one of her turns!”  Or where someone could get their own way just my threatening an asthma attack or a stomach upset.
3. Bring material advantages – allowing someone to claim benefits, for example. 
Now there are times when people who are disabled or unwell need extra TLC, or need financial support.  But if someone would rather remain unwell and enjoy the pampering, there is a problem.

So, maybe he was resentful because Jesus had force the issue of living without his disability; and maybe because Jesus had raised the issue of “sinning no more”.  Did he have a score to settle with Jesus?  Maybe he was just a dependent, whining sort of individual who was used to blaming his misfortunes on others.   He certainly seemed more concerned about currying favour with the Jewish authorities than showing gratitude to the One who had healed him.  And the reality is that Jesus challenged him.  As Lord, Jesus came with authority to ask the awkward questions.  To point out flaws in his thinking and behaviour. 

Now as individuals, each of us – disabled or able-bodied – can find our identity in something we hold on to; we can all be manipulators and opportunists. We can all whine, point the finger at others, blame them for our circumstances and fail to take responsibility for our own actions.   And for each and every one of us – disabled or able-bodied –   Jesus comes as  Lord. He comes to challenge our dependency; he comes to challenge our manipulation. He comes to challenge our reluctance to take responsibility for our own actions and behaviour.  If we don't like that, and are not prepared to yield to it, we will make the decision, to keep Jesus at a distance. 

And culturally – for the Jewish authorities, Jesus' authority had deliberately challenged their rules about the Sabbath.   John is highly selective in his choice of material. His “Seven signs” include three healings, three nature miracles and one raising from the dead. And only once does John record a healing on the Sabbath – although we know from verse 16, and  the other Gospels, that Jesus did so repeatedly.  By healing on the Sabbath, Jesus is effectively saying, “I'm not keeping your rules, because I am above them”.

So in this sign Jesus asserts his Lordship over our religious institutions and our secular cultures and the way we think about God, each other, and the values of society.   Societies have to accommodate the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  “Make way, Make way, for Christ the King in splendour arrives... We call you now to worship Him...”

What are the “cultural norms” in the 2016 post-modern secular, selfish West, in Scotland, that Jesus would want to overturn?  The godlessness of the various party political ideologies that have taken root?  The “wanton selfish gladness” of shop-till-you-drop materialism?  The tough-guy culture that dominates a lot of work-places?  The “anything goes” culture of alcohol and drug fuelled nights out. The secular relativism where the only thing that could possibly be wrong is believing something to be wrong.   

What makes the difference?  When the Jewish leaders started their campaign against him for breaking the Sabbath, you remember Jesus answered “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” (v. 17).  Then he added to the offence of breaking the Sabbath, the worse one of making himself equal with God.  But immediately, he goes on to say, “the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”  (v 19)    Jesus claims equality with the Father, but also expresses dependence on the Father.  He claims equality with God, and defers to the authority of the Father. In other words, Jesus expresses big truths about himself.  He points to his two natures: fully God and fully man.  Having made himself equal with God he then reaffirms that that there is only one God.  He is hinting at the idea of the Trinity. 

And these big truths make the difference.  Knowing who god is and who Jesus is, makes the difference.  He counters the wrong ideas “There's only one God.  If you are for Him you will keep our rules...”  with big statements about himself that imply big statements about who God is.

Jesus challenges our culture – and the individual sin of each person. In our response to our culture, we need not to make Jesus more trendy; we need to know the big truths.  Our world doesn't need to hear about Jesus the carpenter – “I wonder how much he charged for chairs?” one sixties poet asked). And it doesn't need to hear about Jesus the long-haired radical who preached about turning the other cheek.  It needs to hear about Jesus the Lord, the King. It needs to be introduced to a God who is there and is transcendent.  About the God who rules, and who has grace to transform.

And it needs to see the signs – the evidence of the Lordship of Jesus, the signs that point to the reality and transcendence and mystery of who God is and what he is like.  Some of these signs will be in the power of he Spirit, in answered prayers, on the prophetic, in miracles of healing and provision.   And some of them will be the work of the Holy Spirit bringing holiness and transformation in our lives.  If we would want to be able to make that challenge to our world with integrity, we must be prepared to let Jesus the Lord overturn our religious icons and rule over our personal sins and hang-ups.

©Gilmour Lilly January 2016