Questions Jesus asked #4
“Do you want to get well?…” – John 5:1-15
By James Galbraith
Bethel First Baptist Church – February 1, 2004
Review
We have been looking at the questions Jesus asked us
by the way… (approx. figures)
people asked Jesus 135 questions –
he asked them 276 (Matthew 79/40; Mark 61/27; Luke 89/28; John 47/40)
#1 – Why are you looking for me? (boy Jesus in temple courts)
- why are people looking for Jesus?
– because they need him, whether they articulate it this way or not
- where will they find him?
– in those who love him and follow him, as they (we) reveal him in word and deed
#2 – Why do you involve me? (water to wine at wedding)
- seems to be dragged into helping, but he helps anyway
- modelling for us our own reaction to getting involved
- even when we do not have a legal obligation to help, we should
#3 – Why do you worry? (portion in sermon on mount)
- many times we worry out of a lack of faith
- we gain faith by asking, believing, trusting and using!
- the question that Jesus asks today addresses a very current discussion,
for to a man invalid for 38 years he asks the question,
“Do you want to be well?
Introduction
- more and more, a contrast in our society between physical health and overall “wellness”
- creeping into our consciousness for a while, now big-time focal point
- even our little town has “wellness centre”
- physical health = body working right
- wellness = “state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity”
- spiritual element as well
- where people go to seek “wellness” may be objectionable to our faith
- astrology, spiritism, séances, etc.
- concept of seeking overall wellness still sound – we do it whether we know it or not!
- we want to be physically healthy, emotionally stable, socially accepted,
mentally alert, spiritually “at peace”
- Jesus himself came so that we know and have wellness, and we will see today how he brings wellness to someone who has not been well for most of his earthbound life
Narrative (1-9, 10-15(18))
Vs. 1-9
- Jesus and disciples in Jerusalem for one of the three holy feasts, or festivals
- no evidence as to which one
- travels to a part of the city rumoured to have a angel at work
“Sheep gate” to the north of the temple, old wall dating back to King David
Pool of Bethesda – twin pools of water for drinking and bathing,
fed by underground stream
- 5 colonnades - roofs with support columns but no walls
- large version of those canopies we use for picnic tables
- the sick, lame and disabled would gather in these areas
to beg for a living,
to be near the water they needed
to get a break from the repressive heat
and in this pools case, because of a belief that these pools had an angel at work amongst them.
- KJV vs. 3,4
3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
- Jesus picks out of the crowd a man who had been unable to walk for thirty-eight years
- this man believed that he could be healed by entering the pool at the right time, but he had been unable to do so
- you can imagine the mad rush that would follow the stirring of the water!
(kids after the piñata bursts open)
He asks him a question that seems all too obvious…
“Do you want to get well?”
The man’s response reveals his desire and frustration,
- “I’ve tried, but I can’t do it by myself. I need help”
Doesn’t he speak for all the rest of us, in dealing with our weaknesses or disabilities?
- we may walk perfectly fine, but we all have some area in which we come up short
- we all wrestle with something that we know is not quite right about ourselves
- if we don’t, we’re deluded!
Jesus cuts through the man’s frustration and gives him a very simple directive – get up!
The man now had a choice – listen and ignore, listen and hope, or listen and act
Don’t we all do that too?
listen and ignore – hear the word, push it aside
listen and hope – hear the word, hope it’s true, but stay inactive
listen and act – hear the word, try it!
The only one that’s going to have any lasting affect is the last, and that’s what the man does!
He follows to the letter, is healed to the letter, and leaves the pool a healed man.
End of story? Not even close!
vs. 10-15(18)
two issues come up as a result of this healing
(1) - the first, a critical part of the event, is the reaction to this healing
- the local authorities are concerned that this healing took place on a Sabbath day,
- walking with your matt on the Sabbath day was forbidden, as work
- authorities so blind to Jesus that they see the minor infraction
over the healing miracle
- imagine a police officer giving a speeding ticket to an ambulance driver,
who’s crew has just brought a baby back to life in the van…
- Jesus will not n=heed their trivialities, telling them that…
“My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.”
- unable to see him as the Messiah, they use this to fuel the fire of their intolerance, and plot to kill him
(2) the second is Jesus’ follow-up to the healed man
- Jesus catches up to the man
“See, you are well again”
- you have been restored to wholeness
- able to fend for self, make a living, start a family, serve the community…
“Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you”
- stay that way by keeping your life clean in God’s eyes
- not “watch where you step” or “keep your weight off the weaker leg”
Physical healing had come to the man from God’s Son,
overall wellness would take root in his life through continued obedience to God
Wellness, to Christ, was far more than the physical health of people
- spiritual health primary, physical health secondary
- he didn’t come to put physicians out of business,
he came to put the devil out of business!
- the world didn’t need a healer, it needed a Saviour
Victory on the cross sealed the devil’s fate, unavoidable but not yet fully realized.
Victory on the cross gave sin it’s final answer, and we are merely wait upon the Lord to return once and for all to erase it form existence.
Victory on the cross made it possible for us to be whole, complete persons.
Jesus came to win victory over sin and death so that we could be whole, the way God intended us to be.
Our path to wholeness, or wellness, runs through Jesus
- without him we’re just adding our own contraptions to problems far bigger than we can handle
- with him, we’re enlisting the risen Saviour
as our guide, our protection, our source of strength, our Lord
Conclusion
The need for wellness has been a driving force in our faith since Jesus asked the question “Do you want to be well?”
Our physical health is important, and taking care of it is expected and essential.
However, wellness extended far beyond the goal of healthy bones, bright teeth and low blood pressure and cholesterol.
Wellness starts within – our relationship to the our creator, our sustainer, our God.
On our own, that essential cord between us and God remains cut – we are on our own devices, and true wellness remains simply out of reach.
With Jesus, we can know wellness
- he gained the victory that makes wellness possible
Will you trust him today to make you well?
And if you have already, will you continue to seek wellness through your obedience to Him?
