Theme: The Day Jesus Crashed a Pool Party
Text: John 5:1-9 (King James Version)
After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. 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. 5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? 7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. 8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.
As you may know, the residential swimming pool is a symbol of wealth, and opulence. The average cost of installing an in-ground swimming pool is $63,000.00. America is the country with the most swimming pools in the world. There are over 10 Million residential swimming pools in the United States. In Florida alone, there are over one million 500 thousand residential swimming pools. In other words, the Sunshine State has more swimming pools than any other state, so, Florida is the swimming pool capital of America and of the world. Swimming pools are expensive to maintain but they are worth it. Just to be lying down stretched out on a pool chair under an umbrella near the sparkling clear water with a pina-colada (virgin) in your hand, as you close your eyes and listen to the water cycling through the pool is so enjoyable. The smell of chlorine or some other purifying agent that fills the air reassuring you that the pool is clean, is comforting. The gentle sounds of Mozart or the riffs and hooks of the latest Gospel or Contemporary Christian Music songs, relax the mind and soothe the soul. Of course, many people don’t go to the pool with Mozart or Tasha Cobbs. Their drink is by no means virgin, and their swimsuits can sometimes fit comfortably in the smallest zip-lock bags. Swimming pools are the scenes of happiness and sadness, peace and peril, love and hate, joy, and fear. Sometimes parents have to show up and grab little Johnny by the ear and take him away from the pool party. Sometimes Suzy can be so drunk that her breath will exceed the maximum reading on a police breathalyzer. Sometimes drugs and drinks, fights, and fury characterize pool parties, the police officers have to be called, the neighbors complain, and the EMT’s show up when somebody falls into the pool and almost drowns. Sometimes uninvited guests show up and they crash the pool party.
Today, let's journey back to a remarkable day in the life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—a day when Jesus crashed a pool party, not to dance or celebrate, but to reveal His boundless compassion and concern for an unnamed man in particular and all of us in general. Our Bible passage for this message is found in John 5:1-9. It unveils a scene of suffering and healing that beautifully portrays Jesus' heart of love. In John 5:1-9, we find Jesus visiting the pool of Bethesda, a place renowned for its supposed healing powers. Healing Waters: There are many places in the world that people claim to contain waters with healing properties. The Pitch Lake in Trinidad and Tobago is said to have healing elements. In India, it is said that the waters of the Ganges River will heal you. The Blue Lagoon in Iceland, and the Dead Sea in Jordan and Israel can heal you. It is said that the Pamukkale Hot Springs of Turkey can actually make you more beautiful and give relief from asthma and arthritis, reduce blood pressure, and give a burst of energy. In our story today, Jesus went to a pool near the Sheep Market in Jerusalem called Bethesda. The Sheep Market was very close to the Northern Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem. The Sheep Market was there to make it convenient for people to purchase sheep to take to the temple to be sacrificed for their sins. These sacrifices were symbolic of the coming Messiah that would be the sin sacrifice for all of humanity. The Pool called Bethesda in Aramaic means “house of mercy” or in English “house of grace.” This pool Bethesda had five porches where many sick people lay around waiting for the stirring of the water. Among the multitude of sick people, there was a sick man who had been suffering for 38 long years.
The number 40
The number thirty-eight, being so close the number 40, that symbolizes a period of struggle, testing, trial, or probation. God flooded the earth by having it rain for forty days and nights (Genesis 7:12). The children of Israel were punished by wandering in the wilderness for 40 years before a new generation was allowed to possess the Promised Land. Elijah fasted for 40 days without food or water at Mount Horeb. Jesus was tempted by the devil during 40 days of fasting. The number 40 represents struggle, trials and testing in the scripture and reveals to us that the man at the pool had lived an entire life of struggle, suffering and pain. He could not walk, so to get anything he had to struggle. He could not work, so life was a struggle. This man had experienced a lifetime of pain, desperation, and shattered dreams. This man lay by the pool, waiting for a chance to enter the waters when they were stirred, believing that only then could he find healing. You see, once every year at a specified time, an angel would go to the pool in Bethesda and stir the waters. Then, whoever stepped into the pool first would be instantly healed of whatever disease he or she had. The Greeks believed that at nights people who stayed in places like Bethesda could get dreams about serpents and the spirits of the serpents would heal them if they got into the water. However, after almost 40 long years, the man was still waiting at the pool. Little sick children had come to the pool and with the help of their parents, when the angel stirred the water, they were placed in the pool ahead of the man and they were healed. These same children grew up and got married, had their own children and were having grandchildren but the man was still there, waiting to get into the pool. Verse seven gives a very telling reason for this man’s long struggle when he said, “I have no man, when the water is stirred, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, someone else steps into the pool before me.” This man was helpless. The man's response revealed his desperation, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up." He believed that his only chance of healing depended on external circumstances. He believed that he could not help himself.
LEARNED HELPLESSNESS
Psychology researcher, M. E. P. Seligman extensively studied depression and concluded that one cause of depression is learned helplessness. Using Laboratory Experiments with dogs, rats, elephants and people, Seligman Theory of Depression argues that from relationships to education to professions to Domestic Violence, people displayed counterproductive behaviors in the face of trouble in their lives because they simply believed that they could not help themselves. This phenomenon Seligman called “learned helplessness.” Seligman wrote “It is not an innate trait. No one is born believing that they have no control over what happens to them and that it is useless to try to gain control.” But was this the case with the man at the pool? Did he just learn to be helpless? I do not know. Did he just stop trying? I cannot tell. Did he behave so terribly that his relatives did not want anything to do with him? I cannot say. What I can conclude is that he had been at that pool for 38 years and he was still lame. What I know is that he was in trouble. What I know is that time was slipping by, he was getting older every day, and he was still lame. What I know is that he was becoming more and more hopeless, more and more fearful, more and more discouraged, more and more despondent, more and more helpless.
Bethesda
The days, weeks, months, and years were just sailing by, and he lived in misery in one of the most bewildering places on the planet, the Pool at Bethesda. What is so bewildering is the name Bethesda in Aramaic means mercy. But this was not a place of mercy. This was not the scene of a Florida Pool Party, laced with booze and food, music, and festivity. It was a place of depression, helplessness, negativity, horror, pain, suffering, disease, discomfort, groaning and moaning, crying, and shrieking, swearing, and cursing, anger, and hate. It was a place where only the strong survived. This man was trapped in that hellhole by a devastating paralysis, and he had no way to escape. He began to think, to feel, and to act as if he was helpless. What is fascinating was that the Pool was so close to the Temple, the place of the Worship of God. The images are so strikingly contrasting. On the one hand the joyful worship was going on in the temple, music and prayers were ascending unto Yahweh. Incense was being burned and the air in the temple was filled with fragrant aromas. Libations were poured on the altar. Grain and bread and fruit were presented unto God. Sheep and birds were being offered in grand ritual sacrifice to God. But at Bethesda, right within eye-shot, in the five porches people were in agony. The stench of death was everywhere as people’s corpses were being carried out. Sickness and suffering loomed and moaning and groaning filled the atmosphere. A pertinent question that is soul-searching today is, the church is so close to the agony and misery in our world, and what are we doing about it?
A. You may ask, “Why didn’t the people at the pool go to the Temple?” They were not allowed to enter the Temple because they were sick and therefore ceremonially unclean. Let us ask ourselves today: are we so stuck in our traditions that we are not concerned about those who are suffering on our doorstep?
B. The man could not get better because he had no one to help him get into the stirring water. The religious people did not want to help him to get into the water, but Jesus, the Living Water showed up at Bethesda and crashed the pool party.
C. The man could not physically go to the Temple, but the Temple came to the man. You see Jesus is the ultimate place of encounter with God. He was the replacement of the physical temple in Jerusalem. We are part of the "temple" of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus is the chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:19-22).
D. The Jewish Priests and High Priests could not go to the pool called Bethesda to help the man, because they would become unclean. But Jesus, the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek entered the porch at Bethesda where the man was waiting and made the man clean.
E. The man could not get a sheep to sacrifice for his sins, but “Behold, the Lamb of God, Jesus, who takes away the sins of this world,” showed up at Bethesda and crashed the devils’ pool party as the eternal sin sacrifice for the disabled man. The demons and devils were having a pool party of evil and wickedness. They were terrorizing people’s lives at the poolside. They were tormenting the people with excruciating pain and debilitating weakness. They had the man under oppression, but Jesus showed up, and He crashed their diabolical pool party. He showed up because He had compassion on the man who had been there nearly forty years.
Jesus is compassionate.
In this scene, we witness an incredible characteristic of Jesus, His compassion.
1. Matthew 9:36: "When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."
2. Matthew 14:14: "When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick."
3. In Mark 1:41: Jesus was "Moved with pity (or compassion and), he stretched out his hand and touched (a leper) and said to him… “be clean.'"
4. Hebrews 4:15-16: 15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
5. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
CONCLUSION
These verses illustrate Jesus' deep compassion for people who are suffering, marginalized, broken or in need. The name Bethesda means MERCY but its essence and meaning were not fulfilled until Jesus showed up. In our text for today, John 5: verse 6 says, "When Jesus saw the lame man lying there and learned that he had been in that condition for a long time, He asked him, 'Do you want to get well?'" Imagine that—a Divine encounter with the very source of healing! Not with the water in the pool but with the Water of Life. With the Bread of Life, the Giver of Life, the Redeemer of Life, the Restorer of Life, the Resurrection, and the Life. Jesus saw the man's suffering and knew the years of anguish he had endured. Yet, with all His power and authority, Jesus approached him with kindness and asks about his desire for healing. Jesus' compassion here is overwhelming. He doesn't rush to perform a miracle; He takes time to connect with the man's heart and asked Him, “do you want to be healed.” And today, He is asking all of us, “Do you want to be healed?” If you are struggling with spiritual, emotional, mental, or physical anguish. If you have been in that condition for a long time. If you are bound by the disease of sin, Jesus has enough compassion to heal you today. He is asking you, “do you want to be healed?” Some people say they want to be healed but they keep nourishing their infirmity, their weakness, their agony, and their sinful living, with excuses, self-pity, and negativity. Jesus is still asking you today, “do you want to be healed?”
APPLICATION
Jesus had compassion on the man at the pool and He healed him. We see in this encounter how Jesus' compassion is a profound demonstration of His love. He doesn't just offer physical healing; He brings healing to the depths of the man's soul. He doesn't just address the symptoms; He addresses the root causes of pain and suffering. This story reveals the heart of a Savior who doesn't passively observe our struggles from a distance. No, He actively engages with our brokenness and desires to make us whole. Beloved, as followers of Christ, we are called to emulate His compassion and concern in our own lives. We are called to be vessels of His love, reaching out to those who are hurting, lost, or in need. Let us remember that as Jesus crashed this pool party of suffering, He showed us what it means to truly love and care for one another. May His example inspire us to live out His love in our families, communities, and beyond. In conclusion, the day Jesus crashed that pool party was not just a random incident; it was a profound revelation of His heart of compassion that transforms our lives forever. May we receive His love with open hearts, and may we, in turn, reflect His love to a world in need. Amen.
By Wayne C Solomon, Lead Pastor Transformed Life Ministries and Everlasting Life Church of God 09-03-2023
