John 5:1-18 “Do You Want to Be Healed?”

1:27We often send them away to be fixed. Because our culture views people with addictions as problematic because their addiction prevents them from being as efficient and productive in our society as possible. So we recommend sending them away to be fixed. But of course, people dealing with addictions can't be fixed because they aren't machines. They are people. People created in the image of God. They need healing, which deals not just what's going on with the body or the mind, but what goes on in the heart and in the soul.

2:11The problem, of course, is that not everybody wants to be healed. Some people just want to be fixed. In this morning's text, we'll have to wrestle with that very question: Do I want to be fixed or healed? Let's take a look at John chapter 5, verse 1. He begins simply by noting that the event that he's about to describe occurred after he healed the official son in chapter 4, which could have been right after or months later. What we do know, according to the first part of this text, is that one of the three Jewish feasts, Passover or Pentecost or Tabernacles, brought Jesus and his disciples to Jerusalem. And John doesn't tell us which feast, because that information is not really essential to the story. But the location is essential. And John says that there is a pool by the sheepgate that's called Bethesda. In some translations, it's Bethzeta. That means house of mercy. And apparently, this pool was surrounded by five roofed colonnades. You can picture covered walkways, a bunch of columns with a roof that you could walk around and sit under in the shade.

3:30And you should know that in the north quarter of Jerusalem, archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a pool surrounded by five roofed colonnades, which is yet another reminder that John is not writing fiction, fable, or myth. He is reporting historical facts about real people and real places and real things that happened. He notes here that a multitude of invalids were lying under these colonnades, including people who were blind and lame and paralyzed. Now, that is not just a passing observation. What John is trying to do is he is trying to draw our attention to something particular that his Jewish readers would have picked up on right away. I want you to look at what Isaiah says in Isaiah chapter 35 on the screen. When God comes to save his people, look at what he says. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame Man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.

4:36So, John is helping his readers connect what is about to happen with the promises that God made through the prophet Isaiah about the coming Messiah. When the Messiah comes, he's going to heal his people, people who are blind, and deaf, and lame. Now, if you are reading carefully, then you will have noticed that your copy of the Bible probably skips from verse 3 to verse 5. The end of verse 3 and all of verse 4 are either not there or they appear in a footnote at the bottom of the column. So, here's what that text says, in case you don't have a footnote. You can look on the screen. It says that the blind, lame, and paralyzed were waiting for the moving of the water, for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred the water. Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.

5:35Now, the reason that the end of verse 3 and verse 4 are not included in most Bibles or are footnoted in most Bibles is because they do not appear in the oldest and best manuscripts that we have of the Gospel of John. And what that means is they were almost certainly not written by the Apostle John, but they were added later by a copyist who was concerned that. Some people reading this gospel would not understand why all of these invalids were lying around these colonnades around this pool. And so he adds this bit of historical information to help readers understand what's going on.

6:14Now, whether an angel of the Lord actually came and stirred up the waters and miraculously healed the first person in the pool, we can't know for sure. But according to verse 7, it seems certain that people believed that something like that was happening. That's why a multitude of invalids were lying by this pool day after day in hopes of being healed. And one of these invalids was a man who had lost the use of his legs 38 years ago. Maybe due to an illness, maybe due to an accident, we can't be sure. But the average lifespan in the ancient world was 35 years.

6:52And so this man had been paralyzed for most of his life, and probably, if the averages hold out, doesn't have a whole lot longer to live in general. Let's pick up now in verse 6. 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? How many people must have walked past this man and all of these other invalids each and every day?

7:30How many people walk past or drive past invalids and homeless people in our own community each and every day? Friends, one of our greatest needs is to be seen and known by God and others. Because we were created in God's image, we were created to live in community. God Himself has existed in perfect community for all eternity, the Father, Son, and Spirit, enjoying perfect community from eternity past until now and into eternity future. God created us in His image and likeness, and therefore He created us to live in community with Him and with each other. Now, we don't know what this man's relationship with God was like.

8:17Was He a man of prayer? A man filled with faith, living in rich communion with God? Possibly. Was he a man who was distant from God, angry because God had allowed him to become paralyzed and had not healed his legs for 38 years? Maybe so. What about his relationship with others? Did he live in rich communion with other people in his life, the community that he was created for? Well, if you take a look at the first words out of his mouth in verse 7, Sir, I have no one.

9:05I have no one. This is the plight of so many poor, so many homeless, so many invalids. I have no one. No one to pray for me. No one to talk to me. No one to engage with me. No one to love me. I have no one. It certainly does not seem that this man lived in rich community with other people. So I want you to look again at verse 6, and I want you to allow these words to hit you in a different way this time. Whether this is the second time you're looking at this text or the millionth time, I want you to look again at verse 6.

9:45When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, many people walked past this man every day. Even if they looked at him, they didn't see him. Even if they knew something about him, they didn't know him. But Jesus did. Jesus saw this man, and Jesus knew him. Does this remind you of one of the memory verses from Together in 22, our scripture reading plan for this year? We should take a look on the screen at Exodus chapter 2, 24 and 25.

10:31And God heard their groaning. God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel, and God knew. God saw, and God knew. He saw the suffering of his people in the nation of Egypt for over 400 years, living under the crushing burden of slavery. He saw that and he knew. He knew what went on every day. He knew all about their shattered dreams. He knew all about how hopeless they felt. He saw and he knew.

11:12And so did Jesus. Jesus didn't just look at this man. He saw him. He didn't just know about this man. He knew him. Jesus saw him and knew him. This man, like every one of us, needed to be seen and known. And friends, the sad irony of our culture is that the average person posts pictures and intimate details of their life most days of the week on the internet. And yet, most people in our culture don't feel seen or known by anyone.

11:57In fact, most people Feel more invisible and more unknown than perhaps at any other time in human history. Depression, anxiety, suicide, skyrocketing over the last 10 years, because people do not feel seen and known. They feel invisible and unknown. And so I want you to remember today: if you feel invisible and unknown, that God sees you and God knows you. Jesus sees you, and Jesus knows you. He doesn't just look at you, He doesn't just know about you, He sees you and He knows you.

12:47One of the reasons that we meet in person to worship, one of the reasons that we stay afterwards for fellowship, for conversation, for prayer, one of the reasons that we gather each week in life groups is because those are tangible reminders that we are seen and known by the God of the universe. When we gather together face to face with other Christians, we are imitating the incarnational ministry of Jesus, who did not minister to us from afar, but took on flesh and dwelt among us to look us in the eye, to be face to face with us, to experience and go through the very things that we do.

13:30So, friends, if you feel invisible and unknown today, we invite you into our community. We invite you in. Stay after worship today for coffee and conversation. Tell somebody sitting around you that you want to get involved in a life group. Ask for prayer. Fill out the next step card on the back of the seat in front of you and turn that in later today. Break the pattern of coming to worship once in a while, showing up alone and leaving alone.

14:02God sees you and knows you. We want to see you and know you. Satan wants you to be isolated so that you will come to the conclusion that nobody cares about you, no people, and not God Himself. But that is a lie. God cares about you, and so do we. So, Jesus walks up to this man, and he asks him a very simple question: Do you want to be healed? Well, why is he laying beside this pool?

14:43Because he believes that it is his best chance, maybe his only chance, to actually be healed. He's probably tried everything else. His parents, he's been paralyzed for 38 years. His parents surely tried everything else. Just think back to chapter 4. The man whose son was sick and dying traveled 20 miles to find Jesus to bring him back. Surely his parents tried everything. This man has surely tried everything. But isn't this fascinating that when Jesus asks him if he wants to be healed, he can't see past what he believes is the barrier to his healing?

15:27Let's pick up in verse 7. 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. Because this man believes that getting into the pool is his best or his only hope for actually being healed, he believes that his biggest problem is that he has no one to help him get into the water. So he interprets Jesus' question as if Jesus is asking him, Would you like me to help you get down into the pool?

16:13But Jesus is not asking him, Would you like me to help you get down into the pool? So that if I can get you there on time, and if the stories about this pool are actually true, that maybe, hopefully, you could be healed. That's not what Jesus is asking. He asks him, do you want to be healed? And it seems like that would be a quick one-word answer. Yes. Yes, I want to be healed. But maybe it's not that simple for any of us.

16:53I wonder how many of us need to be healed in some way this morning. Physically, emotionally, spiritually. Is there one person in this room who doesn't need to be healed in some way? All of us need to be healed in some way. Jesus asks a specific question: Do you want to be healed? Do you want to be healed? Do you want to be physically, emotionally, spiritually healed? Friends, Jesus is the great physician. Jesus is able to heal you.

17:30Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that Jesus will heal whatever is wrong with your body or whatever is wrong with your mind. I'm not saying that Jesus will remove whatever temptation that you've been dealing with and falling into for a long, long time. But answer his question. Do you want to be healed? If so, ask God. To heal you. Ask others in your life group to pray for your healing. Make an appointment this week with a doctor, with a counselor, with one of the pastors.

18:13Don't react like this man did initially, focusing on whatever barriers that you believe exist to your healing. I don't have the money. I don't have the time. It's always been this way. This is just who I am. I have always struggled with this sin, and I'm always going to struggle with this sin. Don't react that way. Do you want to be healed? That's what Jesus is asking, and he can heal you. He may not heal you, and if not, it is for his glory and for your sanctification.

18:49But he can heal you. And maybe we're afraid to be honest with ourselves and with others that we want to be healed. And maybe we don't ask God to heal us, and we don't ask others to pray for us because we lack faith that God can heal us and that He will answer our prayers for His glory and our good. Maybe this man couldn't bring himself to say, Yes, I want to be healed because it was safer to lay by the water with an excuse than it was for him to say, Yes, I believe God can heal me.

19:32Thankfully, God is infinitely gracious and kind, and he gives good gifts to us even when we don't ask for them. Let's pick up in verse 8. 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. Wouldn't you love to know how this man responded when Jesus said, Get up? Was he offended? I mean, that's not a nice thing to say to a paralyzed person.

20:14Was he skeptical? Like, yeah, okay, buddy. Was he filled with faith, and did he immediately spring to his feet? Well, John doesn't tell us, but he does say that as soon as Jesus spoke the word, regardless of this man's response, he was immediately healed. He stood up, picked up his bed, and for the first time in 38 years, he started walking. And you would think that everyone would rejoice at this amazing miracle, this wonderful work of God, but that's not the case at all. Look at the end of verse 9 again.

20:54Now that day was the Sabbath, 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. Now, here we learn an important detail in the story. I would argue the most important detail in this entire story. Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath. That is between sundown on Friday and sundown on Saturday. That's when this took place. And some Jews, probably some Pharisees, but we don't know, stopped him and told him it was not lawful for him to carry his bed on the Sabbath.

21:33Well, friends, that's not true. The Mosaic law doesn't forbid anyone from carrying things on the Sabbath. The Mosaic law in the fourth commandment forbids work on the Sabbath. The reason is that God intended the Sabbath to be a good gift to his people. And remember the context of when God is giving this law the first time. The people have been enslaved to Egypt for 400 years. They have worked every day of the week with no rest for generation after generation. And then God comes to them and gives them this good gift: you must not work on the Sabbath. Do you think any of them said, Do I have to? Do I have to obey that command? They were thrilled. It was a good gift. And the Sabbath reminded them. That it is God who provides for us. We do not provide for ourselves by working seven days a week. God is our provider, and we show our faith in Him as our provider by not working one day in seven.

22:47The Mosaic law does not forbid carrying things on the Sabbath, it forbids work. So, unless this guy worked for two men in a truck or some moving company, he was not working. And even then, it was his bed. But the oral tradition, the Mishnah, it did forbid carrying anything on the Sabbath except in cases of compassion. So, this is a classic case of people exalting their own interpretation of the law over God's clear commands, something that all of us have been tempted to do and have struggled with.

23:25Verse 10. 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? Now, the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn as there was a crowd in the place.

23:58So the Jews want to know who. Who told this man to carry his bed on the Sabbath, but Jesus had slipped away into the crowd and the man doesn't know his identity. Isn't it so sad that even though this man alludes to being healed by this mysterious person, that the Jews don't bother to ask about the miracle? They don't bother to ask a single question about how this man is now standing on his own two feet after 38 years of paralysis.

24:28They're locked in on the fact that this man has broken their oral tradition and they want to know the identity of the person who encouraged him to do such a thing. They missed the miraculous work of God because they were so focused on the commandments of men. Verse 14 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.

25:13Am I the only one who has a hard time figuring out this guy's relationship with Jesus? If you've watched The Chosen, they present this man's story and his imaginary backstory in a really compelling way. And they take the position that this guy became a believer in Jesus. And maybe he did, but if that's the case, John sure has a strange way of telling us about that. I mean, just look at the way that he relates to Jesus in this passage.

25:52He never asks Jesus to heal him and then doesn't bother to learn his name or anything about him. After Jesus healed him, there is no indication that he rejoiced, that he praised God, that he thanked Jesus, or that he put his faith in Jesus. He just stands up, picks up his bed, and walks away. When the Jews confront him about carrying his bed on the Sabbath, he does not praise Jesus for his kindness and mercy or tell them about the miracle, seemingly. He almost seems to blame Jesus. When they confront him, he says, The man who healed me, that man told me to pick up my bed and walk.

26:40And then, after Jesus finds him in the temple and he tells him to go and sin no more, John records no response at all, unless you count him going immediately to the Jews and informing on Jesus. So, it's certainly possible that this man became a believer. After all, he does go to the temple after he's healed, and maybe he goes to the Jews to tell them about Jesus' identity because he's hopeful that they will believe in him too.

27:15But if he did not become a believer, and I'm more inclined to think that he did not, that serves to remind us of two very important truths. First, no one deserves God's grace and mercy, not those who receive it, and not those who reject it. Second, you can have a close encounter with Jesus, you can even experience a miracle and not exercise saving faith in him. That second truth is surely the reason that Jesus goes to find the man, to call him to exercise saving faith in him, whether he ever did that or not. Look again at Jesus' command to him, verse 15, 14, excuse me.

28:10Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you. Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you. I think a lot of Americans read those words and they think, worse? What could be worse than being paralyzed for 38 years? Well, let's let Jesus answer that question. Matthew chapter 10, take a look at the screen. And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

28:57What is worse than being paralyzed for 38 years? What is worse than getting sick? Having a debilitating physical condition? Even dying? What is worse than all of that? Jesus tells us: it is having both your body and your soul destroyed in hell. It would be better to be paralyzed for life. It would be better to get COVID. It would be better to get any kind of debilitating physical condition. It would be better to die than to have both your body and your soul destroyed in hell. That would be better than experiencing the judgment of God for your unrepentant sin.

29:41And just like we saw in chapter four, Jesus has bigger goals than simply healing our earthly bodies. He does want to heal our souls. He wants full and complete healing for us. But, friends, that kind of healing only comes. Through repentance and faith in Christ. See, you are well. God had done great things for this man, and He's done great things for you and me. But Romans 2 tells us that God's kindness is meant to lead us to repentance.

30:20There is a specific goal that God has in mind in His kindness, and it's to lead us to repentance. Jesus urges Him to repent. Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. Friends, do you want to be healed? Do you want to be healed, not just your earthly body, not just your mind, but your eternal soul? If so, don't despise the kindness of the Lord by failing to acknowledge your sin, turning away from it, and turning to Christ in repentant faith. That is the only way that you can be healed completely, eternally.

31:06Verse 16. 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. The Jews persecuted Jesus. They tried even harder to put him to death because in their minds he broke the Sabbath and he committed blasphemy.

31:55Well, Jesus did violate their understanding of the Sabbath. And Jesus certainly did claim to be God. When he says, My Father is working until now, and I am working, Jesus is saying that even God does not operate the way that they understand the Sabbath. God created all things in six days and then rested on the seventh day, but he is always working. Even on the Sabbath day, God is working, so to speak, to keep the sun shining, to keep the earth spinning, to keep our hearts beating and our lungs breathing. God is always working, even on the Sabbath.

32:40And when Jesus adds, and I am working, he is saying that he has the same authority to work on the Sabbath because he is God. Jesus performed many miracles, including healing this man on the Sabbath, to Force people to decide what to do with him. They could repent and believe in him as Lord and Savior, or they could reject him and kill him as a blasphemer. But as C.S. Lewis has famously noted, there is not another option.

33:19Jesus claimed to be God, and the Jews understood that with crystal clarity. So he could have been lying, he could have been a lunatic, or he is the Lord. But those are the only options. What do you believe about Jesus? Friends, Jesus sees you and knows you. And through His Word today, He asks you a simple question: Do you want to be healed? If so, what kind of healing do you want? If this life is all there is, then there could be nothing worse than being paralyzed for 38 years, or getting sick, or dying.

34:10And if that's what you believe, you will ask God to fix you rather than heal you. But if you believe that this life is not all there is, that God does exist, and we will all stand before Him one day to be judged according to what we have done in this life. Life, then you will not just want to be fixed, you will want to be healed, body and soul. And healing only comes through repentance and faith. You must turn from your sin and you must receive the person and work of Jesus Christ by placing your full faith, your full confidence in Him to save you, trusting in no one and nothing else to be forgiven and reconciled to God other than Him. He and He alone can completely and permanently heal you, body and soul. That is the kind of healing that Jesus wanted for this man, not just for His body, but for His soul.

35:15I don't know if that man wanted that kind of healing, but I hope you do. Let's pray. Father, we are used to living in a society at this point that promises a host of solutions. To fix whatever seems to be wrong with us, there are medical solutions and dietary solutions, exercise solutions, counseling solutions, medicinal solutions. The shelves of bookstores are filled with books that promise to fix what is wrong with us. But, God, you make it so clear to us in this passage and in many others that you don't just want to fix us, you want to heal us.

37:01I pray this morning that we would want to be healed. And I pray that we would see that Jesus is the only one who can heal us completely and perfectly. God, for those who are discouraged and let down because they have put their trust and put their hope in so many things other than Jesus, I pray this morning. That they would turn to him, believing that you can heal whatever is wrong with them, and that you do promise to heal everything that is wrong with us when you return.

37:49Then we can look forward to the cleansing of our souls and our bodies. We can look forward to that new body that is no longer broken by sin and the curse, but has been made new. I pray that you would fill them with hope today, where they have been hopeless before. And God, for every Christian in the room today, I pray that you would renew our faith this morning that Jesus is God and the great physician.

38:32I pray that you would help us to bear up under our trials the very difficult things that many people are going through physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Give us faith to look to you and to pray to you and to ask others to pray for us, believing that you can heal us, that you want to heal us, and that you will. Heal us perfectly and completely on that great day. Thank you, God, for your word and for the hope that it has brought to us afresh this morning. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

39:17Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.