A Miracle On the Sabbath

This morning we’re looking at another one of Jesus’ miracles, and each of these have been recorded for a reason. If we fast forward all the way to the end of the book in John 20:30-31, we read this:

John 20:30–31 ESV

³⁰ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹ but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Notice the goal of these stories isn’t to convince you that miracles are real—they’re to convince you that Jesus is the Christ. If you have trouble accepting the miracles you find in the Bible, that makes sense—you might not have seen anything like them before. That’s why they’re called miracles.

But we also need to remember that believing in miracles is a dependent belief. They’re meant to teach us about the Son of God, and it should be relatively easy to accept that, if God exists, then he would certainly be able to perform miracles.

If the owner of a house can decide to add a new garage, then the creator of the universe can decide to make one of his creations walk. It’s all his.

So, if John gives us these specific miracles in his biography of Jesus—when apparently there were many other signs—then it’s worth us asking what this miracle teaches us about Jesus and how we should relate to him. How does this miracle help us believe?

Because with the healing of the man at the pool in Bethesda in particular, we also see a turning point in Jesus’ ministry. By the end of the story, verse 18 says, “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him.” From here on out, we’re going to see a growing movement against Jesus that rejects his ministry—not because he performed a miracle, but because of what that miracle communicated about him.

There’s a lot of questions you might have about the Bible and Christianity. I’m sure those are very real questions, and we want our church to feel like this is a place where you can ask them. But our starting point for answering the questions we have about the Bible centers on the main character of the Bible.

Macie had a lot of questions when she first met me or when we first went on a date. But once she trusted me, she had a solid foundation and a lens she could see through as she approached those questions and learned those other things about me.

Whatever questions you might have about Christianity today, my encouragement is that you approach those questions in light of learning about the person and work of Jesus, and stories like this miracle at the start of John 5 can help us do that.

Over the course of this story, we learn why some people receive Jesus while others reject him, but also why every person has to respond to him. And John uses three main topics o teach us: a pool, a miracle, and a weekend. So, I want us to look each of these this morning. Let’s start with the pool. Read with me, beginning in verse 1:

John 5:1–7 ESV

¹ After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

² Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. ³ In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. ⁵ One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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?” 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.”

This is Jesus’ second of five visits that he’ll make to Jerusalem over the course of his ministry. Most of the time, John tells us whatever religious feast it is that’s happening and then weaves that theme into the story. But here, he keeps the feast anonymous, probably because there wasn’t an obvious connection.

But when Jesus arrives, he visits what was called the Sheep Gate, which would have been near the northeast corner of the city. Archaeologists have actually found two pools that were there, which were surrounded by four covered colonnades for shelter and then a fifth between the two pools. Depending on the manuscript, this pool had been given a few different names, but it most likely went by what John calls it here: Bethesda, which means “house of mercy”.

And that certainly describes how Jesus approached it. In several of his other miracles, someone comes to Jesus asking for help (we just saw that last week with the royal official from Capernaum). But here, Jesus is the one who approaches the man. The pool was surrounded by what verse 3 says was “a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.”

And yet Jesus chooses to show mercy to this man. Certainly not because he deserved it—we’re going to learn more about the man’s character throughout the rest of the story. But Jesus chooses a man who had been most likely paralyzed for 38 years, and he asks him, “Do you want to be healed?”

Now, before we dive into the man’s answer, you might have noticed: Where’s verse 4? Well, it’s not there! Our best manuscripts of the gospel of John—and by that I mean the oldest, most complete, and most in agreement with one another—our best and most reliable manuscripts don’t have verse 4. Also, in case you didn’t know this: the Bible wasn’t originally written with chapters and verses. That was just an organizational tool that was added to Scripture later to help categorize it.

And when the system of chapters and verses were added, they used the manuscripts that they had access to at the time. But since then we’ve found papyri with books like the gospel of John that are dated much closer to when this would’ve first been written, and they don’t include what used to be verse 4. Most likely, that verse was added at some point to provide commentary and fill in the gaps, so that readers would understand the man’s response to Jesus about why he couldn’t be healed since he had no one to bring him into the pool in verse 7. So here’s what verse 4 originally said:

[the blind, lame, and paralyzed were] waiting for the moving of the water; 4 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

If an angel was actually stirring the water for a contest to heal the first person entering the pool, then that would be the only thing we see like that in the entire Bible. That’s not really consistent with how God heals, and it probably wasn’t the case. These kinds of pools were occasionally fed by artesian wells, which would stir the water similar to a hot spring whenever they flowed. That’s most likely what’s happening here.

But for these people who have lived much of their lives impaired and wanted any sign of hope that they could be made well, the legend behind the pool was something they clang to. Which is what makes it so ironic when the creator of the water that flowed in the pools, the inventor of walking, says to this man, “Do you want to be healed?” And the man can only think of his hope in terms of the pool he can’t reach. He says in verse 7, “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.”

If that was all there was to the story, we’d pity the man for not seeing the opportunity for true healing right in front of him as he placed his hope in a lesser thing that would never be able to fully meet his need. And yet, each of us can be guilty of doing the exact same thing in various ways. We all look somewhere for healing—somewhere to fix the things we think are broken in us or somewhere to give us a peace and positive self-impression.

It doesn’t take a Christian or a spiritual person for us to admit that we all have flaws. No one is fully the way we think we should be or even the way we want to be. In very real ways, we can tell that the world is broken. But where do we turn to fix it? Where do we look to fix ourselves? It could be losing weight and getting in shape. It could be earning that next promotion or landing that dream job. It could be growing a family with a spouse who loves you and having some amazing kids. It could be growing aspects of your character, like becoming a more kind or tolerant or selfless person.

The world gives us self-help books to show us the way. Social media influencers point us to new habits or hacks to live a better life. Even some churches will place all the emphasis on your level of faith, essentially saying you have the key to unlock God’s power of healing and prosperity in your life.

And while we look to any number of created things in us or around us for hope—just like this man with his pool—Jesus, our Creator, is standing in front of us and asking, “Do you want to be healed?” Just like the paralyzed man or any of the other people there at Bethesda that day, we are unable to meet our deepest need. We are unable to heal ourselves. And we will not see Jesus as good news for our lives without grasping the bad news of a life without him. 

Of course, this man knew a lot of the bad news. He knew he couldn’t heal himself, and that he needed help. But he was still placing his hope in the wrong thing. And that’s when Jesus provides a better way. What the man had tried and failed to do for 38 years, Jesus accomplishes in just a sentence. Let’s continue reading in verses 8 and 9 as we look at the miracle.

John 5:8–9 ESV

⁸ Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” ⁹ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Jesus doesn’t have a drawn out, personal conversation here like he did with the woman at the well, and he doesn’t offer a critique of the wrong kind of belief like he does with the royal official. He just heals the man. He doesn’t wait for the man to figure everything out; he just heals him.

The man had the object of his faith wrong, but he was also acknowledging that he can’t heal himself and needed help. When Jesus heals him in verses 8 and 9, he’s telling him, “I’m the one that can truly help.” Jesus is the only thing that can give us the healing that we want in our lives. Anything else we look to is either temporary or also broken, and so it’ll eventually leave us or fail us.

Parents find a lot of joy in loving their kids, but they can find a lot of disappointment when they place their hope in their kids. They’re awesome, and they’re still going to let you down sometimes. They can’t fix you. Same thing with your job. Your job could be supporting your family and killing your soul all at the same time. These are all good things, but they were never meant to be ultimate things. They were never meant to be healing things.

When life can feel up and down like this (and it will), we need something that’s steady that can give us an ongoing sense of value, meaning, and peace. And that’s where Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Of course, at this point, the man doesn’t even know who Jesus is yet. He’s been healed. He’s walking, but Jesus hasn’t told him anything about himself. And I think that’s a good reminder for us. While Scripture calls us to repent of our sin and rebellion for the ways we try to rule our lives in place of God and to trust in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus on our behalf, it’s not like our faith is some magic formula that unlocks the mighty work of God in our lives. We respond to his work, and he is the only one that heals. He’s the only one that saves.

The man had tried to make it into the pool for years, but the command of Jesus creates the thing he calls out in an instant. And then the man responds to the work of Jesus with a faith that leads him to obediently act: he picks up his bed, and he walks.

That’s the invitation of the gospel—not to earn Christ’s work but to respond to it. It’s already been finished. Jesus did what we could not. Where we are broken, he is whole. Where we’ve failed, he’s succeeded. Where we deserved punishment for rejecting God, he took that punishment for us. And where our death would have separated us from God, his resurrected life can now unite us to him. If you approach Christianity believing you either need to earn God’s favor or you need to maintain it, then you’ll never rest or truly enjoy life with him.

Think of your best friend and your newest friend. With your best friend, it’s easy to get together and do nothing. You don’t have prove yourself to them. You don’t feel bad if you’re not keeping them entertained. It’s nice to just be together, no matter what you’re doing.

But you’re newest friend? You’re still molding that relationship. You invite them to coffee or lunch and try to have a “good conversation”. If I don’t see my best friend for a month, we can pick right back up where we left off. But the new friend might not still be a friend if we don’t keep reaching out.

That’s why it’s harder for adults to build strong, new friendships—because they require work; you gotta keep reaching out and being intentional—you gotta maintain it.

The gospel is good news because Jesus took all the intentionality of making you his friend. He’s done all the work. He knows everything about you and still loves you. He’s sacrificed so you can be together. Because of who Jesus is and what’s he’s done, following him means resting in him; not performing for him. Yes, the life of a Christian should increasingly change. It should look different. But that’s the work of your Savior rubbing off on your heart, not you trying to keep him around. The latter sees following Jesus as a burden, but the former sees following Jesus as a delight.

Neither describes the response of the Jewish religious leaders in verses 9-18 though. In a lot of these miracle stories, we see the person run to go share with others how Jesus has healed them. But Jesus healed this man on the weekend, specifically on the Sabbath, and that leaves the Jews upset and the man passing the blame onto Jesus as a result. Let’s keep reading, starting at the end of verse 9 and going through verse 18.

John 5:9–18 ESV

Now that day was the Sabbath. 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.” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” ¹³ 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. 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.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. ¹⁶ And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

¹⁸ 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 only person Jesus interacts with in this story is the man he heals, but everyone has a response to him. Because whether you accept him or reject him, looking at Jesus forces us to look at ourselves. In verses 10-11, we see how Jesus confronts our religion. The Jewish religious leaders’ problem with Jesus wasn’t that he healed a man; it was when he healed a man.

The Sabbath was a holy day for the Jews, and starting with the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20 we see God tell his people that they should abstain from their work on that seventh day (which would be Saturday). The Hebrew word for “work” here spoke to purposeful and productive activity. So, in that sense, they had a point: healing someone was certainly “productive”. Was Jesus breaking the law?

Well, we have the benefit of having the entire biblical story, so we can read several instances where Jesus heals on the Sabbath and shares his reasoning behind it. One of the most helpful places is Mark 2 where Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” God didn’t give the law about the Sabbath (or any of his laws) to restrict good from us; they were meant to be a blessing to us.

And so, like he does with so many other parts of the Old Testament, Jesus deepens our understanding here: God doesn’t prohibit serving others one day a week. No, he graciously provided us with a rhythm of rest so our daily work wouldn’t control us, but we’d remember and worship our God who works for us. And we see our Lord do exactly that here—he’s working for us in each of these miracle stories as he makes broken things new.

But simply by serving this man and healing his body, Jesus places a spotlight on where the people where looking to be right with God. They weren’t resting in God’s work; they were trusting in their ability to uphold God’s law. They were trusting in their own performance, and in that way, whether you consider yourself spiritual or not, we all struggle with doing the same thing. We all struggle with our own form of religiosity. The non-Christian might look to his tolerance or his generosity or his sincerity in trying to live a good life as the thing that makes him a good person—as they thing that justifies him.

But the Christian can deal with the same challenge: even after trusting in the work of Jesus on our behalf, we might believe God is closer to us and more pleased with us when we are performing well for him—when we’re reading our Bibles, or attending church, or serving, or whatever it might be. And we might struggle with thinking that God is far from us when we’re not doing those things or when we’re struggling with sin.

But if the work of Jesus is what makes you right with God, then the work of Jesus is the only thing that can keep you right with God. We didn’t earn it at the beginning, and we don’t earn it any more now. See, we all can struggle with placing ourselves under the burden of religion and trying to justify ourselves. But here, we see that only Jesus saves, and understanding who he is requires us to not trust in our own ability to earn his favor.

But just because we can experience this incredibly unearned grace from Jesus doesn’t mean he doesn’t also call us out for our sin. In verses 12-13, we see the man didn’t know who Jesus was when the Jewish leaders asked who it was that healed him. But in verse 14, Jesus meets him again, and this time he shifts from addressing the man’s physical need to pointing out his spiritual need. He says, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”

Now, we have to be careful here not to build a doctrine on a single verse. Four chapters later in John 9, Jesus is going to explicitly say a man’s blindness had nothing to do with his sin. But it does seem in John 5 that this man’s disability was the result of some kind of specific sin.

And that’s not hard for us to fathom. Social media is full of people getting hurt doing stupid things. I went to a Christian school, and one year I had an assignment to make a video teaching on the topic of wisdom. In my brilliant young mind, I thought the best way to do that would be to film myself and my friends doing all kinds of unwise things—we skateboarded down the roof, we dragged each other on stop signs behind a four-wheeler—I believe the climax was me using gasoline and the burn pile in our back yard to create a ring of fire around one of my friends standing in the middle.

Then I would have a smash cut in the video to explain why that wasn’t wise and use some Scripture. Not my best moment. Thankfully no one got hurt.

In every other area of life, we find it easy to believe that bad actions can have consequences. But when it comes to the existence of God, we want to presume that he’s fine with us doing whatever we want. In verse 15, we even see the man go right back to the Jewish leaders to tell on Jesus once he knows who he is.

When your child tries to touch a burning stove, you tell them no. If they’re close to reaching the stove, you’ll physically pull them away. You might even give them a timeout—not because you’re mad at your kids, but because you love your kids and don’t want them to do something that would hurt themselves.

God treats sin seriously for two reasons—it’s the opposite of who he is (that’s actually what makes sin “sin”)—and he loves his creation and doesn’t want to see us damaged by it. Sin disorders God’s good design, but through Christ we have hope in the one who had no sin but became sin for us so that we might experience the righteousness of God.

We love the love of God at this church, and we want you to experience it for yourself. But that also means we’re going to be serious about our sin and the ways we fall short—both because we feel safe enough in Christ’s love to be honest about ourselves, but also because acknowledging and turning from our sin helps us understand his love all the more.

Because Jesus doesn’t just stop when he first heals us. In a passage of Scripture dealing with the Sabbath, Jesus says in verse 17 that even when we rest, the Father is still working, and he is still working. That’s an incredibly freeing thought.

A lot of you know that I have two full time jobs: both pastoring this church and working for a marketing agency. Most nights of the week, I spend some time working on my sermon after my family’s gone to sleep. I’ve gotten a little better at managing my time, but I regularly feel like there’s more I wish I could have done by the end of each day.

Still, every night, I have to go to sleep. And that sleep is a gift; not just because my body needs it but because my heart needs it. When my head hits the pillow, one of the things I pray to God is that I can’t do anything else that day. I have to rest. But I try to make it a habit to praise God in that moment that when I’ve reached the end of the work that I can do, God is still working. When I have to rest, I can do so in peace because God doesn’t tire, he doesn’t fail, and he doesn’t stop.

Your moments of rest are a grace that can help you remember the sovereign love and faithful work of our good God.

And yet, the thought of the Father still working and Jesus still working doesn’t give the Jewish leaders peace; it fills them with anger. Why? Verse 18 says, “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.”

As we close this morning, verse 18 ends with the exact decision that every one of us is faced with when it comes to Jesus: Are we okay with him being equal with God, or do we want to be equal with God? Do we want to live with him as the authority over our lives, or do we want to be our own authority over our lives? Do we believe we need Jesus to be right with God, or do we think we can earn our way ourselves.

The Jewish leaders in the story held up their religious statements that they wanted to obey God, but in the end they were trusting in their own ability to make things right. Jesus shows us that being healed by him comes with us submitting to him—not just for what he’s done, but for who he is. Jesus is God, and he invites you to turn from whatever other things you’re looking to in your life right now to heal you and to trust in what he’s already done for you in his life, death, and resurrection.

Let’s pray.