The Pool of Bethesda

The Pool of Bethesda, Jerusalem

John 5:1-9

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 

The Jews were required to keep three feasts a year.  Passover, called the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks, and Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths.  Studies of these Feasts are fascinating and can give one an insight into Christ’s ministry to us as well as open up our understanding of the Hebrew culture. 

It is not known which feast the Lord was keeping when He went to Jerusalem.  Here’s what David Brown says on this topic:

What feast? No question has more divided the Harmonists of the Gospels, and the duration of our Lord's ministry may be said to hinge on it. For if, as the majority have thought (until of late years) it was a Passover, His ministry lasted three and a half years; if not, probably a year less. Those who are dissatisfied with the Passover-view all differ among themselves what other feast it was, and some of the most acute think there are no grounds for deciding. In our judgment the evidence is in favor of its being a Passover.

Bethesda has been spelled in different ways and has three meanings.  Beth means “house,” and -thesda is said to mean “grace” or “mercy.”  It can also mean “place of two outpourings,” which would make sense because there is archaeological evidence that two adjacent pools of water served that area in those days, including the pool of Siloam.  The Bible also mentions these waterways in the Book of Kings and in Isaiah.  

I think all of the meanings of this place are significant: Jesus chose to come here where there were two outpourings of water to show or pour out His grace and mercy on the one who was healed!

For many years the Pool of Bethesda was considered a “made up” place, contributing to the speculation that the Bible was fictitious or that John’s gospel was written much later than claimed. (John’s gospel is the only one in which this incident is discussed.)  In the 19^th century, the pool was discovered near St. Anne’s church but there was some doubt as to the validity of that claim.  However, in 1964 further evidence was uncovered.

Some Byzantine and Crusader churches, Hadrian's Temple of Asclepius and Serapis, the small healing pools of the Asclepieion, the other of the two large pools, and the dam between them were found there.  

It was discovered that the Byzantine construction was built in the very heart of Hadrian's construction, and contained the healing pools.

Near the pool is the Sheep Gate, translated in the King James as “sheep market” gate.  I think it’s interesting that the Holy Spirit wanted us to see Jesus, the Lamb of God as John called Him, at this location. 

There is some controversy surrounding the King James Version of John 5.  Apparently the best manuscripts don’t have the end of verse 3 and leave out all of verse 4.  But as Wiersbe says, the event and the man’s words in v. 7 wouldn’t make any sense without them.

In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. 

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 

It is interesting that this man was sick for this length of time.  The only other thirty eight year period of time mentioned in the Bible is found in Deuteronomy.  The Jews left Egypt, went to the Land of Canaan and had the spies check out the land. Some of the people wanted to go in right away, but several also were afraid and would not go in.  So God let them wander in the desert for the length of time it took that the unbelieving among them would die:

And the time we took to come from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed over the Valley of the Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war was consumed from the midst of the camp, just as the LORD had sworn to them.

It takes the gift of mercy to even go to where there are sick people.  I think it also takes the gift of cheerfulness in order to heal.  I can imagine Jesus coming, looking around the pool, and seeing all these people and having compassion on them.  But he singled out one man. 

When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" 

What a question!  I think Jesus asks this of us as well.  What is your infirmity?  What have you struggled for years to overcome, or perhaps you have been overcome by it?  I think it’s interesting that the word translated here “paralyzed” is also translated “impotent.”  Some synonyms for this are powerless, helpless, weak and ineffective.  Do you feel like this?  I know I have certainly felt so.  I can imagine his disgust with this…probably sick and tired of being sick. 

The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

Jesus asked a question, “Do you want to be healed?” Why would He ask this question?  I think Jesus wanted the man to recognize his condition.  Jesus did the same thing with the woman at the Samaritan well—He asked her to bring her husband and return to Him, but she told Jesus she wasn’t married.  He tells her how many times she was married, pointing to her condition—the debauchery of her lifestyle.

But this man answered with an excuse.  He must have felt powerless to the point that his will was affected.  I have felt this so many times!  I have been in my sin and problems so long that I have given up on resolving them.  Jesus has the answer:

Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk.  And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. 

Act.  Jesus gives a command.  The Lord has given me commands that would help me overcome my own issues.  For many years I had a problem with fear.  God commanded me to stop being afraid.  These are the scriptures God gave me:

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

I knew I needed to make a choice not to be afraid.  I had spent many years being fearful, partially because of my upbringing.  My father as a young man (he has since been healed of this by God) gave out both discipline and love capriciously, and I could not know which would be mine in any exchange with him.  I think this is the foundation from which I learned to fear.  It affected my relationship with my father and mother, and relationships with others.  Further, it made me think my Heavenly Father was capricious as well. 

The Lord would have me to not be afraid in how He would treat me; God would have me to honor and respect His power, and to “fear” in the sense of this reverence, but not fear how He would treat me.  Here are some verses that pointed out how I should feel about my Father in heaven.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

 Jesus asked the man to do the impossible.  Have you ever thought that God was asking too much of you?  I have thought so.  God often asks the impossible, but then when we make a step toward it, He provides a way to do so.

Tithing is one of these things as far as many are concerned.  All believers are required to tithe.  What percentage of people in the church does this?  As of 2002, six percent of us do so.  That means that 94% of Christians do not tithe. 

I feel badly for those who don’t know the blessing of tithing!  I have purposed to give even when I’m not making much money.  Yes, I could use every penny to take care of my needs, but God provides for me, I think because I tithe, in miraculous and wonderful ways.  I am making half (or less than half) of what I made last year, but God has given me so much.  Why?  Is it because I trust Him?  Maybe.

The question is, “do you want to be healed?”  Jesus may be asking you this very question.  Do you?

Jesus Heals

John 4:43-54

Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 

When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. 

"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe. The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."  Jesus replied, "You may go.  Your son will live."  

The man took Jesus at his word and departed.  While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 

When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."  Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live."   

So he and all his household believed.  This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.  

Galilee of the Gentiles is also called Syria.  Matthew 4:24  says “News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them.”

Jesus had spent some time in His hometown—Nazareth—during which He taught in the synagogue concerning Himself. 

It’s found in Luke 4: He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him and He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

It’s worth mentioning that Jesus stopped there in the middle of v. 2 of Isaiah 61.  The rest of the verse says “the day of vengeance of our God.”  Jesus didn’t say that particular scripture was fulfilled, because He had not fulfilled it yet—but He will!

All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked. Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself!  Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'"

  

"I tell you the truth," he continued, "No prophet is accepted in his hometown.  I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years, and there was a severe famine throughout the land.  Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zerepath in the region of Sidon.  

And there were many in Israel with leprosy  in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed-only Naaman the Syrian."  All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 

Many widows, but only to one (in Zerephath, in Sidon)…was Elijah sent.  Although many had need during that time of famine, Elijah only went to one of them.  Naaman (a Syrian) was the only leper healed during the time of Elisha.  They react to these little history lessons by becoming angry (28). 

Why?  Because the miracles were both done on behalf of Gentiles!  God chooses whom He will to heal, to save.  He chose to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles.  Paul said it was to make them jealous, and it worked!

Matthew 4 also tells this story.  Tells when Jesus went to Galilee.  “That it might be fulfilled what it says in the scriptures.”  What was said in the scriptures?  The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.

Now Jesus will heal the nobleman’s son.  The Jews don’t have nobles.  This man was a Gentile.  Two miracles were done in Cana, in chapters 2 and 4, and the Spirit wants them side by side: first water was turned into wine, and then the nobleman’s son was healed.  Similarities: the servants were the first to know, each of these incidents mentioned rebukes, each were done in an increment of 3 days, and the witnesses of each believed.

We sometimes think we know better than God when it comes to His work.  This nobleman brings his problem and asked the Lord to heal his child, saying “come down before my son dies!”  He didn’t realize that Jesus could do it from a distance.  But Jesus did take care of it, and the Lord said it was already done when He sent the man on his way.  Another Gentile, a centurion, also asked Jesus for healing for his servant, but he just said it’s not necessary for You to go—and Jesus commended his faith.

It’s pointed out that the next day he found out his son was healed that hour.  Here’s another of those occasions in which the time is in question.  By Roman time standards it would have been about 1 in the afternoon, but by Jewish it would be 7 p.m.  I think it was probably about one in the afternoon. 

I think this man went on his way believing that God had healed his child.  The fact that he didn’t return home until the next day might be a testimony of his faith—he may not have gone home that night when he could have.  It was only about twenty miles, and it would have been maybe 4 hours to get there at a jog.

Notice that he asks “at what hour did the healing begin?”  But the servants tell him it was instantaneous! 

This is one of three miracles Jesus performs “at a distance.”  The centurion’s servant (Matt. 8:5-13); The Canaanite woman’s daughter (Matt. 15:21-28); and this.   

It’s worth noting that Jesus’ first miracle showed that He has power over time: God can make wine out of grapes over time, but Jesus did so immediately.  Wine is made over time.  He did what the Father is always doing—the body can heal on its own over time.  Now Jesus shows His lordship over space, healing from a distance. 

Do you believe that Jesus is able to touch you, able to do in your life what He has promised?  Do you think there needs to be a special prayer, a certain formula that must be followed?  No—Jesus didn’t follow some particular formula then and He still doesn’t do that. 

Do you think you have to jump through some hoops before you are able to hear from God?  Someone once told me, “God helps those who help themselves!”  I told him, “That’s not in the Bible!”

God loves us and will provide for us (Matthew 6) especially as we seek His kingdom first.  Where are you in this?  Do you believe that God is good?  He is.  May you have faith to believe Him more and more—and may you abound in hope as you do.