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1. Read verses 1-4. Where did Jesus go? Why? Which place did he specifically visit? Think about the life in Bethesda pool? 2. Read verses 5-6. What specific person did Jesus encounter? What was the man’s human condition? Knowing his human condition, what was Jesus’ first word to him? What does this say of Jesus? 3. Read verses 7-9a. How did the man answer? What does his word say about his way of living and his life problem? How did Jesus finally help this man? What result did it bring? Think about the meaning of the word of Jesus’ command? 4. Read verses 9b-15. What problem arose because of Jesus’ healing? How did the man react at this? What did Jesus help him further? What did the man do? What can we learn from this event?

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Message

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Thank God for helping us to learn that true and reliable faith is the faith which is based on the word of God, not visible miracles. We continually pray for the study of John’s gospel that we may absolute believe the words of Jesus and grow in personal relationship with him. In today’s passage Jesus heals a man who had been invalid for 38 years by commanding, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” We see Jesus loved him so much that Jesus visited this particular person and healed of his 38-year prolonged paralysis and made him walk. Jesus hoped that this man might live a powerful life that would please God and a blessing to others. Through this study may we accept Jesus’ love and hope into our hearts. Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Jesus did not go to the temple or the palace or some other friends’ house, but a pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. The pool was not a swimming pool, but a pool for some other purpose. The pool was called in Aramaic Bethesda, meaning house of mercy. The Bethesda pool must have been beautiful, located in the sunny place with various kinds of fish swimming in it and many trees around it. It was probably like the Garden of Eden. But what was happening there? Verse 3 says, “Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.” Imagine hundreds or thousands of people with disabilities were lying around the pool. It was not a walking and working group of people but a people lying there helplessly because of their disabilities. The people of the world regarded them as unfortunate and cursed by God. Still, to the people in Bethesda lying down was their daily routine and normal. They formed a lying community for many years. Though they had difficulties in life, they somehow managed their lives, trying to help one another, sometimes competing. They also had a hope. Their hope was that sometimes the pool would become a disturbed pool stirred up by an angel. At the time of disturbance anyone who could get into the pool first would be healed. It was not a sure hope but a vague one that had been handed down through word of mouth. Even if the hope were believable, it was very limited. Jesus came to this specific place and healed a specific person. His healing was quite different from healing by disturbance of water or spa. His healing was a divine healing with deep spiritual meanings. Let’s think about Jesus’ healing. First, “Do you want to get well?” Look at verses 5,6. “One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?” In the Bible a woman had been sick for 12 years, and another woman, for 18 years. But the man in this passage had the longest written record of illness, 38 years in the Bible. 38 years are a long time, too long to lie down in paralysis. In the past 38 years many things had changed: political system was changed and several new generations rose. The greatest change was that the Son of God came into this world and began his history-changing work. But this man remained unchanged, just lying there almost four decades. His face must have been like a skeleton and his skin clung to his bones. He seemed to be a worthless figure forgotten by the world and even by his own family members. But Jesus came to this man and had interest in him. Jesus saw him as a father sees his sick son. Jesus knew all abut his life history and present condition including how long he had been ill. Jesus knew all of his numerous attempts to be healed and frustrations and failures afterward. Jesus knew that because of his endless failures now the man had no more desire and strength to try again to be healed. Jesus knew he had no hope, even a slender hope of getting well. Knowing all these things, Jesus asked him, “Do you want to get well?” Who is this Jesus? Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” There is no shadow of changing with him. His hope never changes. The man’s hope was weakened gradually at each time of failure and finally was gone with no more want. Human hope is conditional, but not Jesus’. His hope is unconditional and the same from first to last. Any man’s human condition cannot weaken Jesus’ hope or take away hope from him. Even the man’s 38 years of unchanged human condition could not change Jesus’ hope. Jesus’ unchanging hope was much stronger than the man’s unchanged condition. Jesus’ unchanging hope can bring change and healing. When Jesus asked him, “Do you want to get well?” he was showing his hope and his want, “I want you to get well.” Through this question Jesus wanted him to look at Jesus so that new holy desire to get well might spring up in his heart. Jesus wanted him to have new hope through looking at Jesus. Jesus is the God of hope. Thank God that in Jesus there is no giving-up and despair, but new hope and healing and change. Last week I read a mission report from Sri Lanka by missionary Barnabas Baek. Sri Lanka has been a Buddhist country for 2300 years. But the God of hope is doing his gospel work through missionary Barnabas Baek and his family. We have been pioneering UofT for many long years. But Jesus, the God of hope, will bring change and fulfillment of his purpose. May the God of hope be with you. Second, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” How did the man respond to Jesus’ words of hope? Look at verse 7. “‘Sir,’ the invalid replied, ‘I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” This man did not pay attention to Jesus. He could not look up at Jesus. He said, “I have no one to help me when the water is stirred.” He was bitter that no one helped him at a crucial moment. He was pitiful that someone else always went ahead of him. He lived in the world of people only, no one to help him and someone else to go ahead of him. As a result the spirit of dependence and complaint and bitterness occupied his heart. And the spirit of defeatism marked his ways. He felt so miserable that though he tried hard, he was defeated. How did Jesus help him? Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!” Wow! What a command! This is a thunderous command. The man had never gotten up, never picked up his mat, and never walked for the past 38 years. It was the most difficult thing for him to do, although he knew he had to do it. It was an impossible thing for this man. Yet Jesus commanded him to get up and pick up his mat and walk. No human being had ever commanded him like this. But Jesus did. It is because Jesus believed that it was possible in God. Jesus’ help was absolute, not relative. Jesus did not help him to go ahead of others into the pool. Jesus helped him to get up and stand on his own feet and walk here and now, irrelevant to going into the pool first. In God this man had no reason to lie down permanently, but had every reason to get up and walk now and to the end of his life. Jesus is the Creator God. He is the author of life. He came to bless mankind. He changed water into wine. He offers men eternal life through his salvation from sin and condemnation. He is the spring of living water and the object of worship, and quenches all thirsty souls. He is the giver of life now and forevermore. Since Jesus came to this world and into the Bethesda society, this invalid man had no reason at all to lie down. With no excuse he was to get up, pick up his mat and walk. Through Jesus’ coming all the blessings have come to mankind. This is the very reason Jesus commanded him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” This was Jesus’ challenging but loving voice, “My son, Get up! Walk.” Even if he had no record of walking in his life, he had to get up and walk. Even if he thought he was too old to get up, he had to get up and walk. Even if all others were lying, he had to get up and walk. Jesus came to give abundant life to men. Through Jesus’ coming all the curses were removed; all the blessings of God have been restored. The old has gone; the new has come. The darkness of night has gone; the brightness of day has come. The spirit of fatalism and defeatism has gone; the spirit of challenge and victory has come. Verse 9 says, “At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.” When God created the world and man, God blessed him and commanded him to be the steward of the world and ruler over everything. Man was to be full of challenging and pioneering and conquering spirit. Man was to live a powerful life with the spirit of dependence on God only in obedience to his command. Now in Jesus this blessing of God can be restored fully. Even a man with 38 year-prolonged paralysis is to get up and walk and live a powerful life to please God and be a blessing to others. Satan whispers, “You used to lie down, so lying down is natural and okay; stay lying down and be comfortable.” But Jesus commands, “Get up! Pick your mat and walk,” though it is sometimes uncomfortable and painful and adventurous. In Jesus there is no fatalism and no defeatism, but endless challenge with assurance of victory. We thank and praise God for Jesus’ holy command, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” I thank and praise God that M. Mary Moon began to feed U of T sheep after 8 years of her life journey in this mission land. She confessed that she could survive for the last 3 week, bearing her fulltime study, weekend work, family care along with feeding God’s sheep. May God help her to keep spiritual fighting and live a powerful life to please God and be a blessing to many people. Thank God for working in us this fall by sending his flock of sheep one by one. May we strenuously pioneer U of T and do the work of faith for his glory by obeying Jesus’ command, “Get up! Pick your mat and walk.” Third, “Stop sinning.” The day on which this took place was a Sabbath. So there was persecution upon this man from the Jews. The Jews were not happy and joyful with this healing. They were legalistic because of their jealousy of Jesus. When the Jews asked him why he carried his mat on the Sabbath, he was intimidated and blamed Jesus. He said, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.” He should have testified to the grace of Jesus, saying, “I was an invalid for 38 years. But Jesus healed me; so walk. I praise Jesus.” In Acts 3 there was a man crippled from birth. When the man was healed by the help of Peter and John, he jumped to his feet and praised God, walking and jumping. But this man in John chapter 5 had no thanks and praise to God. How can it be possible that he was not thankful at all, though he could get up and walk after 38 long years of lying down? He probably thought, “Why did Jesus heal me on the Sabbath, not on some other day?” Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” When Jesus said, “Stop sinning,” it meant this man was sinning continually. His sin was sin of complaining and blaming on others. He had blamed that before no one had helped him. Now he blamed Jesus for healing him and thus bringing trouble to him. What a terrible sin! Unthankfulness is a fundamental sin of mankind. Despite the amazing grace of God, sinners can become suddenly unthankful because of small hardships. Although they can have thousand topics to be thankful for, they can hold one thing that made them sorry and remain bitter. Sinners have tendency to forget many gracious helps they received from God and others and remember only bitter things. They can forget God’s wonderful saving grace when they are relieved, and live against God’s truth. We all should learn how to bear God’s saving grace and how to be thankful for all the grace we have received and give thanks to God in all circumstances. As for Jesus the result of healing this man was being persecuted severely. But when Jesus healed the man, Jesus did not care whether it was on the Sabbath or whether he would be persecuted. He was only concerned about helping him get well after long suffering. The man seemed to be a worthless man to receive Jesus’ visiting and healing. But to Jesus he was the most precious soul and worthy person to receive his grace. There is no question of why Jesus did so. The only reason was Jesus’ immeasurable love. If only the man could be healed, Jesus was willing to be persecuted. More than that Jesus would die on the cross for this man. Apostle Paul described this love in Romans 5:6-8: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We thank and praise Jesus for his love and hope and faith for the man who had been invalid for 38 years. Jesus loved him unconditionally and came to him and made him well. This love is also his love for each of us. In his love may we obey Jesus’ command “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk”, and live by the truth of God, not compromising with our situations. May we walk on the higher ground of faith to please God and be a blessing to others.

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