FOCUS Day Thirty-Eight | John 5:1-23
DAY THIRTY-EIGHT | John 5:1-23
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. 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. 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?”
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 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. The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”
He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ ”
Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”
Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
I’m with Him…
In what has to be one of the most bazaar scenes recorded in Scriptures, Jesus enters into a pool where there were many sick, lane and hurting people. He approached one “certain man” that had been lame for thirty-eight years and heals him. We have no record of anyone else being healed that day – just one lame man who received exactly what he needed.
If I am honest with you, the story has always bothered me if I think about what it must’ve been like for all the other sick and hurting people there. In my mind, it would’ve been way better for everyone who saw Jesus that day to have received the miracle that they needed. But for whatever reason, the Holy Spirit chose to tell us a story where Jesus didn’t minister to the whole crowd. His mission was just for one.
Because Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath, the religious rulers were very upset. It is telling, the way that Jesus responds to them. “My Father has been working until now and I have been working.”
This story is the wrapper for one of the most important, underlying lessons of how Jesus operated on the earth. Jesus lets everyone know that He was only doing what He saw the Father doing. He went on to say that because the Father loved Him, that the Father showed Him everything that He should do.
While I think there is a significant theological importance to this passage, I want to focus more on the relationship between Jesus and God the Father. If you read this entire passage you find that it was because of the love that Jesus had for the Father, that He did whatever He saw the Father doing. And it was because of the Father’s love for the Son, that He showed Jesus everything that Jesus needed to do.
This is a beautiful depiction of the unity between the Father and the Son. This type of unity is more than conceptual, it is real and changes everything. It is union, and in John 17 Jesus asked the Father that His disciples would be one in the same way that He was one with God.
This passage made me think of the way that I related to my dad when I was just a little boy. I didn’t really care what my dad was doing, I wanted to do it with him. My favorite thing was being together with the man who is my hero, my teacher, and the one that I knew loved me always.
Sometimes we would work on projects together. Sometimes we would wrestle on the floor. Sometimes we would play baseball together, but other times we would work on model cars. I learned to play golf, sort tackle, and build a house out of Legos by watching him.
More importantly, I learned how to treat my mom and sisters, memorize scriptures and pray from being together with him. I wanted to dress like him, talk like him, and be like him.
Yes, this is a part of identity. This is a part of me being a son. But there is something that goes a little bit deeper here.
My identity may have given me access to being around my dad, but the way that my dad loved me and the way that I loved him created a special closeness between us. My identity as a son opened the door for intimacy with my father.
I see Jesus acknowledging that He’s just looking at whatever the Father’s up to, and doing the same thing. That makes the miracle that happened at the pool seem different to me. It was not that Jesus was discriminating against others that needed healing. He was paying attention to the way that Father was highlighting one, hurting individual that needed a miracle.
Being with the Father was the one thing that Jesus lived for. And according to this passage, the Father loved the Son so much that He showed Him everything that He needed to know. This is a beautiful relationship, and one that we are called to emulate.
To this day, when I get to spend time with my dad, I know that he doesn’t really care what we are doing, as long as we are doing it together. I know that he loves me and chooses me. That makes me want to be with him and choose him back.
This is what I see in this passage. A mutual choosing of each other in a way that shares honor and holy esteem for each other. This is perfect love.
Whether you have ever known this type of love on the earth or not, I pray that you would know there’s a heavenly Father that loves you and chooses you always. I pray that you would have eyes to see what the Father is doing in and around you, so that you’ll know how to cooperate with Him. And finally, I pray that as you fix your eyes on Jesus, that your confidence in your identity would fuel the fire of intimacy in your relationship with your heavenly Father.
