Part 4 ~ Jesus heals and teaches people in Jerusalem (5:1-47)

5:1-18 ~ The third sign Jesus heals a sick man

Some time later Jesus goes to Jerusalem for another *feast like *Passover. He goes to a pool of water called Bethesda (the house of *mercy). This was near the Sheep Gate in the north-east corner of Jerusalem. Round the pool were five doors with covers over them. The pool is still there today. Sometimes the water would move. Maybe this came from a *spring under the water. Many sick people waited by the pool. The waters could heal any person entering the pool. However, this would be only for the first person that entered the pool. It would happen when the waters moved. Jesus sees one man who has been waiting by the water for 38 years. Jesus asks him if he wants to get well. This might seem a silly question. But sometimes people do not really want God to heal them. The man probably asked for money. Nobody would give him money if there was nothing wrong with him. The man thinks that there is some strange power in the water. This is what makes it move. People thought that *healing would only be for the first person in the water. So as there is no one to lift the man into the water, no one can heal him. This man has lost all hope of *healing. He does not even answer Jesus question. Jesus tells the man to stand up, lift his bed and begin to walk. The man obeys. His *healing is immediate. Usually Jesus looked for *faith from the sick person. But this time the man does not even know who Jesus is. He can walk again. It is a *miracle. This day is the *Sabbath (Saturday). The *Jewish leaders see the man carrying his mat. The *Jewish law was that a person must not work on the *Sabbath. They considered that carrying a mat was carrying furniture. Therefore, it was work. So the man has not obeyed the law. But he does not think that it is his fault. The man who made him well told him to carry his mat. The *Jews want to know who this man is. But the man does not know who has healed him. The leaders do not care that Jesus has healed the man. For them, the important thing is that Jesus has not obeyed the rules. By this time, Jesus has gone into the crowd. Jesus does not want to attract attention and *praise to himself. Later, Jesus meets the man in the *Temple. Jesus tells him that he is now well. But he also tells him to stop *sinning. Otherwise, something worse could happen to him. Maybe he would have a more serious illness. Maybe something worse would happen to him when he died. Because then, he would meet Jesus the Judge (5:27). Did Jesus words mean that the cause of the mans illness was some *sin in the past? Sometimes the *Jews thought that this might be so. But Jesus has made the man well. He shows that God does not use the disease as a punishment for *sin. If that had been so, Jesus would have acted against God. Jesus action here shows that disease is something *evil and he has power over it. The *Jewish laws about not working on the *Sabbath began when God gave Moses the Ten *Commandments (Exodus 20:8). God told the people to keep the *Sabbath day *holy and not to do any work on that day. The *Jews then made 39 rules to stop people working on the *Sabbath. One of them was that you must not carry furniture on the *Sabbath.

Yes, God did rest when he made the world. But he did not rest from his work of love and *mercy for the people in the world. That work never stops. He never rests from his work of keeping everything going in the world. Jesus the Son and God the Father work together all the time. Jesus did only the work that God told him to do. Any work that Jesus did would therefore be the Fathers work. It did not matter on what day he did it. The man goes to the *Jews. He tells them that Jesus has healed him. This does not seem to be the action of a friend. He knows that the *Jews hate Jesus. He knows that they oppose Jesus. The reason is that Jesus heals people on the *Sabbath. The man does not even thank Jesus. Perhaps the man wants to excuse himself for not obeying the *Sabbath law. The *Jewish rulers are doing everything they can to make life difficult for Jesus. They do this because he is not obeying their laws. John does not tell us how they make things difficult for Jesus. Perhaps they stop him going into the *Temple, or tell people not to listen to him. Perhaps they spread lies about him. But Jesus uses this situation to tell of God the Fathers work. His Father works all the time, even on the *Sabbath. Jesus does the same. Now the *Jews have two reasons for wanting to kill Jesus. First, he has not obeyed the *Sabbath law. Second, he calls God his Father. He is therefore saying that he is equal with God. The *Jews believe that there is only one God. He is above all other gods. So it is the worst of all *sins for Jesus to claim that he is equal with God.

5:19-47 ~ Jesus teaches about the Father and the Son

The *Jews say that Jesus makes himself equal with God. Jesus answers them in verses 19-23. Jesus does not say that he is another God. Therefore, he is not saying that he is equal with God. The Father and the Son are side by side and work together. Again, as in 5:24, Jesus says I tell you the truth. This means that what he says now is very important. If God is the Father of Jesus, it is right for Jesus to call himself Gods Son. The Father and the Son are the same in every way. The Son does all that the Father does. Human relationships between fathers and sons are never perfect. The relationship between God the Father and God the Son is perfect. Jesus can do nothing by himself (19). He always obeys the Father. The Father loves the Son and shows the Son his plans. The Son can and must obey the Fathers plan and do the Fathers work. The Fathers love for the Son is perfect. The Son obeying the Father is perfect. Jesus has healed the man by the pool. Through Jesus, God will show even greater things. These things will surprise them (20). We see Gods love in the things that Jesus does. In Jesus, we see God. If we want to know how God feels towards us, we look at Jesus. If we want to know how God loves us, we look at Jesus. The *Jews believe that God can raise the dead, but that no one else must do this. Jesus says that the Father can raise the dead to life. Therefore, he too has this authority (21) (see 11:43-4, and Luke 7:14-15). God has *created everyone. He has therefore the right to *judge everyone. God has given this authority to Jesus (29-30). You do not respect Jesus the Son. Then neither do you respect God the Father (22-23). It is important to understand this. Jesus has power to heal the man at the pool. There will be a time when Jesus will raise all people from their graves. He will then be using the same power. However, Jesus, by this same power, gives new life to us now. The hour is coming, and is here now when the dead people will hear the voice of the Son of God. Those who hear will live (25). Apart from Jesus, a persons *spirit is dead. God will give a persons *spirit life (Ephesians 2:4-7). The Son has the same power to give life as the Father has.

There is no difference between verse 22 and 3:17. The writer says that *judgement is not the main reason why Jesus came to the earth (3:17). However, God has given the Son the power to *judge. We have life if we love and obey Jesus. If we see him as an enemy, we *judge ourselves. Jesus warns the man. If he does not stop *sinning, something worse would happen to him. That could be that the Son of Man would *judge him. So what Jesus says here is very important (5:24). The Son will raise the dead and the Son will *judge each one. Again, Jesus is about to say something that is important. He wants to make this clear. The *Hebrew and Greek words for *spirit mean mans *spirit as well as Gods *Spirit. When God made Adam, God breathed his life into him (Genesis 2:7). After Adam and Eve *sinned, the *spirit inside them turned against God. They became *spiritually dead. Before a person accepts Jesus as his *Saviour, his *spirit is dead. A person with a dead *spirit does not feel sorry about his *sin. He stops feeling sad about all the trouble in the world. There are two things that a person needs to do. The first is to hear the message of Jesus. The next is to have *faith in the Father, the one who sent Jesus. That person will immediately have *eternal life. He will no more come under *judgement. His dead *spirit is now alive. There will be a time when all will hear the message. Jesus says that the time is now here. Those who believe will move from the world of those who will die. They will move into the world of those who will live (24). If people listen to his words and believe him, they will receive *eternal life. Jesus emphasises this. They were once dead but they will live. Many hear his words. However, many do not believe him. Life comes only from God (physical as well as *eternal life). Jesus says that he too has this same life to give to other people. As the Father has life in himself, so the Son has life in himself (26). Jesus repeats that he has authority to *judge people. The reason is that he is the the Son of Man (27). To the *Jewish leaders who knew their history, the name Son of Man would have a special meaning. So the things that Jesus says about himself do not please them at all. Jesus words clearly point to himself as the coming *Messiah. (See Daniel 7:13-14; Matthew 25:31, 34, 41, 46.) Jesus has healed the man at the pool. This is another sign that Jesus is the *Messiah (Isaiah 35:5). In times of war and terrible suffering, the *prophet Daniel spoke of a time when all would be well in the world. This would be when the *Messiah came. All the wicked nations would disappear. God would give power to one like a son of man (Daniel 7:1-7). These nations had been like wild animals. Into the world would come one who is gentle and kind. He would be human and not an animal. One day, there would be people of love and peace. There would be gentle people. They would rule the world. In the book of Daniel, it tells of the open books of *judgement in the court of *heaven (Daniel 7:9-10). The Son of Man is on the seat of *judgement. The one who ruled would be the one of Gods choice. He would be the *Messiah, the Son of Man. It would have been difficult for the *Jews not to see that Jesus is claiming to be the *Messiah. Even Jesus *healing the man at the pool is a sign that he is the *Messiah. The *Jews would understand this. For in Gods new world, anyone who could not walk would jump like a wild animal (Isaiah 35:6). Blind and deaf people and other sick people would all come into a new country. There Jesus would be king (Jeremiah 31: 8-9). All these truths are in the *Old Testament.

God *created everyone. It is therefore his right to *judge them. He is the Judge of all and he must always be fair in his *judgements (Genesis 18: 25). God has given the power of *judgement to the Son (27). The Father tells him how to *judge and the Son obeys him. The Sons *judgement also will be fair. At the final *judgement, everyone will rise out of their graves. (29). Those people who have put their *faith in Jesus will not go to hell. But God will still *judge them (or reward them). This will be for the things they did when they were on earth (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). God will also *judge those people who did not hear about Jesus. He will *judge them by their life when they were alive (Matthew 25:31-46). Jesus does only what the Father tells him. Again, Jesus emphasises this. His *judgements will always be fair (30). In the *Jewish law, there was a rule about a person who had done some crime. The rule was that one witness to the crime was not enough (Deuteronomy 19:15). There had to be two or three witnesses. Of course, Jesus had done nothing wrong. But the *Jews did not believe that he was God. So Jesus tells them of the witnesses who show that he is God. Jesus, one person, says that something is true. Would there be any reason for people to accept the truth of what he says? That would be no way to prove that what he says is truth. But Jesus does not speak on his own as one person. If he did it would be like saying that the Father and the Son were different persons. But the Father and the Son are one. Therefore, the *will of the Father is the same as the *will of the Son. Therefore, there is no need for the Son to tell people that what he says is true. Jesus is saying that he does not need human witnesses. However, he mentions another person who is a witness. His witness about him is true. That witness is John the *Baptist (1:1519). So Jesus reminds the *Jews of Johns message (33-34). Jesus tells the *Jews to remember Johns message of *repentance. However , he was not the light. He pointed to the true light, Jesus. For a time, the *Jews had been happy with Johns message. They stopped being happy when the message became too hard for them. Jesus tells people these truths so that they will believe in him. Then God will save them. Jesus said that John was a lamp (35). Perhaps Jesus said this after they put John in prison (Mark 6:17), or after they killed him (Mark 6:27). Johns witness was true. But the works of Jesus are a more important witness. Only the power of God could do these works of teaching and *healing (36). But the *Jews have not listened to Jesus although he is doing the Fathers *will. The Father himself is a witness that Jesus is his Son (37). In Matthew 3:17, Matthew says that God spoke from *heaven at the *baptism of Jesus. These *Jews have not heard Gods voice, nor have they seen his face. Although Jesus is speaking Gods word, they do not hear him. They do not see God when they see Jesus (37). Gods word (the *Old Testament) is not in them. They have not understood it. They do not believe the one whom God sent (38). The *Jewish leaders read the *Old Testament with great care so that they would always obey the laws (39). They fought hard to defend these laws (16). But there are many places in the *Old Testament that tell us about the *Messiah. The main purpose of the *Old Testament was to tell of him. However, many of the *Jews did not accept and receive God. They did not recognise Gods *Spirit in Jesus (Luke 24:25-27). They refused to come to Jesus so that they might have life (40). The truth, Jesus says, is that they are not alive but dead. Jesus knows what the *Jewish leaders are thinking and feeling in their hearts. They are against his teaching because they do not have Gods love inside them (42).

Jesus does not accept what men say; neither does he accept their *praise (41). Jesus came in his Fathers name and with his Fathers authority. The *Jews would not believe him. There were those who spoke about their own thoughts and experience. People would believe them. Such people liked other people to *praise them. However, they did not look to God to accept them (43). They thought more of human *praise than the *praise of God. (44). These *Jews loved the Law (the first five books of the *Old Testament). It was through Moses that God gave the law. But the law cannot save *sinners. It can only show people that they are *sinners. It tells them that if they obey the rules they will live good and happy lives. The law prepares the way for the *Messiah. Although the leaders were always reading their Bible, they did not notice this. That is because they were not looking for Jesus in the Bible. They were looking for the wrong things. To know the *Scriptures (Written Words) is important. But the Bible itself does not give life if we do not look for Jesus Christ in it. We meet him in the Bible. The *Jews knew that Moses prayed for the *Israelites when they were in the desert (Exodus 32:30-32). They believed that he still prayed for them in *heaven (see also Exodus 33:7-11; 34:34-35). Moses was a famous person. Jesus would *judge these people after death. But the witness against them would be Moses. He pointed to Jesus (46). Jesus was the *prophet that Moses spoke about (Deuteronomy 18:15). They did not believe what Moses wrote. So they would not believe what Jesus said (47). The *Jews were probably surprised at Jesus words. Moses had given them the law. It showed them how to please God. But they obeyed the law without having Gods love in their hearts. Therefore, they could not understand that Moses laws came true in Jesus. Today, we have the *New Testament as well as the *Old Testament. It tells us about Jesus. So it is even more important that we read the Bible. Then we will find Jesus in it. In the *Old Testament times, only God could kill and bring back to life (Deuteronomy 32:39). It is the same with *judgement. That belongs only to God (Deuteronomy 1:17). So Jesus is very brave in speaking as he does. The *Jews hate him for it. They want to kill him.