Actually, two questions, well, three... First, was he saved? The text doesn't say yes or no that I can find or discern. Second, Jesus says to sin no more lest "something worse befall you" so the man's illness was apparently related to something he had done years (38) before. But no mention of spiritual renewal or anything similar. Just, stop sinning as if that would save him. Third, what about the people that Jesus had to bypass to get to that man. The text says there was a 'great multitude.' So, why not deal with them? I'm interested in all of your thoughts. Thanks, RJS
Ok I do have thoughts.
I'll quickly add the text in there that we are discussing: It's all of John 5
"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, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.
3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, waiting for the moving of the water.
4 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.
5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.
6 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?”
7 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.”
8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”
9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.
10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”
11 He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ ”
12 Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”
13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in
that place.
14 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.”
15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well."
My thoughts:
This is before the cross so therefore salvation is still under the old system, but as always belief in God's provision in the OT looks toward the cross whether the person understood it all or not. They looked to God like Abraham, God will provide a lamb my son as he said to Isaac as they go up to sacrifice Isaac.
So this man might have a general understanding that someday the Messiah would come. Meanwhile he does have faith in God that an angel would come to heal the first one who stepped in the pool, although his hopes have been dashed by his inability to save himself- before he could struggle into the pool another comes and steps in ahead.
In that sense he is a picture of us. Completely helpless to save ourselves. Before the Messiah comes, we are all like him, puzzling out how on earth to get healing/salvation from God.
Jesus enters his world and asks if he wants to be made well. The man doesn't actually answer that as he explains he has no one to help put him in the pool at the right time. He has reasons why he isn't healed, but he doesn't answer the question.
He doesn't realize that Jesus is far greater than the angels and that he is in the presence of the Messiah in whom it was said "healing in his wings"
If he knew who was before him, he would have begged him to heal him immediately. But this man doesn't seem to recognize that this was the Messiah. So he is waiting for the Messiah- along with all of Israel not knowing that the Messiah was right in front of him.
But then something interesting happens. Jesus says Rise, take up your bed and walk and immediately the man was made well and he obeyed. So Jesus speaks, and looking at the sequence FIRST he is made whole, THEN he obeys Christ.
To me that speaks of the way God gives us the very faith we need to act on faith. God gives us the ability to hear Him, and then calls us and we turn to Him for salvation. We can choose to follow Him or to reject Him. We still have free will.
So Jesus heals him and THEN the man obeys Him.
BUT --It's the Sabbath, he's a Jew so there's another tiny clue here. He knows he isn't supposed to carry his bed. But that man who just healed him, TOLD him to get up take up his bed and walk.
So now we see obedience in the man, obedience to Christ, and not the Law. He still hasn't a clue who Jesus is, but he knows he is healed and he is obeying the one who healed him. His brain has yet to catch up to the concept this might be the Messiah. He's been struggling for 38 years, unable to help himself. He hasn't been studying the scriptures, he's been at that pool hoping for healing.
To me that right there speaks of a man who is now walking in obedience to Christ, and is set free from the law of sin and death. He's had an encounter with Jesus, he doesn't understand the theology but he obeys Jesus rather than the teachers of the law.
Then the man TELLS the Sabbath enforcers who are fussing about him carrying his bed on the Sabbath that he's obeying the man who was able to heal him.
There's a sub-text in the story here- an implied criticism of these legalists who haven't been able to heal this poor man for 38 years. They couldn't do it, but Jesus could. Maybe he was thinking that, maybe he wasn't.
But the Pharisees and Sadducees who hated Jesus were beginning to see a pattern. This guy did what they couldn't and he was upsetting their whole system.
We find out that Jesus has melted away in the crowd. The man can't point to him.
Then we see that Jesus finds him in the Temple and told him to sin no more- lest worse could happen. This healing foreshadows salvation, but it isn't yet there, the Cross has not erased the debts and set the captives free.
It's still the old system- he is responsible to sin no more.
and he goes and tells the Jews it was Jesus who healed him. Was that to get Jesus in trouble or was it to rub their ineffective noses in the fact that they've been walking past this man for 38 years and FINALLY a man of God has come and healed him. Take notes guys and go learn from HIM. Perhaps he's the former, perhaps the latter, I don't know and the text doesn't say.
But it is before the cross, so he's still under the old system, but he's witness to Jesus's ability to heal. Something is different, there's a change in the wind. The old guard doesn't like it, but they can't stop Him from healing people, forgiving their sins, casting out demons and raising the dead on His road to the cross.
