God’s Favorite

John 5:1-18; Deuteronomy 5:12-16

Pool of Bethesda

CIT: Jesus heals a man at the pool of Bethesda

CIS: God is always at work!

SO: The hearer will see the perfect timing of the Lord.

Follow along at d1.church/notes. 

Intro: This series is designed to show you through the eyes of John, the Person of Jesus, the Jesus of the Godhead, and the key moments of his life. John is not a chronological book. Some things happen out of order compared to the other gospels. The gospel of John is not about exactness; it is about a relationship between Jesus and “the one Jesus loved.”

Dad Jokes

1. Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-9a)

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here, a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 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?” “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.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once, the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

EXP: Here we find Jesus in Jerusalem and enter into what is called by John the pool of Bethesda. It is a pool most likely used for a Mikvah. Scholars of the day believe it is most likely a pool. located in Jerusalem, which still exists in some form. It is part of a 2-pool system, both of which are surrounded by colonnades or covered areas. The first, or higher, pool collects rainwater and filters it to the 2nd and lower pool, which is used for Mikvahs (ceremonial cleansings). This pool alludes to, and some time later, when the scripture was translated from Greek to later, the folklore was expanded in the text to explain that many invalids gathered at this pool because it was believed that when the waters were stirred (by an angel), an invalid who reached the water first could be healed. So Jesus walks up to a man who has been disabled for 38 years and asks him if he wants to be healed. He does, but when the stirring of the waters has occurred, he has not been able to get there because he is alone. Jesus then tells him to get up and take his mat, and he is healed.

ILL: I picture the man at the pool of Bethesda sitting in the same place for 38 years. He probably has a small encampment around him, and he has seen a lot in his time. People have come and gone. He has been there so long now that he is just expected to be there. He is invisible. His life is a total of his disability, complicated by loneliness. No one understands him. When asked about being healed, he has to qualify his answer. “Yes, I want to be healed, but who is going to help me get to the water?” In my mind, the scene is like a homeless encampment for him. It is probably not smart to get too close to the people around him. He has witnessed others get free, but his time alludes him. The one thing he knows for sure is that even this stranger talking to me is not staying here with me. 38 years is a long time to hold out for change.

Jesus wants to help. Jesus is assessing his hope level. When he replies, "Yes,” Jesus tells him his suffering is over. “Get up! Pick up your mat!” 

APP: Jesus heals a woman with an issue of blood for forty years, He heals a blind man who was blind since birth, in our story today, He heals a man who has been disabled for 38 years. The timing of healing can differ on God’s timeline from ours. 

T.S.: What I want you to hear today is do not give up hope of healing and redemption. 

2. The Mat (John 5:9b-13)

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ” So they asked him, ‘Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. 

EXP: The scripture tells us that Jesus heals this man on the Sabbath. This is not the only person Jesus healed on the Sabbath. He did not do so in front of elders or in the synagogue, but a couple of things are key.

 1. When a person is healed or cleansed from disease, Jewish law, God’s law has them go and be checked out by a Priest to verify. Because people who are lame or ill or blind or disabled in any way were not allowed to be in the temple, they would need to get signed off on by a priest to be restored to full humanity. They were the facilitators of the municipal code. Not necessarily doctors, but definitely the code enforcement. So, naturally, the first place this person would go is to the temple. He wants his life back with all privileges.

 2. He is more concerned with his life than with the person who gave it back to him. He doesn’t need to know Jesus’ name or who he was; all he knows is that he couldn’t walk and now he can. I was thinking this week about church people who are lost and broken and decide to make God a priority. Then the church or others help them with a situation, suddenly they no longer need the church, they really just wanted their life back, and now that they have it, it is Jesus who?

3. He is holding that mat! He walks straight into the temple, the mat Jesus told him to take up under his arm, like it is nothing. Except it is the Sabbath. You can read the whole law, and it will not say, "Don’t carry a mat on the Sabbath.” The Sabbath is meant to be a day of rest given by God, where we make a relationship with God and man a priority. God does not want us bogged down with anything. So he commands no work, no selling, no buying. There is an additional Jewish text compiled by scholars that defines, for example, carrying anything as a violation. Their heart was to make sure no one ever had a chance to sin. This was a Jewish tradition, not the law. Jesus even mentions obvious allowances for getting your animal unstuck or saving a life. This man decided that while he was trying to do the law correctly by going to a priest, he was keeping the mat that the healer told him to pick up. Upon hearing of the miracle, the Religious persons are more concerned with why he is carrying a mat. 

ILL: In my life, an understanding that helps me with how I should act is this:

Biblical absolute: 10 Commandments, Anything Jesus says, etc.

Community Standards: If you are going to be a member of the church, you must give, serve, and attend. If you are going to work at McDonald’s, you will have to wear the uniform.

Personal Convictions: God told you never to cut your hair. God told you to stop drinking caffeine. 

The Jewish tradition went to the extreme so that no one could sin. A miracle on the Sabbath could not be tolerated. Someone may think it is work. 

APP: Remember, John intentionally taught us about Jesus love for God’s law and his temple. In this story, John is telling us that tradition and God's actual commands are two different things. Jesus is God, and he is in line with God’s law at all times, but the extreme positions people take to ensure they remain godly are not for everyone. God will work when he wants to work.

T. S.: Let’s let Jesus respond to this accusation.

3. Jesus response (John 5:14-18).

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.” The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well. So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense, Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason, they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

EXP: Jesus intentionally seeks out the newly healed man, and it seems like Jesus knew his heart. He commanded him to stop sinning. Now, Jesus is not just a healer, but he can see that he is the preacher and messiah who is causing trouble for the Jewish leaders. He needed to go and get himself out of trouble by pointing the Pharisees to Jesus. They confront Jesus about healing on the Sabbath. He answers that God does not take time off. So why would he be his son? The Pharisees are then building a case against healing on the sabbath (count 1) and now Blasphemy (count 2).

ILL: God does not need rest or sleep. He is everywhere all the time, working for his purposes and our good. He is always active and always abiding with you. When God gave the Sabbath to the Israelites, he did not do so because he wanted to stop having to deal with so much. He did it because he wanted us to understand how he provides for us. In fact, let’s read the expanded commandment in Deuteronomy 5:12-15. Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey, nor any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.  Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

The Sabbath was a day given and protected by God for his people. God specifically says he doesn’t want you to work seven days a week like you were slaves, He will n ot be that kind of God. He makes six days better than seven.

APP: This sermon is about God’s timing for your life. Jesus does not play by your rules. You think it has been too long? You have determined that no one will help you? Are you running low on hope? You have put God in a time-out because of a calendar? You have put God in a box and are daring him to break your rules, because then you feel like you are in control? Today I am going to tell you that God’s timing is perfect. It is never too late or too far gone. Jesus never stops working. 

TS: Since we are aware that everything Jesus is doing is to serve the best purposes of God for our lives, let us have the confidence that he will work all situations out for us today. 

I want to pray for three groups today:

1. 1.Some of you are sitting in your own pity party today. You think healing will never come. 
2. 1.I pray that you will encounter Jesus today, and that he will give you healing. 
3. 2.Some of you have many criteria for God to work in your life. 
4. 1.I want to pray that you will understand that God is never taking time off; He is active and concerned with you every minute of every day.
5. 3.Some of you need to take a Faith step today. Take up your mat!
6. 4.I pray today for salvation.