Day 14 - John 5:1-18
26 Jan 2017
Have you ever considered how strange this miracle is? Just picture the scene. Jesus is in Jerusalem for a feast, and he visits a pool beside which lay lots of sick people. Verse 3 tells us there was a “multitude of invalids”. Imagine a hospital ward full of seriously ill people. Their only hope was a superstition that they may get held when the water moved. It would have been a tragic scene. Not only were these people ill, they were also poor. There was no disability benefit in those days. Not only were they ill and poor, they were also unclean - cut off from the temple and the blessing of God’s people.
The important thing to notice is verse 3. There were lots of them. And Jesus pays them a visit. What might you expect or hope that he would do? We are not surprised he heals. But we should be surprised he only heals one man. Why? Surely he would do more good if he was to set himself up thee for a while, and heal every invalid.
But he doesn’t. We are told Jesus saw “him” - this one man, paralysed for 38 years. He healed him. Just as with the officials son, he healed this man with a word. He did not need to be carried to the water, he just needed to hear Jesus’ voice.
But this does not explain why Jesus focused on this one man. However, what happens next does. The man was questioned by the Jews (probably a shorthand way of talking about the Jewish religious authorities). Rather than being full of awe at the healing, they are angry at when it happened, and at the man for carrying his bed on the Sabbath. Jesus deliberately provoked a confrontation with them, to have an opportunity to declare who he is - the Son of the Father, God himself. God continues to work all week round, sustaining his creation. In the same way Jesus continues to work all week round. This miracle was a sign that he is the Lord of the Sabbath, God himself. And this sign was not ignored by the Jewish leaders.
Jesus also pays a return visit to this man in verse 14. His warning to the man shows what he considers to be his, and our, deepest need. It would be a terrible thing to have all our illnesses healed, if we continue to live and not turn and trust Jesus, and go to him to have our sins forgiven. Sin is a far greater danger to us than physical suffering.