John 5:1-9 says...

Our devotional verses of the day are John chapter 5 and verses 1 through 9 which read,

v.1 - After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Jesus observed the feasts and festivals of the Jewish people.  In the book of John we find 3 references to Him at three different Passover celebrations, one reference of the festival of Tabernacles, and one reference of the Hanukkah or Feast of Dedication.  We don't know which feast this is but we find Jesus back in Jerusalem to celebrate with His disciples.  He has traveled south again for this occasion and He travels up to Jerusalem because physically you walked up to Jerusalem in elevation.  

v.2 - Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes.

The Apostle John gives us quite a bit of detail here.  We have Jesus' location in the city.  He is at the sheep gate probably named because that is where they brought in the sheep and especially the one used for the sacrifices at the temple.  It is on the north wall of the city and a small gate.  There is a pool there with five compartments and its name means "house of outpouring."

v.3, 4 - In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever the first, after the stirring up the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.]

The pools were thought to have medicinal properties to help those who were ill.  This is a common practice throughout the world and even to this day.  We flock to hot and mineral springs for the soaking in of those essential minerals through our largest organ, our skin.  We have the picture of a pool with five compartments filled with those who were placed there because they were ill.

The parenthesis starting at verse 3b and all of verse 4 are placed there because some of the earliest manuscripts do not include this information.  It could be that this description was added later of what was commonly believed about the water and its stirring.  A superstition has arisen that has people flocking to these pools with the hope of a miracle.  Many superstitions have a religious element to help validate that they are real.   We will see that this superstition has people waiting at the pool and not in the pool.  They are waiting for a stirring rather than taking a soaking.

v.5-7 - A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, "Do you wish to get 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."

The picture we receive here is a man who has been ill for a long time, 38 years.  His hope is in the pool.  He is poor and can't hire a man to be ready to put him in the pool when the water is stirred.  The water stirs and his attempt to be the first in, as the superstition goes, is thwarted by someone entering before him.  

Jesus asks this man a simple question.  "Do you wish to get well?"  The man does but he is hindered from that happening by what he believes will bring him that healing.  His whole hope is that he would be the first into the pool.  All his eggs were in one basket.  Jesus knew this man and his condition but this man did not know Jesus and who was speaking to him.

v.8 - Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk."

The man wants to get well but he can't get to the water.  Jesus gives this man an opportunity to get well and it will require him to obey what Jesus is saying to him.  The obedience is to get up, pick up the mat he has been laying on, and walk away from this place.  This is a big "ask."  Not only is the man to rise on his own power, but also to pick up something and walk with it.  This is an action of a healthy person.  This is a person displaying that he is not ill anymore.  Jesus is asking him to obey but also to do something that is contrary to what he has believed for 38 years.  For 38 years his hope was in a stirring water pool but now it needed to be in the words of this man who has come through the sheep gate.

v.9 - Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.

This man obeyed Jesus' words.  Was it the way Jesus said it?  We don't know.  All we know is that this man decided to obey this man and did exactly what He said to do.  Think of the scene and the reaction of all the other people lying there.  Think of those who have laid by this man for many years.  They probably had their "spots" at the pool like we have our "spots" where we sit in church.  This happened at one of the gates of the city and communication gets spread at the gates where people are gathered in a smaller place.  People coming into the city after this event would have heard about it from those laying there and started spreading the news throughout the city.  

The story will continue on and the Apostle John will give us some more important details so tune in on Monday for the unfolding of it.  Let's end with the question to ourselves, "Do we obey what Jesus has said?"  Do we obey His simple instructions given to us on how we are to live?  In many instances it is like "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk."  It is not complicated and just requires our obedience to His voice.  What a stir happens when Jesus' followers obey His commands.  The news spreads through the town when God's children put a priority on what He says over the superstitions and theories of the day.  Will we be people of simple obedience to Jesus today?  Let us pray.

"Heavenly Father, may we be healed Your way.  May we read Your words and obey them.  May we see how simple obedience can have a profound affect on others because it is showing our faith in You.  May we not bypass the simple and go toward the superstition today.  Amen."

Pastor Adam