John 5v1-18 Jesus: the Father's Son?

If I had to ask you to use one word to sum up the emotional mood of Britain what would it be? What about of Doncaster? What about of this Hayfield area? Ipsos Mori’s research in more than 20 countries discovered that “most young adults in Europe, North America, Japan and Australia fear that their nations best days are behind them.” My hunch is if that poll was of young Christian adults it would produce similar findings about the church. We live in a world of negatives, where 24 hour news channels and the internet beam into our homes the destructive and the deadly. Where disease, disaster, death and despair dominate the headlines, where optimism is greeted with a cynical shrug or a world-weary sigh. We’re trained to be quick to critique, spot the negative, find the flaw, focus on the mistake.

It means that joyful people stand out. Positive, happy people are obvious against the morose masses. God’s people are called to be joyful, to find their joy in God not circumstance. But sometimes life can seem short of joy, sometimes circumstances in life can rob us of our joy. As we come to this passage in John 5 we meet two people who are joyless in life.  Both the man and the religious leaders are focused on the negatives. One has had his joy robbed by suffering and sin, the other by a stifling do and don’t religion. But Jesus shows that he comes to bring life and joy.

Jesus is the one the redeemed meet with joy

Jesus goes up to Jerusalem from Galilee for a feast. Whilst there he goes to Bethesda. Round the pool he finds loads of disabled people – the blind, lame and paralysed. Just lying there. Think of the worst pictures you’ve seen of overcrowded hospitals with patients lying on trolleys in the hallways and then take away the trolleys and that’s the scene. These people live a shadowy kind of half-life. No benefits, no blue badges, no mobility scooters, occupational health, or support. Cut off, cast aside, isolated, dependent and looked down upon. But, the people gathered round this pool aren’t without hope; their hope is healing. If only they can make it into the pool first they might receive a miraculous healing, they might be made whole, but only on a first come first served basis.

As Jesus looks around this sea of need he zeroes in on one man. Just as Jesus knew the woman at the well so Jesus supernaturally knows this man and his need. But it poses the question why him? Why only heal one man not everyone? This is the third of the seven signs in John. The purpose of the sign is to point to a greater reality beyond itself. And we’ve just seen the danger in signs, miracles themselves don’t automatically produce faith, just the longing for more miracles. This healing of the man is going to reveal something about who Jesus is, his glory.

Given what Jesus knows about the man his question is a strange one isn’t it? (6)“Do you want to get well?” The obvious answer is yes, but I wonder if Jesus is doing more, if he isn’t exposing the man’s hope for that becoming a reality. The man is hoping for a miraculous stirring of the water and to be first in to be healed. If only he had someone to help him get quickly(7), do you see his negative outlook. His hope is not in Jesus, he hasn’t been looking and longing for Jesus to come. He wants to be well, to be whole, to be healed, to have life, but he’s looking to the pool for that not to Jesus. But as Jesus asks the question the man’s attention is taken off the pool and fixed on Jesus.

(8)“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.” Jesus doesn’t help the man into the pool he simply speaks and heals the man instantly and totally. In an instant this man goes from being a burden to carrying his burden. This isn’t a gradual improvement with months of physio. This is instanteous wholeness.

It’s a sign, but a sign of what? Turn to Isaiah 35(p683). Isaiah 35 gives Israel a picture of what it’ll be like when God in all his glory comes to redeem his people. When God comes (5)“the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then the lame will leap like deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.” Israel should be looking for signs like this so that they can see the Messiah and rejoice(10) that he’s come.  Seeing the Messiah brings joy for the redeemed.  But are they joyful?

Rejecting Jesus is rejecting rest (9b-13)

John like all great storytellers keeps a key detail back until now, a twist that changes everything. (9)“The day on which this took place was the Sabbath.” It was one of the ten commandments(Exodus 20), God commanded Israel to do no work on the Sabbath, they were to rest from their normal work just as God rested from his work of creating. But by Jesus time the religious leaders had added layer on layer of extra rules, all designed to ensure you didn’t break the law or go anywhere near doing so. Can and can’t do’s. As part of that they’d classified 39 types of forbidden work. What’s the man doing that they find offensive? He’s picked up and carries his mat(10,11,12). That was one of the 39 classes of work, carrying something from one domain to another.

But what have they missed? They’ve missed the miracle that enabled the man to carry his mat. Their rules and regulations haven’t opened their eyes they’ve blinded them and walled off their hearts. This isn’t his normal work, it’s the first time in 38 years he’s been able to carry his mat from one place to another. This isn’t work it’s a joy. They shouldn’t be asking who did it in order to find the person who incited this law breaking. They should be asking who healed him so that they can find the Messiah. They should be excitedly, joyfully searching for God’s rescuer and redeemer.

The action of healing an invalid and sending him home rejoicing doesn’t bear the fingerprints of a lawbreaker but of the Messiah. They not only miss the miracle but they refuse to rejoice with this man or at the sign and what it points to. They’re fixated on regulations regarding the day of rest rather than on the one it points to. The one who brings rest for all people. Rest was lost at the fall, the Sabbath was designed as a pointer to God and his work to bring all of creation into his rest again. The Sabbath spoke of the promise of rescue and redemption and an eternal rest enjoying relationship with God.

Jesus is like the master artist who strips away the layers of grime and paint that others have put over his masterpiece as he deals with the law, so that people can glimpse the beauty of the original painting. This healing shows us the nature of the promise Sabbath, not restriction and regulation but joy, wholeness, life and restoration.

Just as the man(13) has lost Jesus in the crowd so the religious leaders miss the signs – the one who brings rest, rejoicing and redemption is rejected. Duty and legalism has robbed them of the joy of knowing God, of finding God’s Messiah.

We need ask if there’s a similar danger for us? We’re creatures of habit, we like routines, we like things comfortable and familiar, to operate within a set of rules – this is how things work, this is what we do, this is what I’m comfortable with. But Jesus isn’t in the business of making us comfortable he’s in the business of making us holy. The laws and regulations of the Jews defined the parameters in which God worked. Jesus explodes those parameters; he has not changed! There is not a single inch of your and my life over which Jesus does not claim lordship. Jesus concern isn’t our comfort, it’s not working within our boundaries it’s our holiness.

I wonder how you think of that word holiness? We think of it negatively, in terms of the Pharisees do’s and don’ts – be honest primarily don’ts, we certainly don’t associate it with joy. These leaders have become fixated on the negative on obeying dutiful not responding joyfully, on not doing anything that would anger God. Have we fallen into the same trap? Are we joyless? To do so is to fatally misunderstand holiness. Holiness is growing in our ability and awareness and capacity to grasp the joy of knowing a holy God. Jesus shows us what holiness looks like and the joy of knowing the Father. These leaders are missing any sense of joy, they’re so bound by their rules that they cannot see past them to Jesus as Messiah and they cannot rejoice or have joy at his coming and what he comes to do.

Are we missing joy? Has our faith become about do’s and don’ts. Knowing Jesus is about joy, it’s as if joy and rejoicing are the fragrance that follows Jesus. The Samaritan woman joyfully running back to town, the Samaritan villagers joy in meeting the Saviour of the world. The royal official’s joy in the healing of his son, this man’s joy in his healing.

Jesus brings joy. Jesus comes to bring rest and rejoicing. But it’s possible to reject him, have we? Are we? Don’t snub Jesus for the joyless boundaries of rules.

Jesus secures rest and redemption by dealing with sin (14-15)

Later on Jesus seeks out the man, why? Because he wants the man to understand what has happened and the consequences of the healing. “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

The Bible teaches that sin is a result of the fall, our rejection of God and determination to live life our way. We live in a world dislocated and broken. And God’s people aren’t immune from that brokenness, the pain, suffering, illness, death. But that isn’t the only thing the bible teaches about pain. Jesus isn’t saying to the man your illness is the result of living in a broken world. Jesus says that the man’s suffering is directly connected to his sin. His sin caused his suffering though we’re not told how.

It’s not an isolated incident in the Bible. Think of Jonah, Jonah suffers during the storm and as he drowns. Why? Because of his sin, he rejected God’s word and hates others in his heart. Or think of David. David’s suffering is a direct result of his sins of adultery and murder.

It’s the same today the alcoholic who has chronic liver disease through his drunkenness. The violent person who gets badly injured in a fight. Some sin has physical consequences.

It’s important that I say the Bible is clear that not every instance of suffering is the result of our sin. Some is the result of the sin of others, some is because of loss, some is because of persecution, and some is that mysterious result of living in a broken world.

Jesus says to this man that his suffering is a wake up call to make him aware of his sin. It’s an important call because there’s something worse than suffering and that is eternal separation from God. But notice the wonderful thing here, don’t let the issue of suffering cause you to miss the wonder of what Jesus says. If the man’s sin caused his invalidity then Jesus has to have dealt with his sin in order to heal him. Jesus hasn’t just healed the man of his suffering but of his sin.

Jesus brings life, wholeness, rest to this man by dealing with sin. This healing points us to the cross where Jesus will pay the price for forgiveness. He bears the punishment because this man couldn’t, we can’t. (24)When we trust Jesus we cross over from facing death to eternal life. How? Because Jesus bears the punishment for our sin. Sin robs us of joy but Jesus can forgive our sin and restore our joy.

Jesus has authority to forgive sin and give life if we believe in him. Having experienced that forgiveness Jesus call to us to go and sin no more. Jesus saves us so we stop sinning. That isn’t Jesus being a killjoy that’s the way to rest and life and joy, what it means to repent of our sin when we trust Jesus. Can I ask have you done that this morning?

Jesus is his Father’s Son (15-18)

The man goes and tells the Jewish leaders who Jesus was. How should the Jewish leaders react? Isaiah 35 tells us that the Messiah’s coming would be visible through healings and miracles, signs that he was here. Yet they react by persecuting Jesus for inciting breaking the Sabbath. But what does Jesus do? Jesus responds to their accusation by raising the bar. (17)“My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” That’s a staggering statement and the Jewish leaders get what Jesus means(18). Jesus isn’t saying God is his Father in a vague way, but he makes himself equal with God.

God doesn’t rest from everything on the seventh day, he rests from creating but still sustains everything. Have you ever thought about that? Every day God sustains the universe; orbits, water cycle, sun, and so on. Post fall God is also sovereignly working out his purpose and plan of redemption to restore and reconcile all things and deal once for all with sin. Jesus is just like the Father – he’s working in the same way and therefore his work on the Sabbath isn’t law breaking but law fulfilling. Jesus is dealing with sin, bringing rest and life to the full.

Jesus claims the right to work just like his Father because he is God the Son. He claims sovereignty and divinity and they understand that. Do we? How big is your Jesus? John is all about the glory of God seen in the glory of the Son. Jesus, God the Son made man. Jesus sovereign over the universe dying for us, and when we repent and believe becoming our Lord. Sovereign over us, not having to abide by the limits we place on him. And he is sovereignly working to fulfil the Father’s plan.

This miracle is a sign of who Jesus is and therefore of what he comes to do. We’ll see more next week in the following verses. Jesus comes to bring eternal life. Life for eternity with God. This miracle is a sign, a glimpse of the future in Jesus. Sin conquered and it’s effects undone. And us restored to right relationship with the Father and that’s where we will find joy.

Jesus comes to bring life and joy. When we believe in him we cross over from death to eternal life. Don’t miss out.  Don't let sin, suffering or legalism drain you of your joy.  Look and keep on looking to Jesus.