Week 10 - John 5 - Healing at the Pool of Bethesda

In typical John-fashion, no irony is lost that this lame man was attempting to heal himself at a pool named Bethesda which means “House of Mercy” (bēthesda).  And that irony was amplified when upon Christ’s arrival, who is the source of mercy, offered only the awkward question “Do you want to be healed?”.  

The lesson that Jesus teaches from this experience strikes at the heart of the misinterpretation of the Law by the Pharisees.  

Jesus was once famously asked by a Pharisee, what is the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:36).  Jesus responds with a first and a second citing:

Deuteronomy 6:5

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Leviticus 19:18

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Listen now closely to Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees at this pool:

John 5:39-40

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

Even the invalid knew enough to accept the offer of mercy.  But the Pharisees continued to attempt to heal themselves through the effort that they crafted from the Law.  But it was all to receive glory from one another:

John 5:44

How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

First, the Pharisees limited forgiveness.  They read the following:

Leviticus 16:30

For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins.

And they heard only that the sins “before the Lord” (those between them and God) were atoned.  Sins between one another were not atoned by the mercy of God’s scapegoat.  This they codified as:

Mishnah Yoma 8:9

Furthermore, for transgressions between a person and God, Yom Kippur atones; however, for transgressions between a person and another, Yom Kippur does not atone until he appeases the other person.

Then, while they practiced and encouraged forgiveness, they used the example of God Amos 1:3 to limit their forgiveness to proverbial three-strikes.  They took God’s place as judge.

To teach the true meaning of the second-greatest commandment, Jesus taught the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:21-35) and famously told Peter a ridiculous number Matthew 18:21–22 instead.

Jesus further condemned them saying:

John 5:42

But I know that you do not have the love of God within you.

For, they had a second misunderstanding, again, over God’s mercy.  Recall please the commandment for which they condemned Jesus:

John 5:9-10

And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews[a] said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.”

The Sabbath was originally designed to be an act of mercy by God.  

It was first demonstrated when the Manna, itself a merciful provision, only had to be collected six days a week (Exodus 16).  The seventh day was declared a Sabbath, a day of rest.  This occurred a month or so prior to the events of Exodus 20 when it was then included in the Ten Commandments.  Later it was declared again to include those precious days of harvesting:

Exodus 34:21

 “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.

And It was forcefully spoken a another time in Deuteronomy 5:12–15 to include one’s servants.  

God intentionally wanted those obedient to this law to feel His mercy one day a week.  He would provide when they obediently rested.  He would provide when they gave up the opportunity to earn yet one more day of income.

The Pharisees, however, listened differently.

Exodus 35:1-3

Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, “These are the things the Lord has commanded you to do: For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death. Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”

The chapters that follow describe the building of the Tabernacle, which they understood as “work”, from those chapeters they codified 39 categories of prohibited labor (melachot) in Mishnah Shabbat 7:2, including carrying, of which the invalid was condemned.

Once again, God’s mercy was eclipsed by man’s effort.  But Jesus still stands by us asking “Do you want to be healed?”.

Week 9 - John 4:46-54 - Healing from a Distance

Normally, two witnesses are required to be legitimate (Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15)  While Jesus had the forerunner of John the Baptist, both are actually individual testimonies.  

Jesus acknowledges the issue and the Pharisees attack him for it, but Jesus points to the confirming works and therefore to God, the Father as the second witness.  

John 5:30-36

 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.

The statement “greater than John” means he is not relying simply on the prophetic testimony.  Rather it is the Father whose testimony is confirming.

John 8:13-18

So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”

John the Evangelist, in fact organizes this Gospel around seven confirming signs.  The second of which is in our passage (John 4:46-54) and confirms His omnipotence by healing a person from a distance.

Week 8 - John 4:1-42 - The Samaritan Woman

Unlike today, when all we need to do is open a tap, all the water that this woman used for daily life had to be carried from its source to her home.

Jacob’s Well was different than the nearby springs (ten-minute walk).  Jacob had purchased the plot of land (Genesis 33:18-19) near Shechem, but that would not have included one of those precious springs.  

The well was hand dug to be independent of those surface level springs and the people that used them to water their animals.  Because it was hand dug and deep, it was special.  It was very good water very suitable for drinking, but every bucket meant hauling it up 100-150ft.

The idea of having such water welling up (v. 14) more than caught her attention!

As a youth we hiked the 100-mile trail between Mt. Katahdin and the little town of Monson in Maine.  Along that trail, we reached the Potaywadjo spring in full flood.  Water gushed from the spring, and we filled every container we had with its delicious water.  It was large enough for two of us to relax in its waters after a hot day of hiking, and from it ran what would be called a river.

Our Lord Jesus Christ offered this woman (and us) such a spring welling up inside us.

John 4:13-14

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

When  the town received the testimony of the woman and confirmed it themselves revival broke out (John 4:39-42).

Week 7 - John 3:22-36 - On Baptism

Jewish immersion was rooted in the cleansings found in the Law (Leviticus 6,11,13-17) and the Pool of Siloam (John 9) and Pool of Bethesda (John 5:2-9) near the Temple Mount were used for this purpose.  These were self-administered.

The baptisms of John and of Jesus were however not for purification but rather repentance (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3; Matthew 3:11; Acts 13:24; Acts 19:4) and were not self-administered.  

A legal discussion (zētēsis) with an individual and John's disciples arose over the difference.  During this debate the baptisms that the disciples of Jesus were performing surfaced.  Jesus was one or two days away from Jerusalem and John the Baptist was 6 or 7 days away.  They were not on the way to the Temple, but rather pulled people away from the temple.  

Mark 1:4-5

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

No other itinerant preacher of the time, nor any other prophet of the Old Testament performed such baptisms.  While Judaism later adopted baptism as an initiatory rite for proselytes, there is no pre-70 AD evidence of its use. 

It is also not part of the Nazarite vow (Numbers 6:1–21) to which Jesus was not submitting when He was baptized, for Jesus drank wine (Matthew 11:18–19), touched the dead (Mark 5:41), and He cut His hair (no account of him not doing so).  This assertion unfortunately is frequently heard.

So, these baptisms were innovative.  All Old Testament washings needed to be repeated.  The baptisms of John and Jesus were one time.  

Acts 19:1-7

And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all.

Note please the phrases “Into John’s Baptism” and “baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus”.  

Baptism is a transition from a before state to an after state.  The individual ever after becomes identified by that name.

John 3:31-33

He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.

In taking their baptism, the individual declared the testimonies of John the Baptist or Jesus Christ were true.  

But more than that, in taking their baptism they are saying that God’s testimony heard by John and by Jesus is true.

1 John 5:9-12

If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

So, what statement did they hear God make?

Matthew 3:17

. . . and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Matthew 17:5

He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

God is true.

  

Week 6 - John 3:1-21 - Phone a Friend

Desperate to talk with Jesus, Nicodemus asked a friend to arrange a meeting with Jesus at night.  There were no street lamps.  Night meant that he would not be recognized for he was not on official business.  Unlike when multiple representatives investigated the ministry of John the Baptist (John 1:19), he came on his own, but not alone.

That friend was unnamed, but present throughout the entire conversation that evening and recorded it for us (See Ellicott' Commentary)!  Note the use of "we":

John 3:2b
“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

This is a second time when John the Apostle and author leaves his own name out of the narrative.  John, though not a member of the Sanhedrin, was close to the High Priest's family.  He, for example, was how Peter was admitted to the courtyard that awful night when Jesus was arrested (John 18:15–16).  

The conversation that took place was deliberately confused.  Jesus used a Greek word that had a double meaning (anōthen).  The ESV translates it "born again" but adds the second meaning in the margin "born from above".  Repeatedly Nicodemus heard "born again" when Jesus meant "born from above".  The translation is not wrong, the duality is deliberate.  To clarify Jesus says definitively:

John 3:5-6

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Then again, and very deliberately Jesus uses the word pneuma, which also has a double meaning of either spirit or wind.   Jesus masterfully describes God's sovereign choice in election using this duality:

John 3:8

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Election, though invisible, is observable.   It is God's choice.

Lastly, Jesus explains to the searching Nicodemus the way of salvation and what is to take place.  From the Old Testament He explained that no one, on their own, ascended to Heaven.  Salvation is from God.

John 3:13-15

No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

What comes next is the most often memorized verse in the Bible, whose King James-era use of "so" clouds the meaning.  Today, we use "so" to amplify, as in "He was so tired".  The Greek word  houtō(s), however,  means instead “in this way” (See for examples John 3:8,14).

Like Moses and the bronze serpent, God would love the world by raising up His only begotten Son as free gift of salvation:

John 3:16

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John gave Nicodemus front-row seats to hear for the first time that salvation would be by Christ alone, by grace alone, and by faith alone.

Week 5 - John 2:13-25 - The Foretold Sign

Scholars use the three passovers mentioned in the Gospel of John to measure the length of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ.  In this week's passage we read:

John 2:13

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

What He should have found there were families gathered around a very special meal of remembrance.  Instead he found a temple turned into a mall.  While pagan temples of the time had places designed for the sale of offerings, God's design was solely for sacrifice and worship.

John 2:15

And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.

His response was swift.  Taking some of the left-over cords that once held the animals that had been sacrificed, He drove the remaining animals out of the temple.

While sudden and surprising, His actions were not unexpected.  They were foretold (Malachi 3:1–5).  This is why there is such a measured response from the Jews:

John 2:18-19

So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

He was not arrested, for they recognized Him as the potential fulfillment of the prophecy and wanted a sign to confirm. The sign Jesus offered was what Matthew and Luke recorded Jesus as naming “the  Sign of Jonah” (Matthew 12:38-41; Luke 11:29-32).  This ultimate sign of Jesus' death, three day burial, and His resurrection would be their confirmation.

What makes your blood boil?  Someone taking advantage of a child, or mistreating a woman, or . . . 

Psalm 69:7-9

For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,

    that dishonor has covered my face.

I have become a stranger to my brothers,

    an alien to my mother's sons.

For zeal for your house has consumed me,

    and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

This all consuming rage occurred when God did not receive appropriate worship.  

Sunday morning following this lesson, I awoke hearing in my dream the name of our Lord Jesus Christ being misused.  My response in the moment was "May He have all the glory and honor due His Name". 

Week 4 - John 2:1-13 - Sign 1 Wedding at Cana

Weddings take a long time to plan.  When planned, only Jesus was invited.  When it occurred, he had five disciples in tow.  They were welcomed, but when they ran out of wine, Mary comes to Jesus internally understanding that her family was part of the cause.

John 2:2-3

Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”

Mary's instruction to the servants carried the authority of being a close family friend.  It was not anticipatory of a miracle, for she had never seen Jesus do a miracle.  This was the first sign.  

The miracle itself was quiet, yes it involved the servants but it was not for the master of ceremonies, or the bride and groom, or the parents throwing the party.  None of them knew it happened.  It was also not for Jesus' siblings who were present (See John 2:12) who remained in opposition to Him (John 7:1-7, Especially vs 5).

This miracle was for His disciples.  

John 2:11

This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

One very large jar of water for each of them (Five disciples plus one for Jesus himself) was turned from water to wine, very fine wine. 

We have experienced the very fine wine of the blessings of God in our life.  These blessings have bolstered our faith.  With them we have a great responsibility:

Psalm 78:4
We will not hide them from their children,
    but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
    and the wonders that he has done.

Psalm 145:4
One generation shall commend your works to another,
    and shall declare your mighty acts.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Joel 1:3
Tell your children of it,
    and let your children tell their children,
    and their children to another generation.

Isaiah 38:19
The living, the living, he thanks you,
    as I do this day;
the father makes known to the children
    your faithfulness.