We continued our series at Gateway Church in Austin called “Death to Life.”
Discover the character and love of God as we journey through the 7 major signs in the Gospel of John. We will look at the life and work of Jesus through the eyes of one of his best friends and faithful disciples. In these 7 signs we encounter a depth to the glory and majesty of God, and how these truths can radically change our lives. They take us from lost to found; broken to whole; and from death to life.
Jesus has power over time.
Digging Deeper:
Work through the following questions and scriptures on your own, and get together with your running partner, life group, or friends and family to talk through what you are learning.
Discussion Questions
Message Video:
Message Audio:
Message Notes from Carlos Ortiz, Jr.:
What is the strangest question someone has ever asked you? You know, the kind of question that makes you wonder if the person even knows you at all. Or in the case of a stranger, a question that makes you wonder if you want to know that person at all.
In this 3rd sign of Jesus, from John 5, a central part of the story is Jesus asking a question that could seem strange and possibly out of touch. Jesus seemingly asks a question that is a specific kind of question….a rhetorical one. For those of you who may need a refresher on what a rhetorical question is, here goes:
Rhetorical Question – a question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer.
The problem with a rhetorical question for many of us, is that we don’t want to be talked down to, we don’t want to have to wonder if we’re actually supposed to answer the question, or let the dramatic effect take root in silence.
And yet Jesus too asks a question that gets to the heart of the person in front of him. This interaction we’re discussing is found in John 5.
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 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. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 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?”
7 “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.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 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.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 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.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well. – John 5:1-15
Let’s dive into some of the significance of the context taking place:
SHEEP GATE
- We start off being walked through Jesus’ return to the city of Jerusalem, and the context is being set for the pool of Bethesda near the Sheep Gate.
- The sheep gate is important for us to understand. It is referred to with great importance in the OT book of Nehemiah chapter 3. Nehemiah, who is living in exile in Persia is overwhelmed by the destruction of Jerusalem, he gets permission to return to the city to rebuild it and restore it back to its original significance.
- Nehemiah had a team of people helping him rebuild the city. The city wall was rebuilt counter clockwise, and it began with this Sheep Gate that we just read about. It had so much importance that the priests and religious leaders took on that part of the rebuilding themselves.
- Why was it important, this gate had its namesake because that is where the sheep used for temple sacrifice entered the city. the blood of the sheep was shed for the sins of the people. The sins of a family, or a nation, and it would atone (make amends, repair) for their sins.
- Now we get back to John 5, and Jesus, who is referred to as the lamb, enters the sheep gate the same way the sheep would enter the gate. He replaces the ritual of animal sacrifice, and steps in to being the final and ultimate sacrifice for our sin. He is our atonement.
POOL OF BETHESDA (“House of Mercy”)
- There is no doubt a pool like this existed, and we are told that the waters in and of themselves had no healing quality, but the popular belief at the time was that when an angel of the Lord would come and stir the waters, there was a medicinal effect for the first person who would enter the water.
- We know there was a culture established that those with long term illnesses and disabilities could go to this place that had 5 large porches/colonnades, and they could wait with what hope they had, for the waters to be stirred by an angel of God. So much so, that the author clearly states that there was a “great number” of those who found their place by the pool of bethesda, simply waiting their turn.
Now that we once again have context to the sign Jesus is about to bring to life, what do we learn, what can we glean from this sign?
God’s invitation is to be made well
“Do you want to get well?”
This is a question that seems rhetorical. The question that seems to have an obvious answer, so obvious, why is it being asked. The man who had been lame for 38 years could have scoffed at the question, wouldn’t you?
Come on Jesus, everyone there is in need. Everyone at this pool needs a miracle of some sort, everyone here wants to be the first person to enter the healing waters and walk away completely different. Why do you need to ask, “Do you want to get well?”
“A strange question to ask one that had been so ill for so long. Some indeed would not be made whole, because their sores serve them to beg by and serve them for an excuse for idleness…Christ is tenderly inquisitive concerning the desires of those that are in affliction, and is willing to know what is their petition: In spiritual cases, people are not willing to be cured of their sins, are loth to part with them. If this point therefore were but gained, if people were willing to be made whole, the work were half done, for Christ is willing to heal, if we be but willing to be healed.”
– Matthew Henry (17th century theologian)
He asks us the same. He wants to know if we want to live life differently or have we become so comfortable with our dysfunction that we don’t realize wholeness is available
What in your life physically, emotionally, spiritually, or relationally needs healing?
Have you become complacent about it? Perhaps you’ve stopped asking God for healing. Perhaps you’ve tried but it got too hard so you’ve given up. Perhaps you know the path to healing requires involving others, asking for prayer, looking for a doctor or a counselor, but you’ve been resistant.
Jesus is asking you: “Do you want to be made well?”
Too often what ails us can become so entwined with our identity that we cannot imagine life without it.
What if today you decided not to give up, to humble yourself, to make the sacrifices necessary to get on a path towards healing?
Perhaps you are still coming before God consistently and persistently wanting healing. Don’t give up.
In our prayer course we learned the importance of persistent prayers. It’s like stacking dominoes. You don’t want to stop one prayer too short of the change you are seeking. When we keep stacking up our prayers like dominoes we will be amazed once they all begin to fall!
Now sometimes God does not answer our prayer the way we would want. People we love die. Relationships we enjoyed end. Even still lean into your faith. Let Him hold you and love you through those times. God may say “no” to a prayer request but He never says “no” being with His children.
But sometimes He blows our mind!
A pastor out of New York City named Tim Keller once wrote: “God answers our prayers the way we would if we knew what He knows.”
In the presence of God our excuses crumble.
To the question Jesus poses, we read the man says this:
7 “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.”
Let’s not forget that Jesus is being filled with compassion during this interaction. Even with an odd question being posed, he isn’t trying to corner the man in his dysfunction. No, he asks a tender and honest question about his disposition and desire to be healed.
It’s easy to see this man as blaming others or coming up with excuses. I think we read it that way because that is often our go to move. We get defensive. We don’t like people getting into our business, but the man is earnest in his response, I want to be healed but this is the only way I know how to be healed. And according to the way things play out, I can’t get any help so that I can be the first in the healing waters. In essence he is saying, “I cannot do this alone!”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
Jesus becomes the best kind of “help.” He becomes the healing waters, he is stirred and the man enters into his presence and finds healing. 38 years of being lame, 38 years of helplessness, 38 years of being unseen just melts away when Jesus enters the picture.
Or is the point that he is alone? Such a contrast to a similar story of an invalid whose friends lowered him “on a mat” into a house to be healed by Jesus (Mk 2). Both were healed immediately and heard the same words: “pick up your mat and walk!” The mention of his mat is intentional. It implies that he no longer needs it, but is going home, never to return again.
It’s also interesting that Jesus knows the answer, that he wants to get well, but doesn’t require anything. He just heals him right there.
What excuses have you pointed towards the reasons you may be stuck in an area of your life? Who do you blame for where you may be stuck?
When we have been hurt we cannot take responsibility for the evil choices of others, but we should not let them rob us of our joy either. We can rise above what’s happened to us when we look to God and others for healing, when we forgive even those unwilling to apologize, and when we put in place healthy boundaries as well.
It’s easy to put ourselves in the place of this man in the story, but for some of us here we have found healing and we need to re-read this story looking at how we might be more like Jesus.
Some of us have experienced enough healing in our life that we can bring that healing to others.
What are practical needs you can meet in the lives of your friends, your family, your neighbors, your employees, your co-workers, fellow students, or even strangers that may come across your path.
Jesus offered healing to someone who needed help – to someone who was losing hope he could ever be healed.
Who are the people God wants you to encourage? Who are the people that need to borrow a little bit of hope from you? Are you looking for those opportunities to bring more of heaven to your world?
Haters gonna hate.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 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.”
The religious leaders wanted the man to follow the rules. But let’s not forget that he was following the rules. He went to the pool, he waited for the waters to be stirred, he just couldn’t find help or healing by following the rules. Jesus changes the rules, he is filled with compassion, even on the sabbath, and showers him with a healing grace that forever changes his life.
There may be some in your life, at work, maybe (God forbid) in a local church, who just don’t see the change God is making in your life, and believe it at face value. Some may expect you to live by the rules they live by, but once Jesus enters your life, the rules change, we change, our outlook on life changes.
In Jesus there is more.
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 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.”
I find this part of the passage so interesting. Normally when we see Jesus heal or deliver a sign, the person has a faith that is ignited because of Jesus’ presence. But when Jesus encountered this lame man, the man had no idea who he was. It wasn’t until after Jesus circled back to the man, did he recognize him as Jesus.
I think it is important note that we are given the opposite in this story. For one thing, the man blames Jesus for his breaking of the Sabbath (v. 11). It is not his faith that has made him well, but Jesus’ incredible compassion and mercy. Later, Jesus gives him the opportunity to repent and begin to live his life differently, but we are not told that he takes that advice or even thanks Jesus for his healing, rather, he goes and rats him out to the authorities, making the man (I think) complicit in the eventual arrest of Jesus.
With this understanding, I think it’s important to note that the signs pointed to who Jesus was, but the signs in themselves were not always enough to ignite belief. Maybe we are to ask ourselves the question, “do I like the healing itself more than obeying the Healer?” Are we looking for signs that Jesus is real without thinking through what His reality calls us to?
This Jesus thing isn’t a one time moment or interaction, no it is a continuous relationship that begins to grow and take on a life of its own. Jesus came and found the man, not once, heal him and leave, no, he found him twice. The second time was to then remind him that his sin would keep him from something more important. What could be more important than finding healing after 38 years of affliction? A lifetime away from God in eternity!!
Some theologians have used this verse “stop sinning or something worse may happen to you,” to mean that his sin is what made him lame. I believe that Jesus, full of empathy, confirmed through this sign that he could heal the man in the here and now, but that he also could walk in freedom that would reverberate throughout eternity.
In many ways, warning someone is a way to demonstrate you love that person. Jesus demonstrates His love to us in so many ways – ultimately in giving His life for you and for me by dying on the cross.
He is all loving, and loving someone means you are honest with them when you see they are in danger.
Are there people in your life who need your loving attention – including a heartfelt warning? I’m not talking about judging people. I’m not talking about confronting people who you don’t know or people with whom you don’t have relational equity. I’m talking about following the loving guidance of God to lovingly warn someone that they are headed towards hurting themselves or others. A loving rebuke is a gift to those we love.
Let me also point out: being rebuked is a gift. Do you have people you are inviting to speak into your life?
Let me ask you: if you follow Jesus, are you fully surrendered to Him in every area of your life? If not, let me lovingly warn you. God loves you so much and some time He demonstrates His love by allowing you to experience the consequences of our immoral or unwise or terrible choices. Don’t wait to turn from those things you know God wants you to give up. Don’t wait to do the things He is calling you to do.
Spiritual maturity is not measured by knowing lots about God and the Bible. Maturity is measured by the speed it takes you to obey God’s guidance in your life. The faster you are willing to say “yes” to surrender and sacrifice, the sooner you will experience more of God’s presence and peace and the sooner you will become more the person God has created you to be.
Are you and I living only for the here and now? OR Do we have a vision for today and for eternity?
One of the most remarkable experiences in my life was to repent. This means I confessed I needed God’s help and forgiveness and leadership in my life. It’s hard to put into words the weight lifted off of me when I just admitted to God I don’t have all the answers and that I cannot live the kind of life I want to live without his help. It is so freeing! It is so transformative! I can rest knowing He loves me. I don’t have to perform to get His attention or strive to get His approval. I am loved and forgiven, and it is out of gratitude for all God has done for me that I seek to serve, give, change, and overcome the trials and temptations of this world. Even more remarkably, He helps me pull that off! I am adopted into His family and I have others to help me in this journey.
The same can be true of you….
Today, you can surrender your life to follow Jesus for the first time. Just pray on your own: “Dear God, forgive me. I confess I have been doing my own thing, living my own way. I need you. I need what Jesus did on the cross to count for me. I surrender my life. Lead me.”
Or you can surrender again.
Daily we are to die to ourselves so that we might fully live.
If you have chosen to follow Jesus, there are 2 important ways we mark this decision in our heart.
One is baptism which is coming up on Nov. 3rd.
The very first step for a new believer is to follow the example of Jesus and get baptized. It symbolizes being washed clean and forgiven of our sins. It also represents dying to our old lives so that we can live new lives under His guidance and leadership.
The warning Jesus gave the man reminds me of another passage about baptism. Listen to this amazing warning which includes a beautiful promise!
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. – Romans 6:1-7
If you have chosen to follow Jesus and have not been baptized, what is holding you back? Don’t let fear or uncertainty or needing a sign hold you back. This is your sign from God to do it!
Whether you began your relationship with Jesus just a few minutes ago or years ago or sometime in between, choose to surrender your fears, your pride, your resistance and let us celebrate baptism with you!
Just right now, go to gatewaychurch.com/baptism and sign up. We even have a class to prepare you.
Or maybe you have a friend, neighbor, co-worker, or one of your teens or kids you think may be interested in taking this step of faith. Let them know we are celebrating baptism during the service on November 3rd. We have classes for kids and teens as well.
The second important way we remember what Jesus did for us is communion. If you are here and you chose to follow Jesus today or have done so at some time in your life, during this song, you will have the opportunity to take communion.
If you are not yet following Jesus, but want to do so today, taking communion can be that moment of surrender.
Eating the bread and drinking the cup acknowledges that you believe that Jesus gave his life on the cross and you need and want his forgiveness and leadership in your life.
If you are not yet following Jesus, just use this time during the song to pray. Maybe pray something like: “God, if you are real show me. Guide me to find you. Show me how to take exploring faith seriously.”
Now the Scriptures tell us that Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. – 1 Corinthians 11:28
You are going to have a chance to do that during this song.
After you have spent time where you are examining your heart, confessing to God what He brings to mind that is getting in the way of the abundant life He has for you, when you are ready, come and take the bread and cup on your own.
Before we go into a time of reflection and singing this song as our prayer, let me remind you…
The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. – 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
So examine your heart as the band plays and as you are ready, go and take the elements we have in these four stations around the room. Once you take the elements go back to where you are now and sing with us – declaring your desire to live with Jesus at the center of your life!
