Day 868: Hardened by legalism - John 5 vs 1-16

1-3 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, (Bethsaida) which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids - blind, lame, and paralysed. 5-6 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”

8-9 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. 10-11 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” 12-14 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. Afterwards Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15-16 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. John 5:1-16 English Standard Version

A longer reading today so I'll keep my comments brief. Firstly, notice how vs 1-2 give details that show us this was a real event. The pool is described as having 'five colonnades' (i.e. porches with a roof supported by columns) which suggests an unusual five-sided pool. Many scholars dismissed this as an error, yet when this site was excavated, it revealed a rectangular pool with two basins separated by a wall - thus a five-sided pool, and each side had a portico.

When it comes to the conversation Jesus had with the invalid, some suggest a spiritual significance in Jesus asking the man if he ‘wanted to be healed’. It can be true that someone who has long pursued a sinful life may conclude there is no hope for them. This event proves otherwise. Personally, I think Jesus was just leading into the sign He was about to give. The man's reply in vs 7 is based on a belief in those days that an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and stirred the water, and whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease they had. Some Bible translations have that as vs 4 of this section, others put it as a footnote.

John then gives a detailed description of what happened next. At the simple command of Jesus the man who’d been unable to walk for 38 years was immediately healed. There was no sign of faith on the man's part, this was simply the power of God at work. Notice too that Jesus didn't heal all the lame and paralysed beside the pool, even though He could've, just this man. Was it perhaps that his condition was the longest of those beside the pool? We don't know. But what was the big point that John wants us to note according to vs 8-9 and vs 15-16?

John stresses that Jesus did this sign on the Jewish Sabbath day, and that's what really stirred up antagonism against Him. He uses the phrase “this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus”. He wasn't being, what people today would call, 'anti-Semitic'. The phrase likely referred to the religious leaders of those days and their followers. They were well known for being extremely zealous about customs and rules, but desperately lacking in compassion.

That's a state of mind that can affect people today. I wrote this post a couple of days after the tragic shooting of three children and three adults at a Christian school in the USA. Sadly, many media sources were more concerned that the police who gave a briefing following the incident had not used the 'preferred pronouns' of the killer! But Christians can also be guilty of a legalistic approach that shows little compassion. We may spend our time critisizing the 'methods' of another Church, and lose sight of any apparantly genuine conversions that took place. It's good to be cautious, but we must guard against any legalism that hardens our hearts.