The Gospel of John Lesson 12 (11-25-12) John 4:30-5:16

The Gospel of John (11-25-12)

Lesson 12 – John 4:30-5:16

Between the woman at the well leaving to share the Good News with her city and her returning to Jesus with those who would listen to her, there is an interesting dialog that transacted between Jesus and His disciples, v. 31-8, concerning what is really important in life. In v. 31 His disciples are concerned about the Master not having anything to eat urging Him to eat something. But, even though He was probably overdue for some nourishment, He was more concerned with their, and our, perspective on what was important in life.

His disciples offered Him something to eat. His response was that He already had been satisfied by what He termed as food that they were not aware of. In reality as men they were blind to the spiritual essentials of life and the satisfaction that they bring to those who partake. In essence, Jesus at this time was participating in a ‘fast’ focusing His attention more on the eternal and the Father’s will than on what would be termed as the temporal or perceived as essentials of this life.

In v. 34 Jesus responds to His disciples essentially saying that He is actually feed and nourished by the acts of obedience to the Father giving Him life, …like the Living Water that that He had just shared with the woman at the well. It is interesting here in this chapter that Jesus makes a point putting a spin on two of the most important and essential components of this life, food and water, using them to make an analogy of greater eternal and more lasting truths concerning the Kingdom. In other words He was saying to them, ‘what is really more important here, food, or the town that will be arriving momentarily looking for what the woman had found’?

So often we can get sidetracked and waste an entire life dealing with the so called necessities of life. Jesus addressed this issue in Mt. chapter 6 in the Sermon on the Mount where He told them not to be so concerned and so narrowly focused on temporal things knowing the God the Father knows even our temporal needs and will care for them, Mt. 6:15-34. One could apply Mt. 6:33 to what was happening here in Jn. 4:33-8. The Kingdom was headed toward them in mass, called a city of people, and if they were not careful they may miss the Kingdom because they were busy having lunch.

Here in John 4 He was trying to get them to focus on God’s Kingdom which trumps the kingdom of earth. In v. 34 Jesus restates to them what He came for. Even though food is a necessary item of this life, it is not the purpose of us being here. He in essence tells them that we are not just born to eat and drink and take up space in history. He reminds them that God is at work here and that we are called to His labor to labor with Him. Jesus’ main focus in this life was not to have as much fun and pleasure as possible, but to finish the work that the Father had given Him, that was to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom and to recover and redeem the lost.

In vs. 35-6 He gives an overview of the task at hand telling them that to get a harvest you first must plant. Some may take it that and have a good argument that we are still planting preparing for the harvest. And, though I would not disagree with this line of reasoning I wonder if He is not actually referring to a bigger picture, namely that God the Father has planted over the centuries of history and Jesus is essentially saying that in these late days, what we referred to as the times of the Gentiles beginning with His first coming continuing to our present day is the Great Harvest Time? He alludes to this perspective in 4:35 telling His disciples to lift up their eyes making them aware that the Great Harvest had begun! Incidentally, a portion of that harvest was about to appear in the city of people that were headed toward them. He tells them in v. 36 that they will be paid wages and benefits for this labor that will be used forever and will never run out. In v. 38 Jesus reminds us that we are laboring on a harvest that has been cultivated over the history of man.

In v. 39 the harvest field shows up, some of them already harvested by the woman. It is interesting to me that this woman believed to be an outcast had that much pull and persuasion on a town that so many came out to see what she had told them about. Upon arriving those from the town got to see what the woman was talking about many more now believing because of their first hand encounter. They were so impressed with what they found that they asked Him to remain with them being hungry for the truth of the Gospel. In v. 42 we know that their faith was placed rightly acknowledging that this was indeed Christ the One and only Savior of the world.

In v. 43 we read that after two days with the Samaritans Jesus departs headed for Galilee. While heading north from Samaria one might have expected Him to make a visit to His home town of Nazareth, but at this time in His ministry he was focused on doing the Father’s will sharing the Gospel and establishing the Kingdom and being from Nazareth this was a message that they had not yet embraced. It says in v. 45 that there had been a lot of Galileans present in Jerusalem while Jesus was there during the Passover that had seen His miracles and what happened in the Temple that they received Him with great joy.

In going to Galilee He went through Cana where He had turned the water into wine. As a side note, to get to Cana from Samira He would have had to pretty much walk right by His home town of Nazareth. Cana was a small out of the way town that was relatively insignificant, but had been exposed to Jesus before and was now ready for His return. By now those in this region had heard about the turning of the water into wine and in all likelihood had also heard of the events centered around Him in Jerusalem.

A certain nobleman from Capernaum had also heard of Jesus and what He had done, most likely also hearing of His compassion on the afflicted and His ability to help and heal and went and sought Him out because his son was sick lying near unto deaths door. To his credit we see that the nobleman did not take the situation lightly sending one of his servants to seek out the Savior, but made the trip himself wanting to be sure that the proper attention was given to this matter as the stakes were high. His son’s life was at stake. He did not want to leave it to a servant,…maybe He could do something more to persuade Jesus if his servant was unsuccessful.

Even though the nobleman did exercise some faith in coming to and seeking out Jesus, he also however, had some misconceptions about Jesus and what He was capable of. Those in the region after Jesus’ arrival were in all likelihood looking to see what He might do next, in essence looking for a show. Jesus had not come to put on a show, but point those in darkness toward the Kingdom. All the nobleman was looking for was intervention to avert the death of his son. The nobleman’s faith even though present and placed in the right direction was small and limiting as far as what he thought Jesus could do. This prompted Jesus’ comment to him in v. 48 challenging him to believe in the One he was talking to as God and not just to believe that He was capable of doing something good or even great. Jesus had not come to get attention. And, He had not come to be a spectacle. The nobleman getting frustrated and impatient with Jesus tells Jesus to please come now knowing that it was likely even if Jesus had come with him immediately that there was a good chance that his son would have already been dead. Jesus’ comment to him in v. 48 was to raise the bar of his expectation and understanding as to Who He was.

After the nobleman had made the comment to Jesus in v. 49 I can imagine that Jesus first gave him a look that told him a lot. Jesus then followed this by words telling the nobleman to go his way that his son was made well. The look on Jesus’ face told the nobleman that he had misjudged Jesus and His abilities. The comment in v. 50 from Jesus made sure what he had already known at that moment in his heart his faith now being made complete. Now knowing in his heart and believing what he had heard, he turns and leaves for home. On the way he meets up with some of his servants and out of curiosity and confirmation inquires of his servants as to the time of his sons healing. Knowing what he would hear from them they tell him exactly what he thought they would say now sealing his faith and inspiring those of his household to follow his decision also. The Apostle John tags this as the second miracle that was performed in Cana of Galilee.

John Chapter 5

After these things Jesus heads back to Jerusalem. I am sure that there is more that went on in Galilee than what John records before returning back to Jerusalem. One commentator has said that the entire Book of John only covers approximately 22 days of Jesus’ life. I do not know how accurate that is, but as we continue in John’s Gospel we must remember the Apostle John’s comment found in Jn. 21:25 telling us that he in no way could give us a complete detailed account and story of his experience with Jesus. He reminds us however in chapter 21 that he did include enough for us to know that Jesus was and is the Christ and that in giving us this witness that it will be more than enough for us to believe.

Jesus returns to Jerusalem for another Jewish feast. We are not sure exactly which feast this is that Jesus returns for. Some believe that could have been the second Passover, others would disagree making the point that John would have surely made mention of such a significant event. But, at any rate, Jesus returns having been given the task of preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom to the lost sheep of Israel.

I find it interesting personally here at the beginning of this chapter that we find Him at the Pool of Bethesda near the Sheep Gate. The question I have is, ‘What was Jesus doing here at the Sheep Gate’? Most of the commentators that I have read do not comment on this and it may have been that Jesus was just passing by this way in all likelihood going into the city using the Sheep Gate. It is true that the Sheep Gate was located on the northern end of the city and Jesus was coming in from the north coming from Galilee. However, I find it personally interesting that we find Him here at the Sheep Gate where lambs were brought into the city to be used as sacrifices. Later in John chapter 10 Jesus will refer to Himself as that gate. I personally wonder what thoughts went through His head and heart at this time as He saw this gate and in all likelihood eventually passed through it thinking about future events that would eventually involved Him.

However, while passing this way Jesus passes by a pool or a pair of pools where those who were sick were found to be. This was an interesting place having an interesting daily life dynamic. Although this site in all likelihood had a beginning that might have been a little more upscale or not so run down, by this time it had become a site where the crippled and those with infirmities were left hoping for a miracle.

It was thought that this pool was a spring fed pool that was believed to have medicine properties. This was a fairly prominent place that lay just outside the city of Jerusalem. In John 5:2 it tells us that it had five porches. Although the exact layout of this place is conjecture, it is thought that the porches were probably arranged one on each side of the pool and a fifth across the middle of the pool with a part of the pool on each side. What made this place unique was that the porches were covered for the most part sheltering the occupants from a good portion of elements. We have a good idea of how this structure was laid out because of archeological finds in this area finding what is believed to be this site.

When reading passages like these we so often do not take a moment to reflect on the probable details on what the daily life in a place must have been like. First of all, it says in v. 3 that this was a popular spot for a certain kind of people to congregate. In the KJV it uses the term ‘great multitude’ giving us the picture of being crowded. In all likelihood this place was so densely populated by people that there was not much ground space left to walk on, kind of like a crowded beach. The only difference was that even though this place was located by a pool and by water this was no place of luxury being far from paradise. The inability of those present to be able to get around adequately would have made this place not a very sanitary place at all.

John says in v. 3 that this place was full of impotent folk, blind, lame, paralyzed and sickly people that were not in good shape health wise and in all likelihood not able to get around very well at all. Many were probably like the man mentioned in this passage that were so incapable of performing routine daily activities that even if a healing were to be given to the first to be in the water after it moved many found there would never have a chance to even reach the water let alone get in it. In considering the details of this passage it would appear that the reality of an angel stirring the water and then healing the first into the water was actually highly unlikely and was more likely folklore that had grown out of the possible medicinal benefits of a spring fed pool that may have at one time been naturally heated. Considering the dynamics, if a healing given to the first into the water was true then the actual healing would go to the one in best shape and not the one that was actually most needy.

It was in this place that our Lord for some reason chose one person out of many to show His mercy. In v. 5 it tells us that this man, if all of the details were represented accurately, was indeed in need of a touch from the Master. It tells us that this man had what would be considered a permanent condition having this condition for 38 years. For some reason Jesus singled this man out having compassion on him seeing that he had been there for a long time.

In v. 6 Jesus asks the man an interesting question. He asks the man if he would receive health or healing if it were offered to him. In v. 7 the man tells us plainly what the focus of his faith was at this time. His only hope for a healing was the pool he was near not realizing that there was another more viable option even closer than the pool.

It could be that Jesus in asking the man if he would accept healing could have been testing the man’s faith, but the man’s response really does not tell us much about what he was thinking. It is also possible that Jesus in asking the man if he would receive healing may have been preparing him for what was about to happen. Whatever went on in that conversation between them is somewhat of a mystery, but in v. 8 Jesus commands the man to take up his bed and do something that he had not done in at least 38 years…walk. Whether the man exercised faith in getting up and walking being healed as he exercised his faith or being already healed feeling strength already in his body he decided to rise he got up and obeyed Jesus’ command and began walking is only conjecture. What we do know is that the man got up obeying the details that he had been given by Jesus and began walking, at once,… strong and stable enough to carry his bed.

All this was good except for one thing. The healing took place on the Sabbath day, and not everyone felt good about the good thing that was done here. The religious leaders caught the man breaking their law. Carrying a bed on the Sabbath day was a no no and they called the man on it. When questioned on why he was doing this so called wicked thing carrying a bed on the Sabbath his response was that he had just been healed and the One that healed him told him to do this. They did not rejoice with the man over what had just happened to him. The man was overcome with joy and would have done anything that Jesus had asked him to do. But, the man’s healing did not impress these religious leaders a bit. All they were concerned with was that the man was breaking their law, which by the way was not God’s law. We know this because it was God who had just healed the man and God would not have broken His own law.

So, in v. 12 the religious leaders ask him to tell them the name of who had healed him. In v. 13 it says that the man had no idea of who it was that had healed him. Jesus had moved on doing other things. We are not told what He did as He mingled at the Bethesda Pool. It is possible that other healings may have taken place at this time. We do not know. But, it tells us in v. 14 that Jesus sought out the man and admonished him to live a righteous life, the man now knowing Who had healed him.

After the man leaves having seen Jesus after his healing he again encounters the religious leaders now being able to inform them of Who it was that had healed him. Again the healing had been done on the Sabbath infuriated them. After this the Jews now began to seek Jesus out to of all things slay Him focusing on the man being healed on the Sabbath instead of rejoicing with the man that had been healed.