John 5

Read John Chapter 5 :: Here

Devotional ::

“Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, “Do you want to get well?”

 7  The sick man said, “Sir, when the water is stirred, I don’t have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in.”

8–9 Jesus said, “Get up, take your bedroll, start walking.” The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.

 9–10  That day happened to be the Sabbath. The Jews stopped the healed man and said, “It’s the Sabbath. You can’t carry your bedroll around. It’s against the rules.”

11 But he told them, “The man who made me well told me to. He said, ‘Take your bedroll and start walking.’ ”

12–13 They asked, “Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?” But the healed man didn’t know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.

14 A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, “You look wonderful! You’re well! Don’t return to a sinning life or something worse might happen.”

15–16  The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. That is why the Jews were out to get Jesus—because he did this kind of thing on the Sabbath.

17 But Jesus defended himself. “My Father is working straight through, even on the Sabbath. So am I.”

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39-40 “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.”

John 5:1-17, 39-40 MSG 

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When we dig into this story, and the symbolism John is using to tell it, we find that not only is this a story of physical healing…it’s about healing on a much deeper level, about moving from religion, into Relationship with God.

The pool by which the lame man had waited for 38 years was just outside the Temple, near the entrance.  He’s close to the things of God, but unable to move fully into them; like the nation of Israel wandering in the wilderness…just outside the Promised Land, but unable to enter in {ironically, 38 years is the same amount of time the Israelites wandered in the desert; (see Deut. 2:14)}.

John is framing lack of relationship with God as if it’s the same thing as being lame, the same thing as being lost in the wilderness — close to God, yet disconnected from Him.

And then a huge plot twist!  The hinge point of the lame man’s healing comes in the form of Jesus asking him to break a religious rule!  And the minute he does it, he is healed…and is finally able to enter the Temple, after almost 4 decades of disconnectedness.

There is a thread of religious dissonance woven throughout this story…the reason Jesus commands the man to take up his bed, “working” and breaking the sabbath “rules”, is very simple…this particular “rule”, or definition of “work” was never part of God’s commandments about the Sabbath.

The religious leaders of the day had gone beyond what God asked, and made up more rules, their rules, which had become a bitter barrier between them and God; so much so, that when the “Word” Himself, the Torah made flesh stood before them, they couldn’t recognize His Voice — they knew the word of God, but not the God of the word…

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When we allow the things of God to come before God Himself, we are lost, wandering in the wilderness.  Like the lame man beside the pool, close to the things of God, but unable to get to Him under our own power.

It is only in letting go of whatever we’ve placed before God that we can be healed.  And it is because He knows this, that Jesus comes to each of us…finds us on our mat beside the pools where we’ve been waiting, and with words full of healing and hope, invites us to move beyond religion into Relationship with Him: “Do you want to be healed?”

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Reflect ::

•Are there areas in my life where I am close to the things of God, but disconnected from Jesus in Relationship?

•What would it look like for me to “take up my bed and walk” toward Jesus?

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Prayer:

Jesus, we long for Relationship with you!  Would you come to us, even in our wandering, and heal us from what separates us from You?  As we let go of the beds we’ve made for ourselves, help us to rise up and walk!  By Your Holy Spirit, please tear down every wall we’ve built between ourselves and You.

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Action ::

Take a short walk today, and invite Jesus to speak to you during that time.  Write down anything He speaks to your heart.