"Jesus brings Spiritual Health" - a reflection on John 5:1-18

I recently read this passage and it really impacted me afresh. I was convicted by verse 14 and its strong implications for each one of us, indeed for all people. There is a choice to be made in life, and how our life goes depends hugely on that choice. What will do about the reality of sin in our life? These are those attitudes and behaviours that are so destructive within our daily environments and also to our personal spirits. Yet I was also encouraged by how Jesus interacted with the man in this narrative, and how Jesus kept finding him where he was and bringing the possibility of such wonderful transformation so close to him.

You might think as we delve into this text that, as you have already accepted Jesus, this message does not hold much interest or relevance to you. But I think it is actually very helpful in understanding the process by which others might be struggling with making a decision, and how Jesus may be working in their lives. Also I think the gospel writer is making some side-by-side comments about the societal context in which this incident takes place that remain quite challenging. But quite apart from anything else, this passage simply allows me to talk about my favourite subject … Jesus.

We have a scene here of many very sick and disabled people hoping to find their way into the waters of this public pool in Jerusalem, where people believed that if the waters were stirred there was the possibility of getting some healing. We hear of one particular man who had been had been sick for 38 years, and had also been waiting at this pool to get in for a “long time”. Something must have prevented him from entering the water, and we hear later that he had lacked both the help and the opportunity to make it into the pool. We should not doubt his desire or willingness, and neither did Jesus after he received the reply he did in verse 7. This man was seeking something better.

Some people do not have the same access to medical care as others – we know this within our own society. Those with more resources, or we might say those with the power to make discretionary decisions over such resources, have a better chance to get the medical assistance they need. And of course there are vast differences between the availability and quality of medical care across different countries. In this man’s case, in this passage in John’s gospel, Jesus will cut through the limitations and injustices of Jerusalem’s medical arrangements to offer this needy man the healing he needs to live out a dignified life. In one bold action Jesus challenges all who have prevented this man receiving the level of help available to other members of God’s community (whether that be institutional or individual culpability). After all, those with influence were only worried about whether someone carried a bedroll on the Sabbath or not!

‘Why shouldn’t this man be enabled to live his life as God created him too’ … “STAND UP, TAKE YOUR MAT AND WALK” says Jesus (verse 8)! And the result was effective, dramatic and instantaneous. But you wonder what this man was previously expecting when Jesus had said to him, “Do you want to be made well” (verse 6)? It is clear from later in the text that this man didn’t know who it was that was talking to him and asking him such a question. This could have been just an ordinary man in the crowd who was willing to make a special effort to drag him over and into the pool (and stir up the water for him).

Yet there was no need for the water – amazingly only his word was needed. Did this symbolise the power for even greater work? All of the miracles recorded in John’s gospel are there as ‘signs’ of who Jesus is; that Jesus is God and has the power to do God’s work. So should this man now be even expecting more than this from Jesus? No doubt, as he started to stand up, and pick up his mat and walk, he knew that something special (something out of the ordinary) had happened to him. Jesus had summed this guy up perfectly, for his attitude to Jesus’ charge to ‘stand up and get moving’ was so hopeful and open to new possibilities (and positive). What would happen next? This man was certainly ‘up’ for it.

What did happen next was that this man was being drawn into a controversy over Jesus healing on the Sabbath and also instructing someone to do forbidden work on the Sabbath … that is, carrying a mat. This aggressive opposition to Jesus was both a defence of the status quo and those who held powerful positions within it, as well as a resistance to the notion that God could do anything new (God being boxed up by these people into a neat and controllable bundle).

We might look for ways to translate this opposition to Jesus into modern terms. Could we argue that resistance to a more equitable distribution of resources at home and abroad is in opposition to the sort of equality that Jesus promoted? Could we argue that neglecting our responsibility toward foreign aid, or being unconcerned about the ‘widow’, ‘orphan’ and ‘alien’, suggests that we don’t really believe everyone is equal under God? In his healing of people on the margins of society, Jesus leads our thinking and our behaviour toward a different ‘kingdom’ with different priorities. Some won’t like this, and you’ll remember that this cost Jesus his life.

Now, Jesus’ business with this formerly ill man was only half finished. There was great hope because this man, having been given a very special opportunity, had wholeheartedly responded. What was there left?? This man still needed to discover who this man Jesus was, and to further respond in terms of his spiritual well-being. Left like this, I would imagine it likely that he would easily slip back into ill-health, as only his physical needs had been dealt with. We, all human beings, have spiritual needs and spiritual capacities that need to be addressed and filled before we really get anywhere satisfying in life, and can truly feel whole or complete.

This formerly ill man hadn’t gone that far away from the initial pool encounter, in fact Jesus found him in the temple – he could have been making the customary religious sacrifice for having received healing – or he could have been seeking what the next step in his recovery to life might be. Jesus now wanted to know what this man was going to do with this very beneficial encounter with that he had had with him. Jesus, having acknowledged the fact of his physical healing, says to the man … “DO NOT SIN ANY MORE, SO THAT NOTHING WORSE HAPPENS TO YOU” (verse 14).

This is the key verse for us to grapple with – what does this verse 14 indicate or suggest?? It indicates that such a powerful and significant encounter with Jesus should lead to a change of one’s direction in life. There should be a commitment to not repeat one’s past mistakes, to learn from them, and to go in a totally different direction from where they were taking that person. This verse suggests that a way has to be found where one finds boundaries in which to live that eliminate any habitual sin and any destructive behaviour. This may involve a complete transformation and re-creative experience. I just said that a ‘way’ had to be found – later in this gospel, Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” (14:6). This formerly ill man had met the ‘way’ … in person.

Now you would think for a man who had been ill for 38 years, and had experienced the indignity of being so close to what he thought was a cure but couldn’t get into the water, things could not get much worse than that. However, Jesus suggested here (v.14) that they could – something worse could indeed happen. What would that be?? That would be spiritual death! Never having one’s spiritual void or capacity filled by Jesus and taking that into eternity! Or, having sin so compound on you that all hope dies … just like Judas! Things can be so much better than this!! Later in this chapter five we read, “Very truly I tell you [says Jesus] anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgement, but has passed from death to life” (verse 24).

Twice Jesus comes to this ‘unwell’ man with a gift of God’s grace – the first time he got the man’s attention, but the second time he called him to repentance and eternal life. Jesus continues to find ways to get our attention. If we have our eyes and ears open, we will stand up and take notice, and concern ourselves with what comes next. Those little emerging inklings of faith need to be solidified in an active response to Jesus – receiving his forgiveness, dealing with our guilt and shame, knowing the love of God that is available to us, and following Jesus through the rest of our lives. We thus find completeness!

This formerly ‘unwell’ man had seen first hand, in the Jewish leadership’s opposition to the Jesus who had came with a gentle healing spirit, how ‘law’, especially a such rigidly applied and badly interpreted ‘law’, would never save anyone, and how adhering oneself to any religious system would never in itself be enough to fill the spiritual void within us. What is required is a personal relationship. When the Jewish leaders criticised the man for carrying his mat on the Sabbath, he was no longer going to listen to those who had not provided any level of help or healing to him, but rather he would defer to the one with the runs on the board.

We can know all about Jesus, and recite the stories in the Bible, but the question remains about whether we know Jesus himself! The question remains as to whether we have allowed Jesus to impact every part of our being! And will our various positive encounters with Jesus lead to the sort of willingness to change that would in turn make such a real difference in our own lives, and also the life that happens around us?

There is a choice to be made. For some it may be time to set aside your reservations and misgivings and let Jesus in; letting the possibilities of true belief run free. For some it may be time to look beyond past hurts and disappointments and let Jesus in. There are many such things that paralyse us; whereas Jesus lifts us first from our mat and then sets us on a new and purposeful journey.