The Healing of the Paralyzed Man
John 5:1-15 (ESV):
1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic[a]called Bethes da,[b] which has five roofed colonnades.
3In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.
5One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
6 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?”
7The 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.”
8Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”
9And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sab bath.
10 So the Jews[d]said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.”
11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’”
12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.
14 Afterward 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 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
Joseph Damien was a nineteenth-century missionary who ministered to people with leprosy on the island of Molokai, Hawaii. Those who were suffering on the island grew to love him and revered the sacrificial life he lived out before them.
One morning before Damien was to lead daily worship, he was pouring some hot water into a cup when the water swirled out and fell onto his bare foot. It took him a moment to realize that he had not felt any sensation. Gripped by the sudden fear of what this could mean, he poured more hot water on the same spot. And there was no feeling whatsoever.
Damien immediately knew what had happened. As he walked tearfully to deliver his sermon, no one first noticed the difference in his opening line. He normally began every sermon with, “My fellow believers.” But this morning, he began with, “My fellow lepers.”
In greater measure, Jesus came into this world, knowing what it would cost Him. He sacri ficed His own life so that we can receive forgiveness for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21). But what is sad is that despite all the sacrifices He made for the world, many still have failed to recognize Him as
their Savior. John’s words are truly heartbreaking – “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11).
I trust that none of us here would fail to acknowledge Jesus as our personal
Savior. Why? It is because Jesus has given us enough “signs” to prove that He is whom He says He is.” As we have said for the past two Sundays, in studying the Gospel of John, Jesus left us with sufficient pieces of evidence that He is the real Messiah. So far, we have already covered two “signs” or as we have defined, “miracles with a message:”
1. He turned water into wine.
2. He healed the nobleman’s son.
This morning, let’s study together the third sign, which is the healing of the paralytic, and highlight at least four significant elements in this story:
I LIVING IN HOPELESSNESS (vv. 1-5)
As Jesus traveled to Jerusalem to attend a feast (the text does not specify which one), He went to the pool of Bethesda, where many sick people who are hoping to be healed can be found. Accord ing to verse 3, these sick people were called “a multitude of invalids,” such as blind, lame, and para lyzed. I would like to specifically highlight the word “invalids,” which was taken from the Greek word “astheneo.” This word could literally be translated as “people without strength.”
Let me remind you again, the miracles of Jesus Christ were designed to give a message. In our text, the message we should not miss is that these people who were physically invalids perfectly rep resent the spiritual sickness of all sinners. Sin destroyed the human race because it left all of us inva lid or without strength. The apostle Paul clearly uses this picture for sinners in Romans 5:6 (ESV):
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
Yes, that’s all of us. We don’t possess the strength to save ourselves. But thanks be to God be cause He sent Jesus Christ at the right time to die on the cross to save us. You know, one of the hard est truths for sinners to acknowledge is their hopelessness without Jesus Christ. Many still are de ceived into believing that they could be saved even without Jesus Christ.
Obviously, this is the reason why the place is named “Bethesda” because it literally means “House of mercy” or “House of grace.” The meaning of the place is quite fitting because it describes the need of these sick people hoping that God would be merciful to them and grant them the healing they need.
To demonstrate God’s mercy, Jesus went to this pool and approached this paralyzed man who had been sick for the past 38 years. Examining our main text, it would not be difficult to recognize the state of the hopelessness of this man. Even worse, he could not jump into the pool to be healed because of his condition. Apparently, the main reason why sick people were hanging around the pool was that there were times when God would send an angel to stir the water of the pool. Once the wa ter has been stirred, the first sick person who gets into the pool will be healed. Of course, we are not told how often the water gets stirred in a year, but the paralyzed man always misses his chance. He himself verbalized his predicament in verse 7, “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.”
Can you imagine the feeling of missing those healing opportunities? Whenever he tried to get
in, someone else got ahead of him. And his biggest problem was that no one was there to assist him. Do you know that feeling of hopelessness? The feeling that nothing is really going to change and that no matter how hard you try, life will not get better. Well, the good news is that Jesus came and showed up so He could be the answer to our needs! Jesus, Himself said these words in Luke 5:31-32:
31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Indeed, Jesus came to the world to give us the spiritual healing we all need. II LONGING FOR HEALING (vv. 6-7)
In this pool of Bethesda, there were many invalids. But as you transition to verse 6, Jesus ap proached a paralyzed man whom Jesus knew had been at the pool for a long time. As Bible readers, we should not ignore statements like these because they are intended to establish the divinity of Jesus. This truth undoubtedly reassures us that our Savior knows our desperate situation.
However, it is worth noticing what Jesus did as He met the paralyzed man. Despite His knowledge of this man’s situation, He still asked this question - “Do you want to be healed?” Why did He still ask this question? Wasn’t it obvious that he wanted to be healed since he was at the pool? I believe Jesus did it for two important reasons:
A. To help expose his dependence.
Instead of simply saying, “Yes, I want to be healed,” the paralytic would explain why it was tough for him to be healed. Nobody was helping him to get into the water.
Unfortunately, many people wait until they run out of options before they go to God. People often say, “I have done everything I can; the only thing left to do is pray.” I hope I can remind you this morning that God doesn’t have to be our last resort. God would surely delight to be our first op tion because He cares so much for us. Peter reminds us in 1 Peter 5:7:
7casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Regarding our soul’s salvation, self-help will never get us to heaven. Only Jesus can help us get to heaven. Jesus, Himself said in John 14:6:
6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
B. To help express his desire.
The truth is that although Jesus knew exactly what he needed, He wanted him to express his desire to be healed. Jesus did the same thing when He healed the blind Bartimaeus.
Mark 10:51 (ESV):
51 And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.”
The same can be said about salvation. The Lord waits to hear our confession from our own lips that we are lost, and we need Him before He gives us life. Listen to the words of Romans 10:9-10:
9because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one con fesses and is saved.
If you need God’s help, you must go to Him and express your desire to be helped. William MacDonald, a great Bible commentator, wrote:
“We are not saved by our own will, yet the human will must be exercised before God saves a soul.”
III LISTENING TO THE HEALER (vv. 8-9)
The third element I wanted to highlight comes the words of Jesus Christ to the paralytic say ing, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk” (v.8).
Last week, Pastor Jerome mentioned how powerful the words of Jesus were in the healing of the nobleman’s son when Jesus told him to go home because his son lived. This morning, we see the same thing with the paralytic. He commanded the man to do the very thing he could not do, but in His command was the power of fulfillment (see Mark 3:5; Heb. 4:12). As soon as he obeyed, he was healed.
When you think about it, he could have ignored Jesus’ words and said, “You’re kidding, right! How can I do what you just said?” His muscles had probably suffered atrophy or weakened after be ing paralyzed for 38 years. But when he believed and obeyed, God gave those muscles the strength to stand up, take up his bed, and start walking. Nothing is impossible with God. What a great story of faith!
What about us? God has already given us His Word; will we trust them? The truth is that we can deprive ourselves of many miracles if we continue to doubt His words. Last Sunday, during the offering time, Bro. Erwin Sapuay stood up and read Proverbs 3:9-10:
9Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; 10 then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.
After reading these verses, Erwin reminded us that in the Bible, all verses that encourage be lievers to give will always have attached promises. Just like verse 10 in this passage – “then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” Basically, God is saying that when we honor Him with our giving, He will multiply our blessings.
However, instead of obeying, we try to find excuses for why it is impossible for us to re spond. You see, if the paralytic did the same thing, he could have missed his healing.
Once I read a story of an InterVarsity Christian Fellowship missionary working with some col lege students. He shared that at one time, after a weekend conference, he gathered the college stu dents out of his ministry campuses to ask what they had learned during the conference. Almost all of them responded and said, “Oh, yeah. You should see how many notebooks I filled.” And his re sponse to them was, “You don’t have to show me your notebooks. If you learned anything, I’ll see it in your life.”
4
The same is true of God’s Word. The reality is that the devil does not care
how much you know about the Bible as long as you don’t obey them.
IV LOVING THE HEALER (vv. 10-15)
What’s the right response to Jesus after receiving His healing? What is tragic in the text is seeing some Jews become critical of the healed paralytic because he was carrying his bed (light mattress) on a Sabbath Day. Instead of rejoicing with this man who was para lyzed for 38 years and was now healed, they were more focused on what they saw as a violation of the Sabbath. They could have been drawn closer to Jesus if they had magnified his healing. Unfortu nately, the man-made traditions, which they added to the observance of Sabbath became a barrier for them to see Jesus.
However, on the part of the paralytic, there were two proper responses once you experience the personal encounter with the Son of God:
A. Pursuit of Holiness (v.14)
After he was healed, Jesus withdrew from the crowd because early in his ministry, He avoided public recognition for His miracles. So, when the Jews asked the healed paralytic who healed him, he could not identify Jesus.
However, when he went to the Temple, he met Jesus again. Bible scholars suggest that he went there for the purpose of personally thanking God for His healing. When he met Jesus, he re ceived this direct exhortation from the Savior - “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”
With the blessing he received, his main responsibility was to stop living in sin. He needs to pursue holiness. And there’s the specific warning – “that nothing worse may happen to you.” This statement seems to suggest that his sickness was caused by sin. Of course, not all sicknesses are caused by sin, but in his case, this is true. So, whatever sin caused his sickness, he needs to abandon it once and for all because it can return far worse than before.
B. Public Witness (v. 15)
Second, we read these words in verse 15, “The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.” Like many people whom Jesus healed, this man told others that Jesus healed him. I could imagine his excitement in sharing that after 38 years of paralysis, he can now walk.
I am convinced that all of us who have experienced salvation in Jesus Christ should never be embarrassed to share to others how Jesus miraculously saved us. Just like the paralytic man, we were suffering because of our sins, but thank God because of His grace, He allowed us to meet Jesus Christ personally. Just like Paul, who testified of what Jesus has done for Him in 1 Timothy 1:12-17:
12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faith ful, appointing me to his service,
13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mer cy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,
14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
I trust that if you know Jesus as your Savior, you will realize how great of an honor and privi lege it is for you. If you are grateful, let me remind you of fulfilling these two responsibilities in loving Jesus. As I reflect on our privilege of having Jesus, someone wrote all these descriptions of who Jesus is for the believers. I was truly blown away by everything that was written here:
Christ for sickness, Christ for health, Christ for poverty, Christ for wealth, Christ for joy, Christ for sorrow, Christ today and Christ tomorrow; Christ my Life, and Christ my Light, Christ for morning, noon and night, Christ when all around gives way Christ my everlasting Stay; Christ my Rest, and Christ my Food Christ above my highest good, Christ my Well-beloved Friend Christ my Pleasure without end; Christ my Savior, Christ my Lord Christ my Portion, Christ my God, Christ my Shepherd, I His sheep Christ Himself my soul to keep; Christ my Lead er, Christ my Peace Christ hath wrought my soul's release, Christ my Righteousness di vine Christ for me, for He is mine; Christ my Wisdom, Christ my Meat, Christ restores my wan dering feet, Christ my Advocate and Priest Christ who ne'er forgets the least; Christ my Teach er, Christ my Guide, Christ my Rock, in Christ I hide, Christ the Ever-living Bread, Christ His pre cious Blood hath shed; Christ hath brought me nigh to God, Christ the everlasting Word Christ my Master, Christ my Head, Christ who for my sins hath bled; Christ my Glory, Christ my Crown, Christ the Plant of great renown, Christ my Comforter on high, Christ my Hope, draws ever nigh.
He is our everything and so He deserves our everything!
March 19, 2023/Bishop Jeremiah Lepasana