God is Gracious and Unfair (4/15/18 The Book of John #24)

ATTN: There are two types of preachers. One is, they know what they want to say on a topic. And then they look for verses in the Bible to substantiate what they are saying. The other is those who take a Bible text, wrestle with it to get at what it’s saying, and then preaching it to the people. When I was a pastor to the youth, I did the former more. I was an adult speaking to teenagers and therefore, I thought they would respect and listen to what I say just because I was more educated and had more experiences than them. So, “Listen to me because I know more than you” attitude. But as I get older, I grow less and less confident in my own wisdom. Therefore, my way of preaching now is, “What is this text really driving at? What is it trying to convey to the original readers and now to us?” And that is what I and also Pastor Eldie try to do week in and week out.

Our goal is not to entertain you, or even to improve your earthly life, even though we desire it, but for us to experience the grandness of God. And I know that it’s not going to be my thoughts – no matter how clever I am – but the word of God that will do that.

TRAN: Today, we come to John 5. I’m going to make two passes at this passage. I’ll read the passage in part and make quick comments and then we will go more in detail as to what this passage says about Jesus.

John 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.

Notice that there was a multitude of sick and disabled people. And then, out of many, He picks out one person to deal with. This is just like when Jesus picked out the Samaritan woman and waited for her to come out having a divine appointment with her. Very important to note that He didn’t heal everyone who was there even though he could very easily have.

5 One 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?”

We do not know why Jesus picked this man versus any other invalids there. Maybe he had been there the longest? But we know that he’s been suffering from this condition for a very long time – 38 years! But notice that Jesus “knew” that he had been there a long time. Just like He knew about the Samaritan’s woman’s past, Jesus knew this man’s condition and approached him. And he initiates the conversation… “Do you want to get 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.”

He doesn’t say “yes” or “no” to Jesus’ question. He simply assumes that the answer is of course yes he wants to get healed, but you hear his hopeless situation afterwards – He needs to get into the pool to get healed, but since he’s an invalid, perhaps paralyzes from the waist down, he can’t go in there. Someone who is more mobile gets into the pool and gets healed before he can. Now, I do need to tell you the legend behind this pool. The legend, whether it’s true or not we do not know, is that an angel of god comes down and stirs up the pool every now and then, and after the stirring, whoevers gets into the pool first would get healed. Now, that part is omitted in the ESV version we read from. If you are reading from NASB or KJV, that part is included. But what is considered the best and the oldest manuscripts do not have that part included. So, the later editors must have filled that part in. Now, I have no problem with that part being added in. God is not only sovereign over the original writing of the Scripture, but also over the transmission of that Scripture. Besides, it makes no difference whether that part is there or not to the message of the story. Now, it probably was true the people of that time believed that an angel would stir the water and people would get healed. Maybe it happened once, but the fact of the matter is that this man believed that that was the only way to get better and it’s a hopeless situation because he’s never going to get in there because his very condition bars him from doing it. Then, Jesus the savior comes to him….

8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Bed here is referring to a mat that he was laying on. But he doesn’t need the mat anymore. He’s well. Wouldn’t it have been cooler if Jesus said, “hey, that mat you’ve been laying on for 38 years, now you can burn it. You don’t need it anymore!” But He commands him to pick it up and walk. Why? So that he can get in trouble…  

Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 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.”

So, what Jesus told him to do got him in trouble!

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’?” 13 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.

Very interesting that this did not even know who it was that healed him. He had no faith! He didn’t even know who it is that healed him! God can perform miracles whether we have faith or not! God is God. He is not limited by our faith! He can make a rock have faith in God if He wanted.

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.”

Jesus found the man afterwards and made sure he knew who it was that healed him. And he tells him that his sin has something to do with his disability…

15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

Jesus does something good and his life is threatened because of it. And what is Jesus’ reason for doing something good on the Sabbath? He sees His Father doing it. In other words, as the Son of God, He is simply imitating what He sees His Father in heaven do. (the greatest pain for the one who did the greatest thing for the world)

 

Let me take another pass at to get little more details about what this says about Jesus.

1. Jesus is compassionate.  

Jesus knew this man’s impossible situation. He was an invalid. Maybe paralyzed from waist down. Can’t walk. Someone else who is more mobile will always go in. It was the very condition he had that prevented him from ever getting out of it. The only way possible for him to beat out other sick people is if he had friends who would stay with him and put him in before anyone else goes in there. But they never knew when the water would be stirred. Who would wait around days if not months, for the water to be stirred just so that their crippled friend would even get a chance at being healed? So this man probably went to the pool everyday not really having much hope that he will ever get better. 38 years! This is a hopeless case.

Enter Jesus. And what was it that made Jesus find this man? His compassion. 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?” Jesus was often motivated by His compassion: Matthew 14:14, When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. In another place, when he saw a mother mourning over her dead son, it says, (Luke 7:13) he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” And raises him up from the dead.

Jesus is compassionate. He is not unaware and uncaring about our impossible situations. He is not a stern God who would watch us just to see if we would do anything wrong and then punish us harshly when we do. We have a God, an older Brother, who went through what we go through – fatigue, sleep-deprivation, criticism, hunger, thirst, abandonment, despair – and loved us through it. Hebrews 4:15, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Some of us are in an impossible situation. Perhaps spiraling down the vicious the cycle? Maybe it’s the finances. We don’t have enough of it. So, we take out a loan. And when we don’t pay back the loan, our credit ratings go down. And because our credit is bad, now everything costs more, which mean we have to spend more money when we don’t have it. Some of us struggle with our weight that way. We get depressed about our weight gain. So we eat for comfort. That will contribute to more weight gain and depression which makes us eat even more…

It’s easy for those of us who don’t have that problem to think, “just snap out of it. I did it. Why can’t you?” Jesus didn’t. He didn’t just say to the invalid man, “Just snap out of it.” He did something about it. We are the body of Christ – the church. We could be the very ones God would use to be the body of Christ that would achieve the impossible. I wish for us to be the body of Christ where “miracles” are happening and they have happened. Childrens we are sponsoring, mission fund, different backgrounds finding your family here at As One…

 

2. Jesus is gracious; and He isn’t fair..

What do I mean? Grace is getting more than what we deserved. So, the very nature of grace is unfair. Fair is getting what we deserved. Fair is getting rewarded for the good we have done and getting punished for the evil we have done. But even the good we have done, we have done it for our own good and therefore, it was evil in God’s eyes. Evil is when we benefit the self at the expense of others. Didn’t all of us do that at one point or another? When we are looking for a job, we are looking for how the job could benefit us. When we are looking for a church, we are looking for how it could benefit us. When we are looking for a school, neighborhood to live, etc.. the bottom line is “what’s in it for me?” But we are not the center. God is. That’s why we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. If God is fair, then we should all be in hell. But thank goodness. He’s unfair. He’s gracious.

This man didn’t deserve to be healed. Nothing in him made him stand out among the throngs of the sick. But Jesus, in his grace, picked out this man and healed him. And here is how those who have faith in God and don’t have faith in God differ: Those who don’t have faith (trust) in God would think, “Well, it’s unfair that Jesus healed this man and not the others. He should’ve healed all of them! If He isn’t going to heal everyone, he shouldn’t have healed anyone at all. All or nothing!” But the faithful will think: “I’m so glad that Jesus healed that man. He’s a gracious and compassionate God. And if He did it for him, He will do it for me one day. Maybe not in this life, but in the next. But I can trust Him to treat me the way He treated him.”

You know who thinks like that? Little children. ILL: Long time ago, when I taught 3rd-4th grade sunday school, there were about 12-13 kids in my class. And after class, I would take them to the church playground to play. One day a new boy came and joined our class. And when we were playing outside at the playground, this boy who saw me for the first time that day was getting on my back and holding onto my legs like he has known me all his life! Why? Because other kids his age were doing the same. What he thought is, “Well, since Mr. Hong is nice to kids my age, he will be nice to me too.” That is child-like faith. That is the type of faith God wants us to have in Him and in fact the purpose of many of the miracles He has performed.

APP: We hear testimonies of people about how God miraculously delivered them or provided for them. Don’t think “why hasn’t He done that for me! That’s unfair.” That’s unbelief. Think rather, “He did it for her, He will do it for me one day. If not in this life, in the next. See, He’s a good God…”

 

3. He wants to be known

At first this man didn’t even know who healed him. When the Jews asked him, he didn’t know. Later on, the text tells us, that Jesus tracks him down, finds him, and lets him know who it is that healed him. Why? Jesus Himself said, “Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” In other words, we do good things ananymously only unto the Lord, but Jesus Himself is making sure that he is known. Why? Jesus wanted to give him what’s absolutely best. Healing is just temporary but knowing Jesus means eternal life. Jesus wanted to give him more than just physical healing. He wanted to give Him eternal life, which is 10 millions times better than the physical health. And to get that, he had to know who Jesus was.

Implication: We can befriend our neighbors and be kind and nice to our unbelieving friends. But if we are not giving them Jesus, we are doing disservice. We are really preventing them from having the ultimate treasure in God Himself. And we are not being loving if we give them kindness, visit their homes, invite them and do things together with us, but  we won’t give them the very source of life. God has been convicting me that as a church, we need to be more bold about this. It is great that we are visiting the homeless and providing a home for Thai-children, but what good is it if they gain the world but lose their soul? We ought to be about having our friends, neighbors, co-workers having Jesus as their Treasure.