God Speaks
Afterwards Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish religious holidays. 2 Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was Bethesda Pool, with five covered platforms or porches surrounding it. 3 Crowds of sick folks—lame, blind, or with paralyzed limbs—lay on the platforms (waiting for a certain movement of the water, 4 for an angel of the Lord came from time to time and disturbed the water, and the first person to step down into it afterwards was healed).
5 One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew how long he had been ill, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”
7 “I can’t,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to help me into the pool at the movement of the water. While I am trying to get there, someone else always gets in ahead of me.”
8 Jesus told him, “Stand up, roll up your sleeping mat and go on home!”
9 Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up the mat and began walking!
But it was on the Sabbath when this miracle was done. 10 So the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! It’s illegal to carry that sleeping mat!”
11 “The man who healed me told me to,” was his reply.
12 “Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded.
13 The man didn’t know, and Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. 14 But afterwards Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; don’t sin as you did before, or something even worse may happen to you.”
15 Then the man went to find the Jewish leaders and told them it was Jesus who had healed him.
16 So they began harassing Jesus as a Sabbath breaker.
17 But Jesus replied, “My Father constantly does good, and I’m following his example.”
18 Then the Jewish leaders were all the more eager to kill him because in addition to disobeying their Sabbath laws, he had spoken of God as his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.
19 Jesus replied, “The Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing, and in the same way. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and tells him everything he is doing; and the Son will do far more awesome miracles than this man’s healing. 21 He will even raise from the dead anyone he wants to, just as the Father does. 22 And the Father leaves all judgment of sin to his Son, 23 so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. But if you refuse to honor God’s Son, whom he sent to you, then you are certainly not honoring the Father.
24 “I say emphatically that anyone who listens to my message and believes in God who sent me has eternal life, and will never be damned for his sins, but has already passed out of death into life.
25 “And I solemnly declare that the time is coming, in fact, it is here, when the dead shall hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God—and those who listen shall live. 26 The Father has life in himself, and has granted his Son to have life in himself, 27 and to judge the sins of all mankind because he is the Son of Man. 28 Don’t be so surprised! Indeed the time is coming when all the dead in their graves shall hear the voice of God’s Son, 29 and shall rise again—those who have done good, to eternal life; and those who have continued in evil, to judgment.
30 “But I pass no judgment without consulting the Father. I judge as I am told. And my judgment is absolutely fair and just, for it is according to the will of God who sent me and is not merely my own.
31 “When I make claims about myself they aren’t believed, 32-33 but someone else, yes, John the Baptist, is making these claims for me too. You have gone out to listen to his preaching, and I can assure you that all he says about me is true! 34 But the truest witness I have is not from a man, though I have reminded you about John’s witness so that you will believe in me and be saved. 35 John shone brightly for a while, and you benefited and rejoiced, 36 but I have a greater witness than John. I refer to the miracles I do; these have been assigned me by the Father, and they prove that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father himself has also testified about me, though not appearing to you personally, or speaking to you directly. 38 But you are not listening to him, for you refuse to believe me—the one sent to you with God’s message.
39 “You search the Scriptures, for you believe they give you eternal life. And the Scriptures point to me! 40 Yet you won’t come to me so that I can give you this life eternal!
41-42 “Your approval or disapproval means nothing to me, for as I know so well, you don’t have God’s love within you. 43 I know, because I have come to you representing my Father and you refuse to welcome me, though you readily enough receive those who aren’t sent from him, but represent only themselves! 44 No wonder you can’t believe! For you gladly honor each other, but you don’t care about the honor that comes from the only God!
45 “Yet it is not I who will accuse you of this to the Father—Moses will! Moses, on whose laws you set your hopes of heaven. 46 For you have refused to believe Moses. He wrote about me, but you refuse to believe him, so you refuse to believe in me. 47 And since you don’t believe what he wrote, no wonder you don’t believe me either.”
Source: The Living Bible: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: This chapter can be broken into three parts. Part 1: Jesus healed a man at the pool of Bethesda. First, Jesus assessed the situation. He knew about the pool’s reputation of being a place of healing and the man’s 38 year-long condition. Jesus’s first question to the man was, “Do you want to get well?” Jesus listened to him but didn’t accept his reasoning. As in so many other healings, Jesus healed him but told him to take action that would verify his healing. When Jesus talked with the man later, He warned him to avoid sinning so that his blessing would continue. Part 2: True life is found by aligning ourselves with Father God. He has ordained that eternal life and blessing come to us through our relationship with Jesus, the Son. Part 3: There are three witnesses that testify about Jesus being who He says He is–John the Baptist, the works that Jesus did when He was here on earth, and Father God Himself. Many people study the Bible diligently but don’t receive eternal life because they don’t receive and put into practice what the Scriptures say about Jesus. They lose out on all that God has for them. Dear reader, don’t be like them. Turn to Jesus in repentance and faith and receive all that He and the Father have for You.
Prayer: Dear loving heavenly Father, thank You that Jesus had compassion on a man who had suffered an infirmity for 38 years. You have the same compassion for whoever is suffering today. You just want us to bring our problems to You and ask for Your help. We must be willing to follow Your instructions (especially avoiding sinning) so the blessings of our miracle will continue. Lord, since You were harassed for healing on the Sabbath, please bless the people who are being harassed for doing good today. Please help Your people to keep doing what is right and true and good despite opposition. Jesus, help us to do only what we see the Father doing, just as You did. Remind us that we should never be ashamed to admit that we are children of God by trusting in You and all You did for us on the cross. May we honor the Father by honoring His Son. Thank You, Father, that You have ordained that eternal life and blessing come to me through my relationship with Jesus, the Son. May my decisions and actions be based not on my own will, but on the will of God my Father. May I study the Scriptures to know what John the Baptist, the works that Jesus did when He was here on earth, and Father God Himself have to say about who Jesus is and put that into practice in my daily life. For Your glory, Lord. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, which one of these He wants you to work on or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will ask the Lord to whom He wants me to show compassion today, then do what He says.
- I will take a moment alone whenever I have a problem to talk with Jesus about it, listen for His answer, and do what He says.
- I will take some time each day this week to honor (praise) the Son of God.
- I will write one scriptural example from each of these of their testimony about Jesus: John the Baptist, works that Jesus did, and Father God Himself, so that I can act on it.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.