John 5:19-43: Jesus reveals himself to the Pharisees

Analysis

After Jesus healed the infirm man from the pool of Bethesda, John 5:16 states that “because of the healing that took place on the Sabbath”, the Jewish authorities started (actively) persecuting Jesus.

In v19 to v47 Jesus is talking to the Jewish leaders and is making some amazing claims in their presence; i.e. raising the dead (v21), give life to who he wills (v21), He has authority to judge (v22), gives eternal life (v24), can execute judgement (v27) and people in tombs will come out (v28)! How does he do it ? v19 – He only does what He sees the Father doing. Jesus is following His lead from the Father under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

What evidence does Jesus give to substantiate His claims? In John 1 to John 4 Jesus did a lot of signs, wonders, miracles, teachings and even received an indirect confession from Nicodemus that “God is with him.” But now Jesus is going to call some witnesses in accordance with Law given by Moses where two or three witnesses are needed.

Verses 21-39 calls four witnesses:

1. Jesus himself – even though Jesus says that “If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not valid.” (v31);
2. John the Baptist – even though Jesus says that “I don’t receive man’s testimony,…” but it is to our benefit that John testifies and we believe Him;

At this point it is maybe pertinent to note that the first two testimonies might be dismissed the next two cannot be doubted. These are true and valid testimonies:

1. The Father (God) – (v37) “The Father who sent Me has Himself testified about Me” and He testifies how ? in v36 it says “…works I am doing testify about Me that the Father has sent Me”; and
2. The scriptures (the Law, Prophets and Writings) – v39 Jesus says “You exalt yourself in the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, yet they testify about Me, the one standing in front of you.”

At the end of the passage Jesus drops the bomb when he shows them their own hypocrisy in v43 to v47 when he says that if you don’t believe the testimony of (i) the Father (the God of righteousness) in whose name I come or (ii) the scriptures that testify about me, then you will not believe.

Both of these witnesses are true. If this does not convince them, then nothing will.

Response

The emphasis of Jesus’ teachings as related by John is that he is the Messiah. John goes to great pains to emphasise this fact. He uses scripture references, the relates proofs given to the scribes and teachers of the law and he describes the miracles done by Jesus in detail. But all of these things are just words and objects if you do not have belief in the fact that Jesus is who he says he is.

You can only understand the true power of the Lord is you believe first. After belief, Jesus truly comes alive through the scriptures and the Holy Spirit helps us understand the scriptures. But it starts with Jesus and believing in him.

Even with all the knowledge possessed by the Pharisees they could not see the true Christ because they did not believe.

John 5:1-18: Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath

Analysis

The account of the lame (or infirm) man healed by Jesus at the pool of Bethesda, as given here by the Apostle John, contains a fair amount of detail in its opening description (e.g. five roofed colonnades, multitude of people with varying ailments). This affirms the fact that John was an eyewitness to the events and that this was not a mere second hand account.

It would seem that Jesus sought this particular man out as the one the Father showed him to heal because there was a multitude of sick, lame and blind. Why particularly this man? We know he has been in this condition for 38 years and has, most probably, been at the pool waiting for a chance to be healed (get into the water at the right time) for most of the duration of his condition. His persistence is astounding. He also believed with his whole heart that he will be healed because when Jesus asked him if he wanted to be healed, all he asked for was some help to get to the pool. He firmly believed that his condition is just temporary; all he needs is a push in the right direction.

Notice what Jesus said to him as he healed him, “Pick up your bed and walk” and he did. He picked up his bed and walked away. The man went to the Jewish authority to be checked out and was declared well but the only thing they focussed on was that he was breaking one of their man-made Sabbath rules.

No one rejoiced in his new found health. The fact that the Jews did not know who it was that healed the man indicates that they were not present at the event. However, when they found out who it was, the Jewish authorities were enraged that one man could be “working” on a Sabbath rather than focussing on that this man is the Messiah and from God. They were even more incited to persecute Jesus when He pointed this out to them, that He is the Son of God and that He is God.

Application

This account of the miracle not only proves that Jesus is Lord over disease or over the law (which he came to fulfil) but that we can sometimes get caught up in the legalism of the bible instead of focussing on the redeemer.

The bible shows us all the ways that we should live our lives and through this I sometimes lose focus and judge others on minute details instead of loving them and focus on the fact that I am also a sinner like them. Jesus is God and he is our redeemer who freed us all from being slaves to sin.

Also, after the man was healed and he found out who it was that healed him, he confessed that it was Jesus who “saved” him and he was rejected because of what he did (break Sabbath “law”) and not on what he said when he proclaimed Christ. In the world, we are often judged on our outward lives rather than on the fact that we proclaim Christ. However, in our Christian walk, our deeds must always back up our words that we preach. Or conversely, we can only preach what we do.