Healing at Bethesda

The “disciple whom Jesus loved,” known as John, either John ben Zebedee, the Apostle, or John the Elder, was writing his recollections of his experiences with Jesus so that those who hear or read would believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and would find eternal life in His name (cf. John 20:31). He began by speaking of the Word of God, the Creator, the life and light of men, who took on flesh and dwelt among us as Jesus of Nazareth (John 1:1-18). He then described the calling of the first disciples, Jesus’ first sign at the wedding in Cana, the events which took place while Jesus was present at the Passover in Jerusalem, and Jesus’ return to Galilee via Samaria (John 1:19-4:54).

Arguments have been advanced which would suggest an inversion of John 5:1-47 and John 6:1-71: according to this reading, the events of John 6:1-71 would follow the healing in Galilee in John 4:46-54, and then John 5:1-47 would follow Jesus’ “Bread of life” discourse, and continue on with Jesus returning to Galilee and then Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths in John 7:1-52. Admittedly this framework would relieve certain tensions within the text: the description of Jesus going to the other side of the Sea of Galilee in John 6:1 only makes sense if Jesus is already in Galilee, which is the case in John 4:46-54 but not in John 5:1-47; likewise, the reference to the “one miracle” in John 7:21 comports best with the healing at Bethesda in John 5:1-16. We will continue to consider the Gospel of John in the canonical order in which it has been delivered to us, but offer this for consideration.

According to John the Evangelist, Jesus returned to Jerusalem for an unnamed feast (John 5:1). He described the pool which was near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem: the best reading of the text for the Aramaic name is “Bethzatha,” but “Bethesda” is the variant by which the place has become most commonly known (John 5:2). One can travel to Jerusalem today and visit the location of the pool at Bethesda at which the events of John 5:1-16 took place.

John reported the presence of many disabled and ill people at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:3). John 5:4 was not recorded in the earliest and best manuscripts; it is most likely a later addition, which may be uninspired but yet still useful, explaining how it was believed an angel of God would stir the water, and the first person to stand in the water once stirred would be healed. John then introduced us to a man who had been disabled for thirty-eight years (John 5:5): Jesus asked if he wanted to be well, and he explained how he had no one to assist him in getting into the water once stirred (John 5:6-7, thus demonstrating the reason for the explanation in John 5:4). Jesus told him to pick up his mat and walk, and he did so and was healed (John 5:8-9).

John the Evangelist then reported what would become the most controversial aspect of what had just happened: this healing took place on a Sabbath (John 5:9b). Jewish leaders, upon seeing the healed man carrying his mat, chastised him for thus laboring on the Sabbath; the man explained how the One who healed him told him to do so (John 5:10-11). The Jewish leaders wanted to know who had said and done these things, but the man did not know (John 5:12-13).

Later, in the Temple, Jesus found the man and exhorted him to avoid sinning any more lest something worse befall him (John 5:14). Many have flippantly made associations between various forms of disability or illness and sin or transgressions; we do well to note how the Biblical record about such associations is mixed and we should be careful in drawing any specific conclusions about any given person and what they might be enduring.

The man would go and tell the Jewish authorities how it was Jesus who had made him well, and they began persecuting Jesus for doing so on the Sabbath (John 5:15-16). It is at this point in which Jesus made a statement which was accurate yet quite inflammatory, and would become the basis for the rest of the discourse in John 5:18-47:

So [Jesus] told [the Jewish authorities], “My Father is working until now, and I too am working” (John 5:17).

In this way Jesus proved quite unrepentant for having worked on the Sabbath, and the Jewish authorities rightly perceived how Jesus made Himself out to be equal with God by calling God His Father (John 5:18).

John the Evangelist then recorded Jesus’ instruction to the Jewish authorities and all who would hear in John 5:19-47. In John 5:19-29 Jesus connected His work of healing and thus giving life to the Father who gives life: the Son can only do what He has seen the Father do, and the Father loves the Son and will show Him, and everyone, even greater deeds which will astound and amaze. The Father raises the dead and gives them life and gives the Son authority to judge so they will honor the Son in the name of the Father: thus the Son will judge and the Son will give life as He wishes. To this end those who believe Jesus’ message and the Father will cross from death to life and have life. The day will come when all in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God and will come out: the righteous to eternal life, and wicked to eternal condemnation. In this way Jesus associated His work of healing with His authority to judge and of the day of the resurrection. Jesus certainly evoked Daniel 12:2 in John 5:28-29; we note well how those “in the tombs” will hear His voice, affirming the reanimation/reconstitution of the physical body in the resurrection, and that there will be a “resurrection of condemnation”, since otherwise we would have reason to conclude the day of resurrection would only come for the righteous in Christ.

In John 5:30-47 Jesus attested to the witness of John the Baptist, the deeds Jesus did in the name of the Father, the Father Himself, the Scriptures, and Moses. Witness, or testimony, has always proved important and significant in affirming or rejecting anyone’s claims about truth and reality. Under the Law nothing was to be established by only one witness; legally something could only be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15). Thus it was a valid question to ask: on what basis could Jesus establish the validity and veracity of what He was saying? Jesus said He had the right and standing to judge because He did not seek His own purposes, but the purposes of the Father who had sent Him (John 5:30). If He testified about Himself, His testimony would not be true; thus Jesus would appeal to other witnesses (John 5:31). Jesus first appealed to the witness of John the Baptist who had testified to the truth (John 5:32-35). Yet Jesus has even greater witness than John the Baptist: the deeds He was doing in the name of the Father bore witness how the Father sent Him (John 5:36). The Father also testified about Jesus (John 5:37).

The Jewish authorities and people took their election and standing before God quite seriously. YHWH had spoken to their ancestors. Yet Jesus devastated their pretense: none of them had heard the Father’s voice or had seen Him at any time, and they do not have the Word of God abiding in them, since they rejected the One whom the Father had sent (John 5:37-38). Jesus recognized how they studied the Scriptures and imagined they had life because of them, yet, according to Jesus, those same Scriptures testified about Jesus, and they will not turn to Him for life (John 5:39-40). Jesus pointed out the double standard: they would accept others who came in the name of God, and they accepted the praise of others, while Jesus would not accept the praise of others and they rejected Him even though He had come in the name of the Father; thus the love of God was not in them (John 5:41-44). Jesus would not be their accuser before God, but Moses (John 5:45): Moses had written about Jesus, and if they really believed Moses, they would heed Jesus (John 5:46-47).

Jesus’ instruction would certainly not assuage the hostility of the Jewish authorities; quite the contrary. His message was bold, pointed, and sharp, deeply and strongly challenging many of the core beliefs and presuppositions of the Jewish authorities and people. Discourses like these should remind everyone how there cannot be any kind of middle ground about Jesus: either He is who He says He is, and we all do best to submit ourselves to Him, or He was severely deluded and/or a most unholy, blasphemous liar.

It has always proven easier to hurl invective and heap condemnation on those who bring forth an unsettling and controversial message than to check oneself to see if the message might have merit. The Jewish authorities would not stop persecuting Jesus until they had Him killed even though all He said and did testified to His relationship with His Father. What if Jesus had something similar to say to us? Would we prove willing to check ourselves or would we want to have Him killed as well? May we fully submit ourselves to the Father and the Son and obtain the resurrection of life in Him!

Ethan R. Longhenry