Hey! Eyes Up Here, Buddy

 

He who keeps you will not slumber.  Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.  --Psalm 121 3b-4

In our study of John's Gospel, we have seen that the Apostle has woven together several threads that color the life of our Savior.  Jesus was described as the Word of God, the Light of the world, and the Lamb of God.  We see Him work in very intimate and personal ways: 

• He turned water into wine without the bride or bridegroom knowing about it; 
• He met with Nicodemus, a Pharisee and teacher of the Law, explaining that he must be born again;  
• He met with a Samaritan woman at a well and changed her life; and 
• He met with a member of king Herod's court who begged Jesus to come heal his son, when Jesus showed His power extends beyond time and place.  

Not only did Jesus meet people on an individual basis to meet their specific needs; He also had a very public ministry where He performed many signs and wonders: 

• He chose His disciples and took over the ministry of John the Baptist, having His disciples baptize many; 
• He cleansed the Temple; 
• He created a following that demanded more signs and more wonders, much to His consternation.

In the fifth chapter of John we see that Jesus' private ministry and His public ministry intersect.  He starts with a private conversation that leads to an individual healing.  We read about it in verses 1 - 9

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches.  In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.  Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"  The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."  Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."  And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.  --John 5:1-9a

The need to shift our focus

When I was in middle school, I was confused and bewildered.  Going through puberty, getting picked on at school, starting to notice girls--all the things one goes through at that age.  I didn't think my parents would understand, so I didn't want to talk with them about it.  I was a preacher's kid, so I couldn't go to my pastor. I thought I needed help, so I made an appointment with the middle school guidance counselor.

It took several days, but when they finally called me out of class to go see the counselor, it was not at all what I expected.  The man with that title apparently had other responsibilities in the school: he was in charge of attendance, of getting substitute teachers when needed, and also of replying to requests to change classes.  When I arrived in his office, he told me to take a seat, that he'd be with me in a moment.  His mind was laser-focused on what he was furiously writing in a 3-ring binder.  This was before computers (yes, I am that old), and his desk was filled with files, binders, and loose sheets of paper.

When he finally turned his attention to me, he did not look up.  "So, Mr. Stewart, I assume that you want to drop Basic Math and sign up for Intro to Algebra?"  I could only stammer, "I...guess so."  Here I was, a young person in crisis, with questions about Life, Love, and Longing; and here was a "counselor" who was focused on class sizes, class schedules, and classifying students in his myriad binders.  "The class you are dropping is third period," he said, "but Mr. Short's class that meets at that time is full.  You'll have to switch your fourth period class.  Do you mind switching to the early lunch?  I think we can make this work."  I could only nod my head, as it dawned on me that I would not get my real questions answered on this day.

This is how I see the sick man's response to Jesus's questions.  He had been ill longer than Jesus had been alive on this earth, yet I imagine him to be laser-focused on the water.  Like an avid fisherman not averting his gaze from the line, I imagine he barely looked at Jesus as He approached and tried to engage the man in conversation.  I could be wrong, but his answers seem rote to me--he was sick of having to tell the same story over and over, and he didn't want to miss an opportunity to rush down to the mineral water when the pool started bubbling up.

"Do you want to be made well?"  Those words seem foolish to us.  The man had been in that condition for almost four decades, and he was in a place where there was some hope of healing, however small.  "Don't You see I'm trying?" the man responds.  "I'm here by myself, with no one to help me.  So when the opportunity arises I try with all my might, but the prize always goes to another."  You can hear the frustration, the angst.

Jesus heard him. 

You may go to church every Sunday.  You may read your Bible and pray regularly.  If Jesus spoke to you audibly, and asked you, "Do you want to be made whole?" or "Do you want to be delivered and set free?" what would your answer be?  "I come to church every time the doors are opened," you might say in response.  "I volunteer for the choir, serve on the benevolence committee, and teach a children's Sunday School class.  But sometimes it seems like my prayers never get past the ceiling, and my efforts leave me frustrated and unfulfilled."

Jesus hears you.

Fittingly, the name of the pool where Jesus met the man was called Bethesda, which means House of Grace.  Jesus doesn't give up just because the man was not giving Him his full attention.  "Get up, pick up your bed, and walk," Jesus commands.  That, I think, is when the man actually looked up and saw Jesus.  Suddenly, he felt strength he hadn't felt since he was a kid.  He was energized, motivated, and obedient.  He picked up his bed and looked for Jesus, perhaps so he could thank Him.  Jesus had slipped away, disappearing into the crowd.

The plot thickens

And that day was the Sabbath.  The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."  He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk'." Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?"  But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.  Afterward, Jesus found him in the Temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well.  Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."  The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.  But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."  Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His father, making Himself equal with God.  --John 5:9b-18

Not being able to thank Jesus directly, the man went directly to the Temple to thank God for his healing.  As he approached the Temple grounds, he was stopped by some Jews, probably religious leaders, maybe even Pharisees.  They gave the man a stern warning.  "Hey, you," they said, "don't you know you're not supposed to do any work on the Sabbath?"

Sabbath Regulations

The fourth commandment is to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  This command is followed by commentary in Exodus 20:9-11, "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.  In it you shall do no work; you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that was in them, and rested the seventh day.  Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."  Further, Moses said in Exodus 31:14-15 that anyone who does any work on the Sabbath shall be put to death, or at the very least cut off from his people.

Those are some pretty severe consequences, and therefor the Pharisees over the years had many discussions about what constitutes work.  Not wanting to break God's command or be in danger of being cut off or even put to death, they had traditions that became pretty ridiculous in the extreme:

• “The Rabbis of Jesus’ day solemnly argued that a man was sinning if he carried a needle in his robe on the Sabbath. They even argued as to whether he could wear his artificial teeth or his wooden leg.” (Barclay)
• The absolute devotion to the traditions of man surrounding the Sabbath can’t be understated. For example, Deuteronomy 23:12-14 tells Israel to practice good sanitation when their armies are camped. Ancient rabbis applied the same principle to the city of Jerusalem, which they regarded as “the camp of the Lord.” When this was combined with Sabbath travel restrictions, it resulted in a prohibition against going to the bathroom on the Sabbath. (David Guzik)
• This devotion to the rabbis’ interpretation of the Sabbath law continues in modern times. An example is found in an April 1992 news item: Tenants let three apartments in an Orthodox neighborhood in Israel burn to the ground while they asked a rabbi whether a telephone call to the fire department on the Sabbath would violate Jewish law. Observant Jews are forbidden to use the phone on the Sabbath, because doing so would break an electrical current, which is considered a form of work. In the half-hour it took the rabbi to decide “yes,” the fire spread to two neighboring apartments. (Guzik)

THAT'S what you heard?

When the man was confronted with doing unlawful work on the Sabbath, he explained that he had been infirm and bedridden for 38 years, but that he had been healed that very day, and the Man who healed him told him to pick up his bed and walk.  This shifted the rabbis' focus, but not in the way you would think. Lightfoot writes, “Whosoever on the Sabbath bringeth anything in, or taketh anything out from a public place to a private one, if he hath done this inadvertently, he shall sacrifice for his sin; but if willfully, he shall be cut off and shall be stoned.”  On the other hand, “Inciting others to break the law (as they understood it) was worse than breaking it oneself. Therefore they launched a campaign against Jesus which was not relaxed until his death some eighteen months later.” (Bruce)

So instead of rejoicing with the man that he had been miraculously healed after decades of being unable to walk, let alone work, the rabbis started investigating who had made this outlandish demand of the man.  This is one reason I think the man never really looked at Jesus.  If he had, he would have known, as Jesus was well-known in Jerusalem.

Jesus finds the man and begins to disciple him

There were tens of thousands of visitors to Jerusalem for this feast (we don't know which feast it was--it's not important to John's story here).  The chances were low for two people to randomly meet someone in the Temple area that they had seen outside the Temple.  However, Jesus somehow finds this gentleman and greets him.  Notice He does not make small talk.  He doesn't say, "How's it going?  Legs working okay for you?"  Instead, Jesus gives the man instructions in life and righteousness.  "It's good you are at the Temple, for it was God who made you well.  Now make sure you live a life of repentance, so that God's work in you was not in vain."

Jesus seeks us out after we receive a blessing, to make sure we are continuing to walk in His grace.  Jesus warned the man that something worse may befall him if he fails to live a life of repentance.  What could be worse than being disabled for 38 years?  I don't think Jesus was threatening hell, although that would certainly be a fate worse than sickness.  It would be a tragedy for someone to be miraculously healed then not trust Jesus as Savior and Lord.  Another outcome that might be worse than a lifetime of illness would be to be graciously healed then fail to share that grace with others.

Having seen Jesus and recognizing Him as the One by whom he was healed, the man goes to tell the Rabbis.  I don't think he was intentionally betraying Jesus to the authorities, but was rather acting as a witness of Jesus's grace and power.  Unfortunately, the Jewish leaders did not see it that way.

The Pharisees start building a case against Jesus

In the view of the Rabbis, Jesus had profaned the Sabbath.  Not only that, He had directed someone else to break the Sabbath.  They knew that Jesus already had a sizable following--not only the Disciples, but the throngs of people who followed Him and hung on His every word.  If they all started playing fast and loose with the Law of Moses, they feared a spiritual insurrection.  Sure, they may have feared for the peoples' safety, as the Law proscribed death as a penalty for profaning the Sabbath.  They may have been concerned for the peoples' spiritual condition, for ignoring one part of God's commands is a slippery slope--once you start questioning the Sabbath regulations, how long before you start breaking the other commandments with impunity?  More likely, however, was that the Pharisees enjoyed their position of power, and Jesus threatened their elevated position.

Jesus starts poking the bear

In verse 17 Jesus gives the Pharisees an answer that He must surely know will infuriate them.  "My Father," He says, "has been working until now, and I have likewise been working."  A venerated rabbi, Philo of Alexandria (who was a contemporary of Jesus and of whose teachings the Pharisees in Jerusalem would have been familiar) wrote, "God never ceases working; but as to burn is the property of fire, and to be cold is the property of snow, thus also to work is the property of God, and much the more, inasmuch as He is the origin of action for all others”

 Moses said in Genesis that God "rested" on the seventh day during the work of creation.  However, God's "rest" was for us to use as an example, but it does not mean that God ceases all of His work on the seventh day.  Without God exercising power and working His will in the universe, the entire Creation would spiral out of control.  The Jewish leaders knew this, and they understood it.

What really made them mad, however, was not the assertion that God worked on the Sabbath, but that Jesus said He does His Father's work as well.  Just who did Jesus think He was?  Was He equating Himself with God Almighty?  This was worse than breaking the Sabbath; this was blasphemy.

As I was researching this passage, I read this from Barnes' Notes On The Bible:

The answer of Jesus was suited greatly to irritate them. He did not deny what he had done, but he "added" to that what he well knew would highly offend them. That he should claim the right of dispensing with the law, and affirm that, in regard to its observance, he was in the same condition with God, was eminently suited to enrage them, and he doubtless knew that it might endanger his life. We may learn from his answer:

1.  that we are not to keep back truth because it may endanger us.
2.  that we are not to keep back truth because it will irritate and enrage sinners. The fault is not in the "truth," but in the "sinner."
3. that when any one portion of truth enrages hypocrites, they will be enraged the more they hear.

Whenever we have an opportunity to speak truth to power, we should follow the example Jesus gave us.  There may be consequences, but we should be willing to suffer them for the sake of the truth.  Today in many large cities in the United States, protesters will hold political rallies.  Their rallying cry will be "No Kings."  They believe that they are speaking truth to power, as they perceive the current President as usurping Constitutional limitations.  I wonder, though, whether any of them would support a counter argument: No King But Christ.  Sadly, I feel that if a preacher were to find himself in one of these rallies, upholding Christ as King, he might be shouted down.  Worse, he may be persecuted for speaking this truth to the counter-culture.  Should this threat of persecution deter the preacher?  No, not if he wants to be like Christ.  He should call people to re-focus, to not look to the right or to the left, but to look up.  We should encourage folks to turn their eyes toward Jesus, to look full in His wonderful face; then the things of earth will turn strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.