Sermon Listening Guide
Speaker: Dr. Condy Richardson
Scripture: John 5:1-18
Sermon Title: “Do you want to get well?"
John 5:1-18 (NIV)
5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
The Authority of the Son
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
The Authority of the Son
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
First Thoughts
The stories of healing in the Bible reveal more about Jesus than they do the person healed.
The miracle of healing points to the power of God.
The person healed in the Gospels is never the main character. Jesus is!
Do You Want to Get Well?
The afflicted man in John 5 believes in a healing superstition involving the pool at Bethesda.
Jesus wants to know if the man even truly wants to get well. (Verse 6)
Why would men and women prefer physical/spiritual sickness over being well?
We are all in need of the true source of power to be well in life.
Jesus Sought Him
Unlike other healing stories in the Gospels, this man never asks for healing.
Verse 14 adds to a negative view of the man, yet Jesus sought him to heal him.
Of all the metaphors for Jesus, the kind Father or Good Shepherd may be the warmest.
By extension, the church has a responsibility to seek the lost, sick, and hopeless.
The Sabbath
Verse 9 hints that the hatred towards Jesus is about to increase.
Jesus both reinterprets Sabbath and identifies himself as God in verses 10-18.
Legalism binds the Jewish leaders’ hearts and makes them shallow and cruel.
In a world where we largely measure people by what they are against, be for hurting people.
Final Thoughts
Jesus’ compassion and love is on full display in John 5.
In choosing to love others, we choose to become like Jesus.
The stories of healing in the Bible reveal more about Jesus than they do the person healed.
The miracle of healing points to the power of God.
The person healed in the Gospels is never the main character. Jesus is!
Do You Want to Get Well?
The afflicted man in John 5 believes in a healing superstition involving the pool at Bethesda.
Jesus wants to know if the man even truly wants to get well. (Verse 6)
Why would men and women prefer physical/spiritual sickness over being well?
We are all in need of the true source of power to be well in life.
Jesus Sought Him
Unlike other healing stories in the Gospels, this man never asks for healing.
Verse 14 adds to a negative view of the man, yet Jesus sought him to heal him.
Of all the metaphors for Jesus, the kind Father or Good Shepherd may be the warmest.
By extension, the church has a responsibility to seek the lost, sick, and hopeless.
The Sabbath
Verse 9 hints that the hatred towards Jesus is about to increase.
Jesus both reinterprets Sabbath and identifies himself as God in verses 10-18.
Legalism binds the Jewish leaders’ hearts and makes them shallow and cruel.
In a world where we largely measure people by what they are against, be for hurting people.
Final Thoughts
Jesus’ compassion and love is on full display in John 5.
In choosing to love others, we choose to become like Jesus.