In John 5:6 Jesus asked an impotent man if he wanted to be made whole. Why wouldn’t the man wish to be made whole? However, Jesus’ question goes much deeper than a simple question. The man was crippled for 38 years. He claimed he had no one who would help him (John 5:7), but obviously his basic needs were met by someone. Therefore, Jesus asked: “Do you want to be made well?” He was pointing out that wholeness would bring with it the new responsibility to care for oneself. Wholeness would bring with it great and probably unanticipated changes. “Do you want this, or are you content with others caring for you?” Jesus’ question can be turned inward: “Do I want to be made whole, for I am the man!
John begins by pointing out that all this occurred during the Feast of the Jews (John 5:1), probably the Feast of Tabernacles (John 5:1), which commemorates the time Israel spent in the wilderness (a wilderness has no sure path), implying a need for guidance. The Jews spent 40 years in the wilderness, because of disobedience and unbelief. According to the text, this man was impotent for 38 years due to his own sin (John 5:14). Coming into the Promised Land involved great national change for Israel, and this man’s healing would bring a great many personal changes into his own life, just as taking the Promised Land did for the nation of Israel.
Next, John tells us that the man lay on a mat at the pool called Bethesda, which was surrounded by five porches. If a building has five porches, it implies it also has five doors or gates. This implies our own five physical gates, whereby we know our world. They are sight, sound, touch, scent and taste. We know nothing of our world that does not come through these five gates. Yet, in the spiritual sense none of these gates are able to bring us to God. The natural man is just as impotent as this man in his own spirit. All of us need Jesus to make us whole, if we are to be able to participate in the life of the spirit, because we are by nature impotent in our spirits!
How do we react when Jesus suddenly bursts into our lives? Do we want to be healed in our spirits? This man claimed his stalled condition was not his fault (John 5:7). He tried to respond to the troubling of the waters (the spirit), but he was unable to bring about the desired result all alone. We often use this excuse, when our spirits are troubled: it’s not my fault. I would rather pity myself than allow Jesus to bring me into a closer relationship with him, during sensitive periods of my life.
Next, John tells us that the man was simply beside himself with joy over his newly discovered freedom (wholeness), yet he didn’t even think to find out Jesus’ name (John 5:13). If I respond to Jesus and allow him to make me whole, but I don’t take the time to get to know him, I will have no Root (Jesus) in my heart (cp. Matthew 13:5, 20-21). My foundation will not be built upon him but upon the fleeting feeling of the joy that I may experience in my newly discovered freedom in Christ. However, when trouble arises, which is what occurred to this man, when he was questioned by the Jewish authorities and accused of wrongdoing (John 5:10-13), I won’t know how to act.
Finally, John shows Jesus addressing the man’s sin (John 5:14). What was it? Obviously, the text doesn’t say, so we can’t know for certain, but his 38 years of paralysis is similar to the years Israel spent in Kadesh, immobilized for 38 of the 40 years, which they spent in the wilderness due to their unbelief, after ten of the twelve spies brought back an evil report about the Promised Land. Did this man’s sin also express unbelief?
Notice that Jesus found him in the Temple, and when he did, Jesus told him to stop sinning before a worse thing came upon him (cp. Matthew 12:43-45). Was the man sinning in the Temple? Jesus’ command seems to alert the man of danger that he may have been presently engaging in. Was he profiting monetarily through his new notoriety? If so, wouldn’t that reflect his contentment in his former life as a beggar, letting others provide for his needs, while he made excuses for his condition (cp. John 5:7). I remember when I was content to leave my spiritual understanding in the hands of other men, because the word of God was too difficult to understand. I found it too laborious to work in its fields to produce spiritual food for myself. Was it something like this that had paralyzed him for 38 years?
What should we make of the man exposing Jesus to his enemies, who then began to persecute him (John 5:15-16)? To be clear, no matter what a new believer does, it will bring persecution of some kind to Jesus within. Keep in mind that we are speaking of the Kingdom and how it is (or isn’t) perceived (cp. John 3:3). Things that pertain to the Kingdom simply don’t make sense to those who are trying to perceive it through physical means, vis-à-vis the five senses (cp. John 3:4). The point is: when persecution arrives, where do I stand? Is it with Jesus and endure the persecution, or is it with Jesus’ persecutors, so as to escape persecution (cp. Matthew 13:5, 20-21)? In the first instance I would continue to grow in my wholeness, while in the second, I’d be paralyzed (as in Kadesh) once more. If I don’t know Jesus (John 5:11-13), I need to get to know him myself, which cannot be done by simply listening to other men. I must walk with Jesus to know him. My relationship with him cannot grow, when I show greater respect for the interests of men. If I stand up to men, I will be the one persecuted for my attitude toward human authority.[1] If I cave in to human authority, I will allow the life of Christ within me to be persecuted, and I’ll become more and more immobilized in my walk with Christ.
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[1] I’m not advocating rebelling against church authority. However, denominationalism is a form of separating believers from other believers. When one clashes with that which separates us for other believers (and therefor separates us from Christ), our stand becomes one in which we stand with men (denominationalism) or Christ.
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