THE IMPOTENT MAN & CHRIST

THE IMPOTENT MAN

John 5:1-18

        An ultimate interest attaches to this account because it gives the account of an activity of Jesus in connection with which He made a claim that, so far as human instrumentality is concerned, cost Him His life. It was what He did and said upon this occasion stirred the malice of the rulers against Him, and that hostility never ceased. John tells us: "For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only brake the Sabbath, but also called God His Father, making Himself equal with God."

        If we glance on to chapter seven, which so far as the chronological sequence of our Lord's life is concerned carries us nearly two years on, we find that He, speaking to these same men in opposition to Him, said: "If a man receiveth circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken; are ye wrath with Me, because I made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath?"

        The reference was unquestionably to this healing of the man in Bethesda's porches. It was here and now that their determination was taken to slay Him, and they never rested until, again on the human level, they had accomplished their purpose.

        The claim which He made, and which they resented, was that of co-operation with God, and He made it in such terms that whatever we might be inclined to think it meant, they clearly understood by the claim itself, and the form in which it was made, that He was claiming equality with God: "My Father worketh even until now, and I work."

        The claim was perfectly distinct in the declaration that God was, to use their words, "His own Father." Thus He claimed that in the thing He had done which in itself did not raise their anger, but did raise their objection because it had been done on the Sabbath day. His vindication for His action was that of His equality with God.

        When we turn to the account itself, we find that in the whole of our articles on the great Physician, none is more dramatic and revealing than this, both in itself, and in His interpretation thereof.

        The account of the man himself, and of those among whom he was found, when Jesus passed through Bethesda's porches, is a revelation of the people for whom He cared, and whom He came to seek and save. The account, moreover, reveals His method with such. These introductory considerations are intended to arrest attention, and to fix it upon the highest and true level of the account itself.

        We look then first at the man. He passes before us nameless. He is seen as one of a crowd. John's description of that crowd is graphic in the extreme. He says that in the porches lay a multitude of "sick, blind, halt, withered." "Sick," that is, utterly strengthless; "blind," sightless; "halt," crippled; and finally that almost terrific word, "withered." Here we see a company of the unfit, the derelicts, the outcasts, and all this by reason of physical disability; and in all likelihood, in the majority of cases, such disability resulting from moral malady. These people are seen close to the pool which was near to the sheep gate, and is called the Pool of Bethesda. Opinions differ as to what that name really means, because it has been given in different forms. If Bethesda is the true name it means the house of mercy. In recent years it is claimed that a discovery has been made of the actual place of the pool, and if that discovery is correct, then the pool lay deeply down; and in order for this man, or any other, to get into its waters, he had to descend a steep declivity of steps.

        If those seen there were derelict, it is nevertheless true that their very presence revealed their desire for recovery. The sheep gate was situated in the north. It was close to the market-place, the place of traffic, the place where the merchants were busily occupied, and business was conducted. It was not the usual entrance to Jerusalem for any other than those so interested. It is significant that Jesus chose upon that day to go that way. Occasionally the waters of the pool were troubled. Our revisers have omitted what unquestionably was an annotation, concerning the troubling of the waters by an angel. That was the popular interpretation as to the cause. It may be taken for granted that the pool was fed by one of those natural springs still to be found in the district, which ever and anon bubbled up. Attributing this to angelic influence, men believed that to pass into those waters would be to find healing. Possibly, too, there were those who did find healing.

        Now as Jesus passed through, we are told that He saw one thus referred to: "A certain man was there, which had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity."

        Thirty-eight years! Let an attempt be made to realize what that really meant. We do not know for how much of that period he had been brought to lie near the pool, waiting for the troubling of the waters.

        Then, taking the whole account into account for a moment, we discover that this man's physical disability was due to a moral malady. In passing, we emphasize the fact that that is not always so. In the last analysis all sickness in the world is the outcome of sin, or broken law. That does not mean that those suffering from disease are necessarily those who are guilty of the breaking of law. The fact that in this case the man's malady was first moral is revealed in the words that Jesus addressed to him later in the day, when He said: "Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more."

        The more accurate rendering of that word would be: "Thou art made whole; no longer continue in sin."

        It is in this solemn word of Jesus to him later that we are brought face to face with the fact that his physical disability was the outcome of sin.

        So he is seen, lying helpless, unable to do anything for himself, apparently, a sufferer familiar enough to others, and indeed so familiar that they have become careless about him. Moreover he was utterly hopeless as is revealed at the moment quite clearly. While still there near the pool, he had lost all hope of being able to avail himself of its healing powers. It is indeed a tragic picture.

        As we turn to consider our Lord's method with him, we go back to the introductory things which have been said, and so pass on to our Lord's words to the rulers: "My Father worketh even until now, and I work."

        When these rulers discovered the man carrying his mattress on the Sabbath day, they charged him with breaking the Sabbath. His reply was at once artless, and sensible, and natural: "He that made me whole, the Same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk."

        The answer was simple enough, but it was inspirational, for it claimed that the sanction for His action was found in the power of the One Who told him do so as vindicated in the wonder of his healing. It is certainly an arresting fact that this man did not know Who it was. The rulers, however, discovered, and then found Jesus, and charged Him with causing this man to break the Sabbath. They objected to the violation of a tradition concerning their Sabbath, while they were blind to the wonder wrought in the case of this derelict specimen of humanity. A broken tradition was more to them than a healed man. It was then that Jesus said to them: "My Father worketh even until now, and I work."

        As we ponder these words coming out of the deep consciousness of our Lord, that is the consciousness of His whole personality, we discover in them His understanding of the things He was doing. He linked Himself with God in activity, and it was as though He said in effect to these rulers, You charge Me with breaking Sabbath. YOU do not realise that God has no Sabbath, nor can have while men are lying in this derelict condition.

        If we take the whole sweep of human history as we find it in our Bible, we see man revolting from heaven's high decree and ordinance, and so bringing upon himself suffering. We see more-over, that in the moment when man thus revolted, the rest of God was broken in upon. We read in Genesis that God created everything, saw that it was good, and rested from His work; but from the moment in which man sinned, and so involved himself in suffering; God became active with a new activity. Thus in this profound utterance of our Lord, He declared the restlessness of God in the presence of sin, and all its consequent suffering; and revealed the fact of the activity of God to end sin and suffering, and so to give men rest. Thus the word of Jesus spans the running centuries and millenniums. So long as humanity is derelict, God is restless with the restlessness that is the inspiration of activity, an activity that moves toward the recovery of man from his sin and suffering, and giving to him cleansing and completeness. All that lies at the back of this account, and makes it so highly significant. We therefore are to join Him in this restlessness.

        As we turn to watch the details of the account, we are first impressed with the fact that passing through Bethesda's porches He saw the man. It is, as we said at the beginning, a dramatic account, for He only spoke to this man three times. If we set the three sayings out, these are they.

"Wouldst thou be made whole?"

"Arise, take up thy bed, and walk."

"Behold, thou art made whole; no longer continue in sin, lest a worse thing befall thee."

        In these brief sentences considered in relation to the man, and their effect upon him, the whole method of God in Christ with derelict humanity stands vividly revealed.

        He first addressed to him a question, "Wouldst thou be made whole?" The Old Version rendered it, "Wilt thou be made whole?" That is not necessarily wrong, but it may mislead us if we think of the word "wilt" as a part of the verb to will, as decision made. The Lord was not addressing the man's will, but rather his desire. We may give an accurate interpretation to the question if we put it in this form, “Do you want to be made whole?” Thus in His first approach to the man our Lord invaded and challenged him in the realm of the deepest thing in human personality. This is not intellect; it is not volition; it is not emotion; but it is that which perhaps results from all these in a way, namely, desire. He appealed to him as to whether he was content with his condition, as to whether he was satisfied, or as to whether he would rather be made whole. That is always Christ's first approach to the human soul. If it should be so that that man had answered Him, or that any should answer Him quite truthfully, declaring satisfaction, then He had and He has no more to say.

        But the effect produced was that he replied, evidently in tones of protest. He said: "Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool, but while I am coming, another steps down before me."

        This cannot be read without the fact becoming apparent that his difficulty lay in his helplessness. If we can put ourselves into the personality of that man I think we shall understand it. Here a passing Stranger, for we are told afterwards that he did not know Jesus, looked at him, and asked this question. By so doing, He would rouse in the man something that had been almost forgotten by him. His answer in effect said, The question is unnecessary.

        Of course I do not choose to remain in this condition. Necessarily I would rather be whole. Thus our Lord had reached the very core of his personality.

        Yet there is more in his reply than that. The Lord's question having thus made him face his actual condition, and recognize the deeper fact of his desire, brought him to an open statement concerning his hopelessness. That hopelessness was born of his helplessness; and yet in the very fact that he thus faced his sense of hopelessness, one cannot but see springing up within him, a new and wistful dawn of hope. Here, as is so constantly the case, we have to account for what happened not in the mere letter of the account, but in the facts concerning the personality of our Lord. There was something in the look of His eyes, something in the tone of His voice, which made the man wonder what He meant, and wonder along the line of hope. The question of Jesus drew him to speak of the deepest thing of his life.

        Thus we see this man, a morally depraved, physical derelict, a withered soul, implicitly confessing that the deepest thing in his life was the desire for wholeness. As in a previous article: perfection, pleasure and permanence. He told this Stranger that his case was hopeless, and yet by the very fact of his speech, revealed something which he saw in the personality of Jesus which arrested him, and called forth his speech.

        It was at that point that Jesus spoke again, and said: "Arise, take up thy bed, and walk."

        I never reach that stage in the account without wanting to imagine that I was there and that as an on-looker. Perhaps I had often passed that pool, and seen that man; it may be, occasionally, flung him a coin and gone on my way. But here today I see a Stranger speaking to him, and I am arrested; and now I hear this Stranger saying to this man, "Arise, take up thy bed, and walk." Watching this, my first inclination is to make a protest and to say to Jesus, What do you mean by this? Do You not realize You are telling this man to do the one thing he cannot do? Do You suppose if he could rise and take up his mattress and walk he would be lying there? What do You mean by telling him to do an impossible thing? But that is exactly what Christ did, and what He always does. He brings the soul face to face with the one thing that seems impossible, whatever it may be, and commands him to act at that point. Watching the scene again, and imagining my own attitude that of protest, suddenly I see the man doing the very thing, and I look at him walking away, carrying his mattress. That is Christianity in an almost blinding flash of glory. That is what Christ has been doing through all the centuries, bringing men face to face with the one thing that paralyses them, and enabling them to do the thing they could not do.

        In this whole command of Jesus there is contained a complete program. The first thing is "Rise"; the second is, "Take up thy bed"; and the third and continuous, is "Walk." At this point we ask properly and necessarily, how do we account for this? He could not do it, but he did it. If we allow ourselves for a moment to enter into the consciousness of the man we may state the process thus. This Stranger has asked me if I want to be made whole. Of course I do, but there is no chance. Yet there is something about Him that enables me to tell Him of my helplessness. While I am wondering, He commands me to do something I cannot. He must mean something by that command. I will obey, because He commands. In that moment, when the will of the man touched the will of God in Christ, he made contact with healing power, and there flashed across that line of connection, health of spirit, mind, and body. Two years later, our Lord referring to it said, "Made every whit whole." All this may be said to be mystical. It certainly is out of the realm of the mechanical on the earthly level, but it is equally certain on the level of the heavenly activity. The moment in which contact was made between the will of Christ for the man, and the will of man in obedience, enablement came to him.

        Then followed the command, "Take up thy bed." I never come to that without abandoning exposition, and accepting the exposition that came years ago from the pen of Dr. Marcus Dods. He said, Why did Jesus tell that man to take up his bed, and walk? And his answer was "In order that he should make no provision for a relapse!" The whole philosophy of Christian life is there. This man, acting in obedience, might have said, Well, surely I have risen, I am healed, but I have acquired a vested interest in this place, and perhaps it would be well to leave my mattress there, in case this thing is not permanent. Had he done so he would have found himself back before much time had passed. One secret of continuity in power of the healing which Christ brings is that we burn our bridges behind us, and cut ourselves adrift from the things that had blasted us.

        The final word of Jesus in this sentence was "Walk." The value of that may be expressed if we say that our Lord warned him against wanting to be carried. Let there be constant action in the power of the healing received.

It is to be carefully observed that this man thus healed, made his way to the Temple. His physical disability, if not his spiritual and moral, had excluded him from those precincts. Directly he was restored, he crossed this threshold again, and there Christ met him, and uttered the last word: "Behold, thou art made whole; no longer continue in sin, lest a worse thing happen unto thee."

        Christ never says to anyone "No longer continue in sin" until He first says "Thou art made whole." As we make contact with Him in an act of willing surrender. He gives us the power which enables us to live no longer under the mastery of sin, but some who claim to be Christian, do. They only fool themselves for there are many types such as this that shall not enter the kingdom (Matt. 7:21; 18:3). The whole account is indeed a matchless unveiling of God in Christ, unable to rest while humanity suffers, working always in order that sin may be dealt with, and suffering end.