Theme:
Jesus and man at the pool of Bethzatha
Text:
“"My Father is always at his work to this very day, and
I, too, am working."
John
5.17 (NIV)
There are
some very rare flowers that bloom in summer on the
The
conservationists tell us that, of course, there is more than meets the eye in
that little blue flower, many unseen factors are behind its growing there on
the mountain slopes: the kind of soil, the grass surrounding it, the rainfall,
the sunshine, the way the slope is facing, the altitude,
behind that pretty little intense blue gentian there is a a
whole background
of unseen factors……………
That is what
we encounter in the gospel of John,
a whole background of unseen things…. is behind the
foreground of what happens. We see this in the opening chapters of John. Jesus
meets people, performs a miracle, He calls the disciples, speaks to Nicodemus,
or a woman at a well in
And in fact,
the very gospel of John begins by revealing to us
the unseen background of all that will unfold in what Jesus
does……
John tells
us at the beginning of his gospel, who Jesus is: John declares that the Word
was with God, the Word became a human being, Jesus of Nazareth. So, again and
again in John’s gospel, we move from a conversation, an event, or a miracle to
its unseen background.
The background of eternal things.
Here in John
chapter 5,
we are at the pool of Bethzatha………
where there was a healing pool fed by a spring. It was
roofed in, with pillars and paving stones round it. If the waters rippled - if there was a sudden disturbance on the surface
when the spring beneath suddenly started to flow, then the first person to get into the
water would be healed.
But we
hardly dare to imagine what that place was like: full of those who are sick, whose illnesses are untreated, chronic illnesses. This
is a place that shocks visitors, to visit is to be
filled with sorrow at the suffering seen there.
Now, here is
a man lying there, we are told, who has been there for 38 years.
He is, like
the rest, a picture of human suffering, and weakness, lying immobile beside the
pool, unable even to move when the waters of the spring ripple.
But it is
into this place that Jesus comes………..
And John has
already declared to us who Jesus is in the opening words of the Gospel. Who is He ? Who is the One who comes to the pool, who makes His way
among the sick ? He is the eternal Word, the One who
was with God before the creation of the World. The Eternal Son, who has become
a human being. This is who is here – at the pool of Bethzatha……..in this place.
Well, the striking thing is that Jesus, speaks specifically to a man who has lain there for
38 years……
this is the man who is healed……………
it is this man who is healed, who walks again.
but there is an eternal background to what happens at the
pool of Bethzatha……….
an eternal background……..
The poet William Blake, in his poem, The Auguries of Innocence,
wrote:
To see a world in a
grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
As we read on further
in John 5,
We discover
that the teachers of the law have come to remonstrate with Jesus because the
healing of the man ill for 38 years has taken place on the Sabbath day………..
But as Jesus speaks to
them,
the eternal background of
the gospel opens up………
just as, on a clear
summers night, we might look up from where we are walking, and see above us all
the stars in the night sky, and stop and wonder………..
So in the words of
Jesus in John chapter 5
the eternal things of the
gospel are revealed to us,
as Jesus speaks
What we have in the verses that follow, is a
glimpse of the relation between Father and the Son. To Listen
to the words of Jesus here, allow them to sink into our minds, is to begin to
come to a deeper knowledge of God the Father and the Son.
In verse 17
of chapter 5, Jesus says…. to the teachers of the law…
"My Father is always at his work to this very day, and
I, too, am working."
What does
this mean ?
"My Father is always at his work to this very day, and
I, too, am working."
Well, John
has already declared to us who Jesus is in the opening words of the Gospel. Jesus, is the Eternal Son, who has become a human being.
So, when
Jesus says:
My Father is always at his work to this very day, and
I, too, am working
He declares
to us, how the healing at the poolside has taken place…..
the healing of the man at the pool has taken place through
the creative work, the creative power of the Father,
moving and active, in Jesus, the Son…………..
And not only
creative power, but life, Jesus says:
26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has
granted the Son to have life in himself.
the life giving power of Jesus, the Son,
comes from the fact that the Father has made
Jesus to be
the source of life…….. the Father has given life, all
life into the care of Jesus……………
that’s one thing……….
And the
other is this:
We have
heard what the pool at
Bethzatha was like – a place full of those who are sick, a place,
of human suffering, and weakness,
The glory is
this: it is into this place that Jesus comes………..
The One who
comes to the pool, who makes His way among suffering men and women, is the
Eternal Son, who has become a human being.
And He declares: this is the very work that
the Father has given me !
So if we
want to know the heart of the Father, we look here, at the pool of Bethzatha and
see
in the midst of the suffering there,
His Son, Jesus.
And looking
we will know
as we look at His Son, Jesus, that the Father’s heart is love.
If we want
to know the heart of the Father, we look here, at the poolside of Bethzatha and
looking we will know the Father’s
purpose in Jesus is to heal and redeem this whole troubled and suffering and
sinful earth.
AMEN