In continuing along with the my series on the Gospel of John, which is probably my favorite of the Gospel accounts, I couldn’t decide which direction I felt most inspired or led to go in since in this chapter, the fifth, we’re given the account of the healing at the pool of Bethesda.  I’ve already taken time to write a point about it in my post, 8 Lies People Believe About Divine Healing, and for more on that I also recommend a really good post, from a different angle, written by Ron O’Brien and posted at Fire Press back in January.

We’re going to take a brief moment to look at the aftermath of this miracle.  I’ve always read these accounts in the Gospels stunned that the very religious leaders who’d been praying and crying out for decades and even centuries, not only missed it when the answer to their prayers, a Messiah, came on the scene, but the vigor with which they fought against him, and even killed him.  They were so irked at the wonderful things he did for people, such as healings, because he violated their religious customs, and–gasp!–healed on the Sabbath!  I know, right?

Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” (John 5:10)

Now think about this for a moment.  The man had been an invalid for over 38 years.  The average life expectancy of people in those days, especially men, was in their 30s and 40s.  So this man had spent all of his life, in this condition.  That might not even be completely accurate, but the point is he’d been this way longer than most people lived at that time.  And given the nature of this pool and its location, he more than likely had been there on a frequent basis, and judging by his response to Jesus, had attempted many times to be first into the pool but had gotten to a point where he’d given up hope that he’d ever get his miracle.  Thirty-eight years is a long time.

It’s more than likely, given the fact that many were crowded around this pool a gate of the temple (Neh 3:1, 32; 12:39) he’d probably been seen regularly.  When I through certain parts of Lima, Peru, I tend to see some of the same beggars and people selling trinkets.  I’ve only been here two years and I remember their faces and locations I’m bound to run into them and what they’re selling, usually.  This man, had been here on a regular basis for thirty-eight years.  I’m convinced the pharisees and religious leaders knew who he was.  They had seen him regularly.   And, most people tended not to bring their beds out in public.  Healthy people were not in public with their bed.  So therefore, it’s this author’s opinion, when they saw him carrying his bed, they KNEW what had happened before saying anything to him.  They knew he was a former invalid and had gotten healed.

But he was ‘working’ on the Sabbath by carrying his bed, and working was a big no-no.  Can’t violate our customs and understanding of the law, even if something wonderful has happened to you.  According to the notes in the ESV Study Bible, nothing in the Old Testament specifically prohibited such innocent activity as carrying one’s bedroll on the Sabbath (see Ex 20:8-11) but the man was violating later Jewish traditions.1

Maybe I will go back to writing things for my Electric Fence series, but the idea I proposed and started there was that we have a tendency to add to the commandments of God when the Spirit of Life isn’t moving in peoples’ hearts and minds.   The idea the pattern goes from repentance to revival to rules to legalism to elitism to judgementalism to ostracization to isolation.  Then, when someone comes on the scene who is fresh from the first state, those who’ve gotten sidetracked all the way to the last stage, don’t recognize the truth and seek to silence it.   I’ve seen people who were a part of previous moves of God become the first to persecute and attack those who are a part of something fresh and new.  Probably, if we don’t guard our hearts properly, we’ll see in a few years, those who are a part of current moves, do the same to then new moves of the Spirit.  It’s a deadly trap too easy to fall into and become blinded by our own religious tendencies.

Religion Will Kill In Order To Uphold Itself

And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working. This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:16-18)

I’m not going to dwell too much on that here, as much as when I get to chapters 9 and 11, the latter of which focuses on Lazarus’ raising.  But I did notice that murder is sin, but yet the pharisees were ready to commit it in order to silence the offender they believed was violating their laws–who was the Son of God and was doing good (see Acts 10:38).  How many self-proclaimed heresy hunters or ‘doctrine upholders’ resort to doing this using their platforms, such as blogs, podcasts and ministries, and spend their energy trying to kill using words, personal attacks, innuendos and rumors?

I’ve thought many times about how Jesus came in a way that was outside the package of expectations, so the religious establishment of the day tried to stop him, and eventually kill him.  I’ve heard a professor of mine in Bible school say that whenever God sends a move of His Spirit to a group or a locale, he likes to throw in some added non-essential, just to see if the people crying out for it really want it.  The Toronto Blessing was known and infamous for its “laughing”, and the Brownsville Revival for its shaking and people falling and flopping on the floor.  But yet both have had tremendous impacts on the world and on the Church.

So to take this a step further than even that; if Jesus were to come back and walk the earth today, would he be welcome, or would some fundamental and seemingly correct churches and ministries seek to kill him like in the day He walked the earth?

Friend, let me challenge you to take off whatever blinders of set expectations you may be holding onto, and let the answers to your prayers come in the fashion God sees fit.  Don’t miss your day of deliverance when he comes by riding on a donkey’s colt.

1. Note on John 5:10, English Standard Version Study Bible, page 2031 [↩]