The Name of Sickness

John 5:1-18

1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews[d] said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

18 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.

There are four gospels in the Bible. Of those four books Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the synoptic gospels, and John is not a part of the synoptic gospels. “Synoptic” means that those three books share a common perspective, mainly historical, whereas John is written primarily for a theological thrust. You find consistency in the historical order of the accounts in the synoptic books, whereas John sometimes places the stories not necessarily in historical order so that the theological intent may be achieved. One example that we saw is the account on the Cleansing of the Temple (ch. 2) placed early in the earthly ministry, whereas it appears toward the end of his ministry in the synoptic gospels.

What, then, is the theological thrust particularly intended by John in his gospel that separates his work from the other synoptic gospels? To keep the matter simple and short, it is to highlight that Jesus who incarnated in flesh is God the eternal, as evidenced by John’s opening verse, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The verse 14 further supports it that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” It is a running theme throughout the gospel John and so important if we were to truly understand the whole book. Jesus is God incarnate in the flesh. It was the whole purpose for John to write this gospel because there is eternal life only in the knowledge of it, “these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (20:31).  

“The eternal Word becoming the temporal flesh” is also captured in John in terms of the “heaven-and-earth” contrast. The contrast was brought up rather early in John through the account of Nicodemus in chapter three. When Jesus said that one must be born “again” (v. 3), he actually meant “by the Spirit” (v. 5), because “again” literally means “from above” as well. It is illustrated within the same chapter. “He who comes from above (again) is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all” (v. 31). He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and he who comes from heaven is above all. He who sees only the flesh belongs to the earth and he who sees the eternal God has the eternal life.

It turns out that the “heavenly-and-earthly” contrast is the key to understand even the famous account of the Samaritan woman at the well in chapter four. The Samaritan woman brought up the issue about the worship in v. 20. For the Samaritans it seemed that where to worship God was the central question in debate. Apparently, it was the “earthly” perspective. Jesus introduced the “heavenly” perspective instead, that is, to worship God in Spirit and truth. The true worship is possible only through Jesus himself. The central theme of the account in chapter four is not how to worship in the minute details but rather who Jesus himself is, who represents the heavenly order and eternal world, and only through him God the Father receives the worship.

The same perspective is maintained in chapter five as well. The chapter five begins with the story about sick people at a pool called Bethesda. The story indicates that there was a multitude of sick people at the pool. One of them has been sick thirty-eight years. Thirty-eight years is a long time; he would be almost 40 years old, if he was born sick. If he became sick some time later, he would be well into 50s in his age. The number thirty-eight is not a magical number but signifies that it has been a long time. John does not tell us the name of his sickness other than it was almost his lifetime that he was with this sickness. Another thing to note is that it is incurable for the man. The only way of a cure would be through the miracle by angels according to some translations. The problem is that there is no one around to help him when the water is moving. The outcome of it is that he has no way to be healed from the sickness he has.

All of sudden Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be healed?” What would be your answer, if it were you? Instead of saying what he wanted he poured out the complaints. “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” For him, it seems, it is very unfortunate that he is with sickness, let alone there is no one to help him. He must lay at the pool because of the very unfortunate circumstances.

Very oddly, Jesus went ahead and healed him. “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” At once, the man was healed and got up and took up his bed and walked. It is indeed unbelievable that he was finally healed after those long miserable years. Through this we see that Jesus is not just an ordinary man but rather God himself who can undo the impossible. John without much elaboration gives us a hint that Jesus is God, and that is the theme for his gospel.

The day that this man was healed happened to be the day of Sabbath. The Jews when they saw that this man took up his bed and was moving it accused him of violating the Sabbath. It is a huge sin in the Mosaic tradition to violate the Sabbath. Exodus 31: 14-15 spells out that “whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.” The Jews till today not to violate the Sabbath law don’t push the elevator buttons on the Sabbath day. The elevators stop at every floor instead. Apparently, this man realized that he might have to face possibly the penalty of death. So he blamed Jesus. “The man who healed me told me to take up the bed and walk.” John reports that he did not even know the name of the one who healed himself let alone it was Jesus (v. 13). He was just busy in shifting the blame to avoid any penalty on himself. Later, when he met Jesus at the temple, he learned that it was Jesus. Instead of thanking Jesus, however, he ran to the authority and reported that it was Jesus who told him to carry his bed on the Sabbath day (v.15).

From the verse 16 and on the man is no longer in view, as if he disappeared from the scene. John instead focuses on Jesus by spot-lighting the reactions from the Jews against Jesus. The Jews became infuriated with Jesus because he healed the man on Sabbath and established the reasons to persecute him. However, Jesus’s answer made the situation even worse for the Jews because Jesus defended himself by declaring that he is equal with the Father. Certainly, the latter half of the chapter five proceeds to the long discourse of Jesus himself to witness himself that he is God the eternal. The chapter from the earthly point of view began with an account of the sick man but from the heavenly point of view ended up with Jesus’s own witness about himself. Apparently, the sick man was not a main figure of the story.

Let’s go back to the beginning and see what made Jesus heal the man at the first place? Did he deserve any of it? Did he have faith in Jesus? No mention about it! John is doing a great job stripping every possible credit off the man. He did not even know the name of the person who performed such mercy on himself. He did not even try to ask. Even worse! He not only shifted the blame to Jesus when he was cornered by the Jews for the violation of Sabbath but also reported the name of Jesus to the Jewish authority. He absolutely deserved nothing like what Jesus did to him. But perhaps for John this man illustrates us the sinners. It is truly God’s sovereign grace that chose us when we did not deserve any of his mercy and love.

The man was sick for a long time, but we do not know the name of his sickness. John does not disclose it for us. I guess it was not necessary for John. The verse 3 simply indicates “the multitude” of the sick around the pool. It kind of illustrates the sinful reality of mankind. We are all sick in a sense. What is even fascinating is that Jesus redefined sickness in terms of sin in verse 14, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” You may not normally rush to the conclusion that sickness is sin. However, we rather see John’s deliberate attempt to make the earthly-and-heavenly contrast between the physical healing and the spiritual forgiveness. Jesus defined sin in this account as not knowing who Jesus is just as was the case with the sick man throughout. For the Jews in this account sin was defined in terms of the earthly perspective, namely, the Sabbath law. For Jesus sin was, from the heavenly perspective, that you don’t see the eternal God that has come to us in the human form. The sick man did not seem to ever come to the knowledge of Jesus even though Jesus availed himself again for him at the temple. John does not say that he ever came to the knowledge of Jesus even after Jesus’s words “Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” What could be the worst thing that can happen to anybody than he does not know Jesus? He is still a sinner. The worse thing that indeed ever happened to him, according to Jesus, was the judgement. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (v. 24). However, the man feared more of the earthly judgment by the Mosaic tradition and the Jewish people than the eternal judgment by the Lord Jesus Christ.

What was the sickness for the man in this account? Perhaps, John is shouting to us that the real sickness is not knowing Jesus over the physical sickness. “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took our illnesses and bore our diseases’” (Matt. 8:17). Jesus took our sickness away so that we may have the eternal life. Apparently, the sickness in view is more than the physical sickness.

What is the sickness you have figuratively speaking? Do you even know why you are sick? John is teaching us in his gospel that the answer is Jesus. The answer is that we are to know that Jesus is Christ the Son of living God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” There is the life in this knowledge, and it was the purpose for John to write his gospel about Jesus.

May God’s mercy and love be with you all that you may be enriched through the intimate knowledge of Jesus. Amen.