Emerging Conservative

John: Chapter Five

Verses 1-15

This pool has actually been found during a dig in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Jerusalem according to the ancient documents and the description here of the pool.

The description of the man found here suggests he was in one of the worse shapes of those at the pool. Being crippled for so long would have made it impossible to walk. It would today take months of rehab even after gaining use of legs outside of a miracle. The man had also given up being able to be independent. I will never achieve this because others are not here to do it for me.

A lot of times, we end up in the same boat. We try and try to do something and when it doesn’t work out for awhile or we don’t understand why something is not going the way we want it to, we give up and think someone else should do it or it’s other people’s fault. He could easily think, here I am by this pool for healing yet it’s still not enough for God. Why does he keep passing me over?

Then enters Jesus……like any testimony…..this is a story of what things are like before, then comes the touch of Jesus, and then we have a new situation of glory due to that touch. What the man could not do for himself, Jesus does.

This happens on the Sabbath which would have been a Saturday. This is when the church of the Old Testament would have their day of rest. There were many guidelines and laws about the Sabbath. Like most things, God put something in place for the sake of the people and worship and then man made it into a to do (or not to do) list and forgot about the heart of things.

For instance, Jesus came to bring this man freedom for his physical needs and his spiritual needs (go and sin no more). This is a great time for celebration and worship! However, the messed up church leaders were upset this guy was carrying his mat. Talk about missing the point!

However, Jesus does not give up on the church and makes his way there to finish his talk with the man. He was interested in the guy not a public show so he had slipped away before. Jesus wanted the guy to have continued freedom by leaving his previous ways of sin.

Verses 16 – 30

From this experience the Jewish people were upset with Jesus that he healed on the Sabbath and addressed Him on it. Jesus did not try to hide what he did or say thigs that made them happy again, He had to follow His Father and make God happy, not man. Sometimes we are called to do the same thing.

For this reason, he expands the conversation but stating certain truths about who He is as the Son of God. There are two things to take note of up front….

First, what He says here and other places and why people can not say….Oh, Jesus was a really good guy and a good teacher but that’s all He ever claimed to be. I like His teachings but I also like these teachings over here. Ummmmm, No. He claimed time and time again that He was the Son of God. He can’t be a good guy and a liar at the same time. He is the Son of God, claimed to be the Son of God, and that is something that can’t be ignored.

Second, He starts to get into some things here concerning the Trinity. The “there are three parts of God but just one God. God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. While we can get a basic understanding of this concept by watching how God works, I don’t think we will ever fully understand it until we get home to heaven. To me, I find comfort in this because if I understood as much as God, then He is no longer my God. I like that there are some things my limited self can not fully understand though I understand why it can drive others nuts.

OK, so much for my rant……Jesus makes several claims here…..

The Son is dependent of the Father. Jesus does nothing outside the will of His Father.

The Father and Son love each other as Father and Son. The Father has revealed His plan to the Son.

The Son is empowered by the Father and who alone has the power to redeem the loss and is in charge of judgment. Those who accept Jesus as Leader and Forgiver in their life will move from death (a life of sin) to life (a relationship with Jesus Christ and entrance into heaven).

Life in Himself speaks of Jesus and God in the spiritual realm of not having a beginning or an end.

In 28 and 29 it speaks of the coming judgment of all. For those who accepted Christ and followed Him (putting the verses together in context) will have glory while things do not go so well for those who do not which is why we started this talk in the first place at the beginning of the chapter. Jesus desires to lead people out of bondage (like the crippled man) into freedom (to be able to stand). The crippled man is a metaphor for our spiritual lives. Jesus desires for all to have freedom that will choose Him as leader and forgiver.

Verses 31 – 47

In those times, a man’s witness about himself was not considered valid in a court case. Jesus says, as you judge me about the claims I am making about being the Son of God, you will not accept my own words as claims to be considered so let me offer other witnesses you can trust.

One witness, He brings up is John the Baptist. They had already searched out and examined this prophet in the desert and John said he himself was not the Messiah but that he was the one prophesied to come and prepare the road for the Messiah. To announce Jesus’ coming and proclaim Him as the Lord which He did.

Another witness is the Holy Spirit (which is the part of God that resides within us today when you accept Jesus as Leader and Forgiver) He testifies to the one that the Father had sent.

The Scriptures serve as a witness. The prophecies mentioned are 100% filled by Jesus to prove He is the Messiah they had been waiting for. While these people held true to the Scriptures, they ignored them when it came to Jesus because He was not what they expected. They expected an earthly King who told them how great they were. They were not expecting the son of a carpenter that told them they had lost site of love.

His miracles served as a witness. He did not do these miracles and then say “Hey everybody, look at me!” but he did offer them as proof of His Father’s work through Him. We see this several times in the Scriptures where a man of God does not do acts for popularity and to be cocky but does act in confidence as an ambassador for God.

A last witness mentioned is God the Father himself. Jesus was sent in His name with His authority and the people rejected Him.

Moses was a man of God in the Old Testament whom God gave the law to and the Moses presented the Law to the people. Again, over time, the people made the Law about actions instead of love (which is still a problem today) but the people deeply looked up to Moses. Jesus was disappointed the people would not recognize Jesus and said he had come to accuse them. Jesus said, He had come to save the world, it would be Moses (the one they honored so much) that would be their accuser on judgment day before Jesus because they had lost love.

This would be a shocking statement to those there and they would either accept Jesus testimony and turn from their ways back to God or even be angrier at Jesus. Good shot it would be the second option but Jesus did not come to please man. He came to please God by loving man and reaching out to them.