Seven Miracles - Pt 11

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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?” 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.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. (John 5:1-9 ESV).

The second characteristic of Jesus we see is the compassion of Jesus (vv. 6-8). This is one of the other things we know that makes his knowledge of us more precious. Jesus chooses to go to this pool. He did not have to. It didn’t sneak up on him. He didn’t stumble by. He knew what he was doing. He was going to this pool the same way he went to Samaria to find the woman at the well, and the same way he went to sign-seeking, prophet-dishonoring Galilee to find a kingly official who had a sick son. Jesus moves toward need, not comfort, toward sinners, not the self-righteous. Notice that when he asks the sick man, “Do you want to be healed?” what the man said was not, “Yes.” Instead, he explains his tragic situation. Jesus asks no more questions. In response to that description of his sorrows, Jesus acts. He simply commands the healing of his body: “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” We’ll look at the power shown in this command later; however, we should miss the simplicity of his will being performed at his mere speech. It is another way John points us to Jesus as Creator. He is never seen as anything “less” that God. He certainly is human, but it is the full divinity of God in humanity. This gives him the perfect ability to empathize with us. That brings me great comfort in my circumstances! We can also see that this healing is not a response to anything religious or faithful about the man. It looks like Jesus healed him simply because his situation was so miserable for so long. In other words, it looks like it came from Jesus’ compassion, not the man’s faith or righteousness. At least nine times in the gospels the writers say Jesus was moved with compassion or pity. So, not only does Jesus know you perfectly, but he is easily moved by the misery you feel. We cannot ignore that his solutions are not always what we want; but that’s not owing to his heartlessness. He is not heartless. He is compassionate to us in our misery. He is a sympathetic High Priest for those whom he has called into his life.