What happened at the Pool of Bethesda?

The porches of the pool were invariably crowded with sick folk, for it appears that from time to time an angel troubled its waters, which then gave healing to the first person that stepped in. This, while a merciful interposition on the part of God, and beneficial to those possessed of some strength, was manifestly of no avail whatever for persons absolutely helpless. The pool is thus remarkably typical of the law, which promises life and righteousness to those who keep it in all its parts, but which has nothing but condemnation and death for those who fail to keep it (Gal. 3:10-12). Now, seeing that man is utterly evil in root and branch, and so "without strength," it is manifest that the law can never yield him blessing. Scripture says truly "the law is the strength of sin" and "the law works wrath" (1 Cor. 15:56; Rom. 4:15).

The Saviour observed a man at Bethesda who had been afflicted thirty-eight years, just the period of Israel's unnecessary wandering in the wilderness as the fruit of putting themselves under law (Deut. 2:14). Hoping against hope, the poor fellow had long watched the pool having no thought in his mind that healing could ever come to him by any other means. Sadly like the multitude in Christendom today, whose only thought concerning salvation is that it must be obtained by human effort, if it is to be obtained at all. And this after the full revelation of God's grace in Christ!

To the Saviour's enquiry, "Wilt thou be made whole?" the impotent man replied: "Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool; but, while I am coming, another steps down before me." A truly extraordinary reply, seeing that the pool was not mentioned in the question. He must now learn that what the pool could never accomplish for such as he, the Son of God could accomplish instantly by His word. At the command of Omnipotence, "Rise, take up thy bed and walk," he arose, took up his bed, and departed to his house. In like manner all the need of the soul is now met by the Saviour's word, apart from works of any kind whatsoever. "Verily, verily, I say to you, he that hears My word and believes on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement, but is passed from death to life" (John 5:24). His atoning death and triumphant resurrection explain how He is able to offer such simple terms to the ruined children of men.

The Miracle. — Waiting for the moving of the water. Such was the attitude of all that multitude. Many an eye may have been turned to the pool to catch the first sight of the coming healing virtue. On that day, however, their expectations were all in vain. The water was not troubled. Its calm, unruffled surface might seem to mock the wishes of the anxious company; for no sign was there of coming relief for any one of the sick and suffering, who thronged the porches of the pool. The water stood still, though the grace of God on that Sabbath day would be in activity. Now to one who had proved his powerlessness a stranger spoke: "When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, He says to him, Wilt thou be made whole?" What a question to ask of the man. Why was he there but to get healing? he might have replied. And who could have wondered? In the presence, however, though unconsciously, of the Healer of diseases, he replied to his questioner by telling of his previous ineffectual efforts. Thirty and eight years had he been thus afflicted, and on no earthly friend could he rely to put him before others into the pool. Thirty and eight years, and all that time no better! What a life of trial and disappointment, too, had been his! Not that we read that he had lain there all that time, though he had been one of the company in those porches for a "long time." How often had he been disappointed! How often had one more active outstripped him in the race for healing! But, still hoping against hope that he might one day succeed, he lay there waiting for the movement of the water.

Accosted by the stranger asking, "Wilt thou be made whole?" he replied, "Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steps down before me" (7). Did he think the stranger might prove the friend in need, and, supplying what had been lacking, put him into the pool at the opportune moment? At any rate his thoughts did not rise above the pool, and of immersion in it. Of any other way of healing he had no conception. He little dreamt that the stranger, who had manifested interest in him by the question He asked, could be, not a helper, but the Healer. Jehovah who heals was standing before him. So now came the word — the word of power and of command, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk" (8). Who said that? A voice from heaven? No, a man upon earth, even the Son of Man. Power at once reinvigorated the limbs. He was made whole. It was no convalescence progressing by degrees to full recovery. For he took up his bed, and walked. What he might have done before he had been stricken, he was able after thirty-eight years of enforced disability to do, and that at once, and publicly before all the multitude of sick folk. He rose up. He carried his bed. He walked.

Objectors. — Who among the crowd of sick ones would have reproved him for carrying his bed, though it was the Sabbath day? But the Jews, those sticklers for traditional teaching, who were ready, if possible, to hinder the Almighty from acting in healing power on that day, now appeared, and reproved the man. "It is the Sabbath day, and it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed" (10). They doubtless had never known what bodily infirmity was. Had they themselves experienced such a cure, having personally proved what that man for thirty and eight years had suffered, could they have taken such ground? And now how simply did he meet them! He did not argue against their view of the Sabbath. He did not accuse them of want of sympathy with those who suffered. "He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said to me, Take up thy bed, and walk" (11). For him that was quite enough. He was satisfied that he had authority to do what he had done.

The Son. But who was that man? and where was he? The man knew not: "for Jesus had conveyed Himself away, a multitude being in that place. Afterwards Jesus finds him in the Temple, and said to him, "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come to thee." He learnt who had healed him. It was Jesus. And the man went and told the Jews (13-15). Of the cure there could be no doubt. Who would have lain a long time in those porches, and have made ineffectual efforts to get into the pool, had he not been afflicted, and helplessly so? Who so afflicted, could suddenly have risen up, carried his bed, and walked, had he not been healed? The cure was patent. None denied it. No one even questioned it. The man carrying his bed was unanswerable proof of his full restoration. Unable then to ignore it, the bitterness of heart on the part of the Jews flowed forth against the Lord by persecuting Him, because He did these things on the Sabbath day (16). From rebuking the man they turned to persecute the Lord. Had the Lord broken the law by healing on that day? Certainly not. And no word from the law was quoted by them here, or on any like occasion, to support their traditional teaching (Mark 2:23-24, 3:2; Luke 13:14; John 9:16). It may be easy to raise such objections, but of what worth are they, unless based on the written Word of God? Would that traditional teaching of this kind had died out! But it has not, as many an one has had to experience. And its advocates would seek to condemn their fellows, and to terrorise their followers, by appealing to it. What says the Word is, however, the question? And what is not read therein, nor can be proved thereby, is not to be pressed as binding on the children of God.

A man, nameless to us, was healed in sight of the pool of Bethesda (John 5) alongside of which he had lain waiting for the periodical moving of the waters. How long he had been there we know not; but for thirty and eight years he had been afflicted with an infirmity for which there was no known cure, except the healing virtue of those waters, provided he had sufficient strength to avail himself of it. Strength for that, however, on his part was wanting, so to be for ever on earth an incurable was the prospect before him.

But God had visited His people; His Son, the virgin's Child, was on earth, and going about doing good. He saw him; He knew he had been a long time in that case. He said to him, "Wilt thou be made whole?" The time, the hour so long looked for, but hitherto in vain, had at last come. Healing was within his reach, calling on his part only for the obedience of faith. He heard the word, he obeyed it, and he left the precincts of that pool well and strong. Power in grace had been exercised, and he was the subject of it. What number of sick folk he left there when he arose, and took up his bed, and walked, is not recorded; all that we know is that he had been one of a large number who lay there, and of his healing alone on this occasion have we any intimation.

Healed on the Sabbath day, the prejudices of the Jews — prejudices which really received no countenance from the Word, resting, as they did, solely on rabbinical teaching — were immediately aroused and the Jews persecuted the Lord, because He had healed the impotent man on that day. The Lord's calm but blessed words, "My Father works hitherto and I work," which should have bowed the hearts of all who heard them with deepest thankfulness that divine grace and power could work on behalf of sinful creatures, only stirred up afresh animosity against Him, and now "they sought the more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God" (John 5:18).

The pool of Bethesda, or "house of mercy" — while it was, undoubtedly, the expression of the mercy of God toward His people, — afforded abundant evidence of the miserable condition of man, in general, and of Israel, in particular. Its five porches were thronged with "a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water." What a sample of the whole human family, and of the nation of Israel! What a striking illustration of their moral and spiritual condition, as viewed from a divine standpoint. "Blind, halt, withered;" such is man's real state, if he only knew it.

But there was one man, in the midst of this impotent throng, so far gone, so feeble and helpless, that the pool of Bethesda could not meet his case. "A certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he says to him, Wilt thou be made whole?" — What grace and power in this question! It went far beyond the utmost stretch of the impotent man's thoughts. He thought only of human help, or of his own ability to get into the pool. He knew not that the speaker was above and beyond the pool, with its occasional movement; beyond angelic ministry, beyond all human help and effort, the Possessor of all power in heaven and on earth. "The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool; but while I am coming, another steps down before me." What a true picture of all those who are seeking salvation by ordinances! Each one doing the best he could for himself. No care for others. No thought of helping them. "Jesus says to him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath."

Here we have man's sabbath again. It certainly was not God's sabbath. The miserable multitude gathered round the pool proved that God's full rest had not yet come — that His glorious antitype of the sabbath had not yet dawned on this sin-stricken earth. When that bright day comes, there will be no blind, halt, and withered folk thronging the porches of the pool of Bethesda. God's sabbath and human misery are wholly incompatible.

This Bethesda witnesses: at the place of sheep, whether gate or pool (the doubt about what it is may be itself significant), the "house of mercy" rears its five pillars, clinging still to the number of responsibility, with no help for the impotent such as is this man, for thirty-eight years afflicted for his sin, as Israel for theirs wandered in the wilderness an equal time, until "that evil generation" had perished from among them. No thought could there have been of help in the pool at all, if that heavenly influence had not troubled the water. But for him it is still in vain — vain as the troubling of law by grace, which in a legal system is always that, two contradictory principles being at work in it. From the typical point of view, however, the case of the impotent man is no exception; yet how many as with him think of it as such, are "coming," but always ineffectually, and looking for help, whether from man or God, to get into the pool.

How new an experience comes with the voice of Jesus. "Wilt thou be made whole?" Yet he begins to talk about the pool. Why not? Must it not be of God, when the angel comes down into it? And the law: is it not of God? was it not "given by the disposition of angels"? And we would even have Christ but a servant of Moses, a means of enabling us to keep the law; or One giving virtue to sacramental ordinances, always with man's aid in some way to perfect them. But Jesus passes by the pool altogether, making whole at once by His word. The thirty-eight years of impotence are ended in a moment: the man rises and walks.

Conflict begins on the part of the fleshly religionists who know neither their own need nor the grace of God. We have seen the image of law in the pool, and the grace and power of Christ manifested in contrast with it. We shall find in what follows how fully in accordance with this is the truth that is now to come before us. The healed man in obedience to the Lord's word takes up his bed.; and that day was the Sabbath. The Jews naturally object that he is violating the law; and his answer throws the entire responsibility for this upon the One who healed him. He knows not even who He is, He has got lost from him among the throng: so that the miracle itself seems to have had no right effect upon him; and this is confirmed by what shortly follows, when the Lord, finding him in the temple, warns him not to bring on himself again by sin a judgment which would increase in severity. The result is that he goes and tells the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole.

Thereupon the anger of the Jews flames out against Jesus because He has done these things on the Sabbath. It was for them the sign of that covenant to which they held, and which they did not discern had gone so fatally against them. The Lord in answer takes the highest ground here. True, He works on and knows no rest in His labor of love. He was in communion with His Father, who worked on and knew none. How could He rest — how could they wish God to have His rest, with men in the misery into which sin had brought them? Had they given Him His rest, of whom He had complained that they had made Him to serve with their sins, and wearied Him with their iniquities? (Isa. 43:24.) But then where were they with reference to this covenant of law of which the Sabbaths were the sign, and which had gone so terribly against them?

Bethesda immediately comes into view with its porches filled with the sick, who are waiting for the visitation of that miraculous power which at a certain season troubled the water. Then for the moment there is healing virtue for the one who can first step in: there is the condition, the only one; whatever the virulence of the disease, it may be cured, if only one can get into the pool; but for impotence there is no healing possible.

In the midst of this multitude our eyes are fixed upon one man who lies there vainly seeking help. For thirty and eight years the disease that has fastened upon him has rendered him helpless; and there he lies in the presence of a remedy which for him is none. Others may be healed, not he. He is not able to step into the pool; he has none to put him in. The desperateness of this condition engages the heart and hand of Jesus on his behalf; he is not put into the pool; but he hears the omnipotent word which heals him, and in a moment rises up, takes up the bed he lies upon and walks.

But to return to our chapter, and the Lord's discourse here. Jesus met the whole case at once. His word commanded evil; His word was in power; when heard, life-giving; but it was according to His will in power He said, "Arise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and," therefore, "took up his bed, and walked."

63 The fact is then mentioned on which hangs the reasoning of our Lord and the Jews on the real position in which things were according to the mind of God. It was Sabbath on that day; could the law give rest? The Jews said to the healed man, It is Sabbath, it is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed. The reply at once brought the question to issue: He that made me whole bade me do it. It ought to have brought out the conviction of One present in power of health, acting in and from God. But the Jews preferred resting in their own ordinances (in which they had found no rest, and had not kept) to recognising the Son, the Heir of all the ordinances. I observe here that it was not faith in Jesus here, but the exercise of Jesus' power in will, as flowing from Himself. Therefore it is noted that he did not know Jesus, nor afterwards, till Jesus met him, and spoke to him in the temple. Therefore Jesus treats him as still under the discipline of the Law: "Behold," take notice of this, "thou art made whole" (it is not, - Thy faith hath saved thee, or the like); "sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee."

"Now there is in Jerusalem, at the sheep-gate, a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a multitude of sick, blind, lame, withered, awaiting the moving of the water. For an angel descended at a certain season in the pool and troubled the water. Whoever therefore first went in after the troubling of the water became well, whatever disease he laboured under." Yet there was One amongst them whom they knew not, mightier than the angel who troubled the waters, but He was not waited for; His mission, indeed, was not dependent on the thoughts of men; He had come to minister unto others, and to give His life a ransom for many. "Wilt thou be made whole?" He says to the poor man. The will was indeed present with him, but the impossibility of man was with him also. And there was "no man" to help. As was said of the poor prodigal, "no man gave unto him." And in the most interesting connection possible, His own Spirit speaks in the prophet, "When I came was there no man." No! there is "no man," whether the need of man demands it, or the call of God waits for an answer. The only Hope of Israel, as of man, was indeed in their midst, but unknown and unrecognised by man. To Him the Lord God had given the tongue of the learned, that He should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. And here was a poor wearied one listening to the word of the Lord God from the tongue of the learned, from Jesus Himself — "Wilt thou be made whole?"

To bring man out of death into life the Father and the Son were working. When the Jews found fault with Jesus for doing good to men on the sabbath day, He answers, "My Father works hitherto, and I work." They would have limited the activities of divine love to six days in the week; but in a world of sin, death and human woe there could be no sabbath for Jesus. It was impossible for the love of God to rest in a world like this. So we find Jesus going down to the pool of Bethesda, that scene of misery, on the sabbath. A multitude of poor afflicted creatures were there whose physical condition set forth the spiritual and moral condition of God's earthly people. The pool was at the sheep market. The people were under the iron rule of the proud Roman and were, so to speak, being bought and sold. They were under hard and cruel bondage. They had been, up to the coming of Christ, viewed as Jehovah's sheep, but they had wandered from Him and were reaping the sad consequences of their departure from Him. And their spiritual condition was as bad as was their physical condition —they were blind, halt, withered. They were unable to see, and they were unable to walk rightly, and the blight of death was upon them.

Bethesda means the house of mercy. A little of the mercy of God toward His people was ministered by angelic means for the healing of their diseases: "An angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had." It was not mercy suited to the weakest, the man who needed it least got it, for it would be the strongest who would be best able to get in first. A man was there who had been ill thirty and eight years. He had often seen the water moved and had made his best effort to get in first, but his inability to avail himself of the mercy of God was more and more brought home to his consciousness; again and again while he was coming another stepped down before him. He might as well have been a thousand miles away from the pool. It was no good to him to step in second; no one must get in before him. Its virtue to heal was all spent upon the first comer. It was like the law in this respect, which was given by the disposition of angels; it would have been a mercy to man had he been able to avail himself of the blessing it proposed. But he must keep the whole law; if he offend in one point he becomes guilty of all.

In the five porches of the pool were a great multitude of sick folk. Some were blind, some were lame, others had withered and helpless limbs; but all needed healing. These sick people were waiting round a pool in which the blessing they so sorely needed could be obtained. At a certain season, in the providence of God, an angel troubled the water, and the sick person who first stepped into the pool after the troubling of the water obtained the blessing.