Devotional Questions:
John 5:2-4
- What would have been the relationships among the “great number of disabled people” that lay there, each believing that the “first one into the pool” would be healed? What aspects of today’s world are captured by this picture?
- What are the mythical “pools” that people believe will heal them and make them happy if they are the “first one in?” How has my desire to be the “first one in” turned people around me into enemies and competitors?
John 5:5-8
“Cure has its implications, particularly when the need is so long-standing that a whole way of life has been built up around it. Jesus’ question needs to be faced by all who would be delivered.”[1]
- Why does Jesus ask this seemingly odd question, “Do you want to get well?” to this man who “had been an invalid for thirty-eight years” and would obviously want to be healed? What does the paralytic have to lose if he were to be made whole? Are there things in my life of which I am reluctant to be “healed” because I also receive benefits from them?
- What two groups of people does the invalid blame for his condition? Are there people I blame (or I have blamed) for issues in my life? What might be the relationship between blaming others and true healing?
- What is my response to Jesus’ question: “Do you want to get well?”
John 5:17-19
- How does the fact that God is “always at his work to this very day” encourage me to serve God? How does it encourage me in my personal struggles today?
- Reflect on the fact that Jesus does what the Father does. What can I learn about God from the various encounters that Jesus had (with Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the paralytic, etc.)?
John 5:41-44
- Why is focusing on “accepting praise from one another” an obstacle to believing in Jesus?
Additional Questions:
John 5:5-7
- Think about the fact that it was probably the healthiest people who could out-compete others to be the first one to jump into the pool whenever it seemed to have been stirred, while the truly needy were helplessly watching. What are the hopes and bitterness that would have been reinforced in the paralytic’s mind every time he saw another person go ahead of him? How has this picture played out in my own life?
John 5:9-15
- What can I conclude about this man who “had no idea who it was” that healed him? How does this show that man’s physical healing does not necessarily lead to spiritual healing? How is this kind of cluelessness towards God and towards others at the core of mankind’s sin problem?
John 5:24-26
- What is the default human condition presumed by these verses? What are the drastic changes that would characterize someone who has indeed “crossed over from death to life?”
- Think about how the Samaritan woman started to “live” when she heard “the voice of the Son of God.” (cf. 4:1-29) How have I experienced the word of God to revive my soul in a similar way?
John 5:30
- Reflect on this clear statement of Jesus about his life: “I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” To what extent have I accepted this as a fundamental confession of every Christian, and made it my personal commitment? To what extent can it be said of me that “I seek not to please myself but him who sent me?”
[1] Bruce Milne, The Message of John, The Bible Speaks Today Series (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity, 1993), p. 95.
Commentary:
v. 2 “There have been excavations of a double pool in the north-east quarter of the city which is thought to be the pool described here as being near the Sheep Gate. There are variations of the name, but Bethesda is the best attested. The most important detail is the number of the five colonnades, whose existence archaeology has confirmed.” [1]
v. 6 “Jesus began by asking the man if he wanted to be cured. It was not so foolish a question as it may sound. The man had waited for thirty-eight years and it might well have been that hope had died and left behind a passive and dull despair. In his heart of hearts the man might be well content to remain an invalid for, if he was cured, he would have to shoulder all the burden of making a living. […] The first essential towards receiving the power of Jesus is to have intense desire for it. Jesus says: ‘Do you really want to be changed?’ If in our inmost hearts we are well content to stay as we are, there can be no change for us.”[2]
v. 14 “Do the words of Jesus suggest that the man’s illness was the result of a specific sin? Even if the answer is ‘Yes’, this would not imply that all physical illness has a specific moral cause. However, it may be that Jesus was warning about a moral lameness which would be worse than the physical lameness from which the man had just been delivered.”[3]
vv. 44-47 “The scribes and Pharisees desired the praise of men. They dressed in such a way that everyone would recognize them. They prayed in such a way that everyone would see. They loved the front seats in the Synagogue. They loved the deferential greetings of men on the street. And just because of that they could not hear the voice of God. Why? So long as a man measures himself against his fellow men he will be well content. But the point is not: ‘Am I as good as my neighbour?’ The point is: ‘Am I as good as God?’ ‘What do I look like to him?’ So long as we judge ourselves by human comparisons there is plenty of room for self-satisfaction, and that kills faith, for faith is born of the sense of need. But when we compare ourselves with Jesus Christ, we are humbled to the dust, and then faith is born, for there is nothing left to do but trust to the mercy of God.”[4]
[1]Carson, D. A. (1994). New Bible commentary : 21st century edition (4th ed.) (Jn 5:1). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press.
[2]The Gospel of John : Volume 1. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.). The Daily study Bible series, Rev. ed. (Jn 5:10). Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.
[3]Carson, D. A. (1994). New Bible commentary : 21st century edition (4th ed.) (Jn 5:1). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press.
[4]The Gospel of John : Volume 1. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.). The Daily study Bible series, Rev. ed. (Jn 6:1). Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.