Soon after the calling of Matthew, Jesus travels to Jerusalem for a feast, as described in John 5:

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

During the initial phases of this trip, Jesus encounters an man who had been an invalid for thirty-four years laying by the Pool called Bethesda. This narrative, contained only in John’s Gospel, is odd in several ways. To really understand this passage, we need to start with some “boring background.”

Background

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.

The Greek is difficult here, but the gate is presumably called the “Sheep Gate” because it is the way sheep were brought to the Temple.

There are actually two pools by this gate, including four colonnades and a small bridge that counts as a fifth colonnade. Not only have these pools been excavated and studied, but the name of the pool has been verified by contemporary scrolls. Note these pools, and the accompanying gate, would have been outside the city walls of Jerusalem proper at the time of Christ. This fact will play something of a role in the disagreement over healing on the Sabbath, which will be considered in the next post in this series.

In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed [because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water. Then the first one who got in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment he had].

Here we arrive at the first oddity in this passage. Does the text in the brackets—verse 4—belong here or not? Most modern translations do not include the fourth verse, because it is not included in many of the “better manuscripts,” and it does not seem to “fit” the Biblical worldview. Zane Hodges, however, argues the manuscript evidence for including this passage is stronger than the evidence against it.[1]

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.”

The man clearly does not see Jesus as a healer, but—perhaps—as a helper. Jesus is clearly a teacher of some kind, as he has disciples. Perhaps the man is thinking that Jesus might stick around and help the man into the pool at the appropriate moment, or assign some of his disciples to do the job? John does not give us any reason to believe this man knows who Jesus is, nor what power Jesus has. Jesus, surprises the man.

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.

This is truly amazing. At no point in this passage is faith even mentioned. This seems completely contrary to Matthew 13:58, for instance, which says, “And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.”

In fact, reading further into the passage:

Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’? 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. 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.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

The man does not even ask who Jesus is nor why Jesus healed him. There is no “thank you,” nor any attempt to find out more. In fact, the man “throws Jesus under the bus,” seeking out the religious authorities to identify Jesus once he learns Jesus’ identity.

Jesus’ words to the man: “Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you,” are also startling, as they seem to indicate the man has only been physically healed, rather than spiritually. There is no indication that the man is now saved, not a word about sins forgiven.

Making Sense of the Oddness

Returning to the beginning, Jesus walks up to a random invalid laying on his bed by a pool, waiting for healing in accordance with widespread beliefs about the pool. He asked if the man wants to be healed, the man answers with a complaint, and Jesus heals the man. The man then turns Jesus in to the religious authorities for doing this good work. Faith is not mentioned once in the entire story, and the man’s salvation does not seem to result.

This is entirely baffling to most modern Christians, because modern hermeneutics reads the Scriptures almost entirely through the lens of individual salvation. This passage does not seem to relate to individual salvation, so we have difficulty understanding it.

What if we intentionally frame the passage with another question?

Who is Jesus?

Let’s try our hand at reframing the passage with this question.

Jesus, to show his authority over physical sickness and the superiority of his power over angels, approaches a man who has been sick for many years. He heals the man without revealing who he is, asking the man to do something he knows the religious authorities will object to, hence bringing his power to the attention of those authorities without revealing himself to them.
Once the religious authorities notice the situation, Jesus reveals himself to the man, telling him to stop sinning. The man now reports his discovery to the religious authorities—although neither the man nor the authorities actually learn who Jesus is through this healing.
The healing does, however, cause the religious authorities to confront Jesus, allowing Jesus to clearly state who he is, using the healing as a backdrop and proof of the authenticity of his words.

This framing makes sense of the beliefs of the people by the pool, the lack of any mention of faith, the lack of any mention of salvation, and the man reporting Jesus to the authorities. Perhaps the man ultimately placed his faith in Jesus. Perhaps he did not. Whether he did is beyond John’s purpose in narrating this story from the life of Christ.

Rather than telling us about how Jesus saved someone, John is telling us about how Jesus went about confronting the religious authorities, drawing them into a situation where they would need to argue against his authority and power in the context of a clearly visible miracle directly illustrating his authority and power.

Jesus, John is saying, is the one who is greater than the widely known angels at the pool of Bethesda, the one who can heal physical sickness even when unknown and unappreciated. Jesus is who he says he is, the very Son of God.

This question—who is Jesus—and the answer John gives in this passage will resonate through the remainder of John 5, when we consider the beginnings and meaning of the Sabbath controversy, and the answer Jesus gives when accused by the religious leaders.

Jesus’ actions here also illustrate his control over the course of his life, and how he intentionally brings the opposition to his ministry to the Cross.

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[1] Hodges, “The Angel at Bethesda—John 5:4: Problem Passages in the Gospel of John Part 5.”