How Did I Miss It? — John 5:1-18
Signs: How Do We Know? • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
When we’d only been married a year, Megan and I moved into a small church-owned home at the new church we’d been called to. The house wasn’t in the best shape and didn’t offer many amenities, but it was temporary and we were thankful. It actually had this weird basement where there was a hole in the floor of the second bedroom that went down into this dark abyss. It was really a pretty terrifying sight. So, we just shut that door and pretended like it wasn’t there.
The most inconvenient part of the house was that it didn’t have laundry in it. So, for months, we’d load up our laundry and carry it across the road and wash it at the church. There’s no way to know how many loads we carried back and forth. Well, we were finally able to buy a home of our own, and our family came to help us move our stuff. With my dad being around — y’all just remember that I was barely old enough to vote and learning how to be the man of the house — but with my dad being around, I finally got up the guts to walk down those steep stairs into that dark abyss and turn on the light. And, when I did, sitting there was a brand new, with tags still on, washer and dryer for us to use. And, I remember thinking: How in the world did I miss this?
God’s Word
God’s Word
(show quote) Arthur Koestler famously said: “The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards.” That is, the most important and obvious discoveries and realizations are often missed by the people closest to them. That’s John’s concern with the third sign. He’s concerned that you’ll miss Jesus, not because He isn’t obvious, but because you aren’t willing to see it. So, this morning, I want to ask: How Do We Miss It? (Headline)
We “overlook.”
We “overlook.”
John 5:1–9 “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. Now that day was the Sabbath.”
John 5:14 “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.””
(visual of the Santon Mall vs shanty town in slides) Most of you know that our flight from South Africa home ended up being delayed, forcing us to spend two extra nights. We started looking for things to do and discovered that one of the nicest malls in Africa wasn’t far from us. So, we Ubered over, and it was the largest mall that I’ve ever seen. Literal city blocks. It included a theater, a spa, a five-star hotel, and stores that my socio-economic level wouldn’t let me even enter. And, it struck me while we were there that just a few blocks over there was a shanty-town with an ocean of four-walled shacks made out of corrugated metal filled with people struggling to survive.
This story shows us that Jesus wouldn’t have gone to the mall. He would’ve gone to the shanty town. He didn’t seek to alleviate his own misery. He sought to join people in theirs. John consistently shows Jesus being drawn toward the people we are often repelled from. Jerusalem was the largest, most prominent city Jesus visited during his lifetime, and He didn’t see the sights. He went to Bethesda, a truly miserable place. There was a “multitude of invalids” there, John tells us. You can imagine the sound of the panhandlers rattling their pans, the unwell shouting with groans, and the sheep being brought through the sheep gate to be washed before they were sacrificed. And, that’s where Jesus finds himself.
He focuses on particular invalid, a man who had been disabled for 38 years. And, Jesus asks him a rather obvious question: “Do you want to be healed?” The question gave the man the opportunity to share his complaint with another stranger who would just move on. He says that he has no one who will “put (him) into the pool when the water is stirred up.” You’ll notice that verse 4 is missing from your Bible or is in brackets. That’s because we’ve discovered older manuscripts from when this was originally translated that let us know it likely wasn’t original. But, it does give us some insight into the common thought of the day — the belief, whether it was true or not, was that occasionally angels would stir up the water and the first to enter the water after it was stirred up would be healed of their disease. That’s why the invalids congregated there.
We go looking for “quick fixes.”
You see, this man was like all of the other sufferers who were there. They were so busy looking at the pool that they were overlooking Jesus. They were so focused on a pool that promised a quick fix but couldn’t deliver, that they weren’t seeing the true deliverer was right in their midst.
And, it’s meant to paint a picture of Israel for us. It’s no accident that this happens in Jerusalem, and it’s no accident that this man is 38 years old. Deuteronomy 2 teaches us that Israel spent 38 unnecessary years in the wilderness, 38 years as beggars, 38 years of dealing with their shame, when they could’ve been flourishing in the Promised Land. So, here’s a man that embodies that. Why did Israel languish in the Wilderness? They looked past what God offered for a quicker fix. They wanted a golden calf today, prosperity today, not a Promised Land tomorrow. This man is looking for a quick dip in the pool, not a Lord to follow and love.
How often do we look right past Jesus for a quicker fix? And, our quick fixes are about as effective for us as getting in a pool of water is for a paraplegic or as effective as a golden calf is for the wellbeing of a nation. We’ll try a new diet and essential oils and a new job or a new marriage, all in an attempt to fix what is broken in us. We’ll turn to Tindr to feel something, alcohol to escape something, and porn to control something because we want the healing apart from the healer. So, the brokenness remains. Too often, we want a quick fix, not a Lord, but it’s only the Lord Jesus that can help. We keep overlooking him, but here John is asking you: How are you missing it?
Jesus comes looking for “us.”
In verse 14, Jesus circles back. The man had not even known his name before. And, Jesus says to him: “You are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” Jesus is making a connection in the man’s mind between his condition and his sinfulness. Much of the suffering that we experience is not because of our sin, but some of it is. And, that seems to be the case for this man. His disability was an outward mark of his inward shame. And, I want you to think about this picture. Most of the people at Bethesda that day were there because of no decision of their own. Their suffering wasn’t their fault. And so, it wasn’t an accident that this just happened to be the man who met Jesus. This was the man that Jesus went looking for. Jesus went looking for the most broken among the broken, a man who wasn’t just dealing with a broken body, but a broken soul. You see, in Isaiah 35, it is prophesied that one day, when the Messiah comes, that Israel, crippled by their sin and left in the wilderness, will be so healed that they will leap up like a deer.
Oh, Jesus had gone looking for that man because God had come looking for his people. And, this morning, you’re here, and you’re hearing this because Jesus has come looking for you. He’s sent the friend who invited you or the parents who drove you. He’s using this message and this Sunday to let you know that He loves you and wants to heal you. He may even have used a rock bottom moment in your life to bring back into the last place you thought you’d be — a church — to hear these words. Give up on your quick fixes. Give up on your self-medications. Stop overlooking Jesus and see that He’s come looking for you. Don’t miss Him. He’s right in front of you.
We “overthink.”
We “overthink.”
John 5:10 “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.””
In chapter 5, John is wanting you to begin sensing a turning point in Jesus’ ministry. He’s been performing miracles and building popularity, but conflict has been on the horizon and is now arriving.
A miracle has just taken place. An invalid who was paralyzed is not up and walking. And, the reaction of the Jews is to run out like Gomer Pyle or the head of your HOA to say: “Citizens arrest! Citizens arrest!” It seems like an innocuous addition that Jesus told the man to take up his mat. It seems like a natural thing that he does. But, the problem is that it’s the Sabbath, and this was “not lawful” according to the Jews. Now, it wasn’t a problem with the Law of Moses. It was a problem with the Law of the Jews. The rabbis had created 39 categories around the Sabbath that was meant to protect the Sabbath from being violated, and one of these was a prohibition of carrying anything — like a mat — from one place to another.
I want you to think about that. God had given his people the Sabbath as a gift, to rest from their regular work and employment to rest in him. And, they turned it into a misery. They overthought it. They worried that the Sabbath was vulnerable to being broken and so they built such a complex system of law around the Sabbath to protect it that they couldn’t even rejoice over an invalid that had been made well. How did they miss it? They couldn’t see the forest for the trees. They couldn’t see the kindness of God for the obsession over the details of their self-imposed law. They were so busy clinging to the shadows that they missed the person. They knew where every comma was in the Law, but didn’t recognize the main character. Man, oh man, how did they miss it?
Legalism loves “enforcement.”
You see, the heart of legalism is enforcement. It’s a passion for the prosecution of the Law. It’s an exaggeration of the letter of the Law so that you ultimately forsake the spirit of the law. The Sabbath was never about what you were and weren’t supposed to do. The Sabbath was about the enjoyment of God, knowing God and resting in him. They loved enforcing the law, not serving the Lord, and they loved it so much that they created new laws to enforce.
Legalism undermines the “Bible.”
There’s something badly corrupted in our hearts when we delight in enforcement and prosecution of God’s Law, for not one of us would be left standing. And, the heartbreaking reality is that when we cling to the shadows and not the person, when we love to prosecute the Law and not delight in the Lord, not only do we miss Jesus, but so do those we influence. One of the easiest ways to lose a generation is to add laws and sins to the Bible that aren’t there. Because here’s what happens. Eventually, the youth group grows up and they read the Bible for themselves. And, they come to realize all of these things they were told are not actually in the Bible. (speak about church hurt, spiritual abuse, and legalistic background) And, their thought is: How did I miss it? They really were just trying to control me. They really were just trying to get me to do what they wanted me to do. And, even if it was well-meaning, adding to the Bible actually ends up undermining the whole authority of the Bible when they read it for themselves.
There’s a reason that Jesus exhausts so much energy rebuking and correcting the legalists in the Bible. Legalism is lethal to a vibrant faith in Jesus because it actually conceals Jesus from the very one who need him most.
We “overestimate.”
We “overestimate.”
John 5:16–18 “And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”
Perhaps, nothing gets human beings in more trouble than overestimating ourselves. I remember when two year old Josiah would climb on the outside of the steps and jump on to the couch because he believed that he could fly. And, he blew through every warning mom and dad gave him until he had to learn the hard way. And, the truth is that we never fully outgrow our willingness to overestimate ourselves, and the result is that very often we miss the reality that’s right in front of our faces.
We “assume” to “know.”
We all stop looking for what we assume we know. We stop seeking to understand what we assume we’ve mastered. When Galileo began to teach that the earth might not be the center of the universe, the Catholic Church condemned him as a heretic because they assumed they understood what they didn’t understand. They assumed their interpretation of the “ends of the earth” were correct. They overestimated their abilities. And, that’s what gets the Jews in trouble here. They assumed they understood what the Messiah would look like, and it wasn’t anybody like Jesus.
We “fail” to “see.”
On one hand, it’s a testament to both the humility and humanity of Jesus that He was able to blend so well into a crowd of people, so well that the healed man didn’t know him, so well that the Pharisees didn’t recognize him as the Messiah. But, it also speaks to the impetuousness of mankind. We can fail to see what’s front of our faces because our pride simply won’t allow us to believe and understand differently than we do.
Jesus tries to resolve the tension these men are feeling with a simple truth. God created the Sabbath. And, God is working on the Sabbath always, giving and sustaining life, rewarding and punishing, holding the universe together. And, what they’re missing is that He’s working on the Sabbath in the same way. Since chapter one, John has been saying that Jesus was with God and Jesus was God and nothing was made through him that had been made. So, God had worked in the original creation through the preexistent Son to make all things and to establish the Sabbath. But now, God was working through the incarnate Son to inaugurate the New Creation. That is, Jesus isn’t just Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus is the Sabbath. In the original creation, you got a day every week to rest from your work. In the New Creation, you get to rest every, single day in Jesus himself. You don’t have to keep striving. You don’t have to make amends. You don’t have to measure up. You don’t have to fix it. You rest.
And, the only reason that you can’t rest is that you overestimate yourself. You overestimate what you can handle. You overestimate how good you can be. You overestimate your ability to fix what’s broken inside of you. And, when you do, you join the ranks of those who persecuted Jesus all those years ago. Your attempts to oversee the control board of your life is a declaration that you believe Jesus has overstated his importance to you. In fact, what these Jews failed to see and what you’re failing to see is that by believing that you can write the Law for your life and that you can carry the weight of your life is actually you “making (yourself) equal with God.”
And so, you can miss it. You can miss the rest that your weary soul needs. And, that’s the invitation that Jesus offers: “Come to me all who are weary and heavy ladened, and I will give you rest.”
