Feb. 23, 2017
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in John? Here’s today’s reading:
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. [4] 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 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?” 7 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.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed”…… Continue Reading
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The first thing I noticed was that verse 4 was missing from John chapter 5. After some research, I found the following statement:
“What would be John 5:[4] (the missing material that begins in verse 3) is not found in any of the earliest and most accurate manuscripts of the Gospel of John. Scholars who make a career of comparing manuscripts (“textual critics” and “paleographers”) have discovered that in roughly two dozen manuscripts scribes put asterisk marks at the verse to warn the next scribe who would copy the manuscript that the verse was likely not original. To top it all off, four of the last five Greek words of what would be John 5:[4] aren’t found anywhere else in John’s writings. This suggests that John 5:[4] does not belong in the New Testament, which explains why many modern Bible translations have omitted it.” (Crosswalk.com / Michael S. Heiser)
What else jumped out at me is that after Jesus healed the man who had been an invalid for 38 years, and after the Jews told him, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed” he rats Jesus out as the one who gave him permission. Even worse, when the Jews originally asked him, he didn’t know His name. It wasn’t until Jesus found the now-healed man in the temple later and spoke to him did the man know who healed him and he reported back to the Jews that it was Jesus.
Interesting that this “former invalid” used his new-found mobility for such a thing. Wonder what his motivation was?
Interesting thoughts, Scott. You got me curious and I found John 5:4 in the KJV. “For 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.” I wonder if it was included as an explanation as to why people sat at the pool and what they were expecting to happen when the water was stirred. I wouldn’t think it would be out of place when you think of ways God healed in the Old Testament times – for instance Naaman being told to wash in the Jordan 7 times, the people told to look at the bronze snake in the desert, etc.
Today, I worked through the final passages of 2 Corinthians 8 and then spend a good deal of time reviewing verses about women’s roles in the Bible after a friend posted 1 Timothy 2. It’s good to review scripture to continually reinforce what you believe and to measure it up to any challenges to see if your interpretation still “holds”.
There’s so much in John 5. First, I’m again struck by Jesus asking the invalid if he WANTED to be healed. You’d think the answer would be obvious. But Jesus had a purpose for asking. Do I really want my life to change? Or am I perfectly comfortable with the “spiritual status quo”? Am I willing to get out of the boat and walk? Or would I rather play it safe and stay put?
The rest of John 5 is awesome. I love how Jesus — addressing the Jews who wanted to kill Him — lays out a banquet of proof that He is indeed the Son of God, Savior, and Messiah. What more do they need? And if I really believe everything He says, what more do *I* need to live a completely sold-out life for Him, for His glory?
Radical faith was the norm in the early church. Today, it seems to be the exception. Am I willing to risk everything to follow Jesus? He deserves everything I have, everything I am.
I know this is an old reading but I read this chapter a couple of days ago and I would just like to share God’s message to me. I observed that the pharisees paid more attention to Jesus breaking the rules of Sabbath than the man being healed. It made me ask myself if there may be times when I become too legalistic to the extent of missing God’s work of grace in other people’s lives and even in mine. It also made me pray for wisdom to discern when I am being legalistic and that God would just help me see things with His eyes and not mine. It requires a God-given wisdom because as Christians, we also want to follow God’s will.
Opened my Bible to read John 6 this morning and this jumped out at me from Chapter 5 (vv. 25-29): “25 Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will HEAR the voice of the Son of God, and those who HEAR will live. 26 For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; 27 and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will HEAR His voice, 29 and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”
I want to do a word study of the different uses of the word “hear,” because of verse 25. The first is the physical act of hearing, but the second obviously goes beyond just “hearing” with your ears. James 1:22 came to mind immediately. I’m starting here: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Hearing-God~s-Word