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“Signs Done Well - IV”
The third sign in the gospel of John once again involves a healing, this time of a paralyzed man at a site in Jerusalem called the pool of Bethesda. Bethesda was apparently a gathering place for sick and troubled people, perhaps because its waters were considered to be of medicinal quality. It is feast-time in Jerusalem, and the day on which this healing occurs happens to be a Sabbath.
We might quickly question the healing nature of these waters, when we see here in John 5:1-18 that the man in question had been an invalid for 38 years (verse 5). Jesus, to whom all these signs point of course, after some back and forth with the man, heals him instantly. This stirs controversy in Jerusalem with the so-called religious leaders because Jesus instructed the man to take up his bed and walk, and it was a Sabbath day on which no work was to be done.
Perhaps even more inflammatory is a statement Jesus made during the course of this event, while the controversy was arising. He said in response to critics, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” According to verse 18, this statement in addition to the Sabbath healing were the reasons the Jews were seeking to kill Jesus.
The statement, as much as the healing, is a part of the third sign here in John 5. Jesus publicly identifies himself as the Son of God, making himself equal to God (verse 18). If there were anyone else in Jerusalem able to do such miraculous healings and works of power, they were certainly either negligent in their duties or heartless in the extreme, for they left a man such as this paralytic to suffer for nearly 4 decades when they could have done something about it.
The truth is, no one else could do what the Son of God could do. Only Jesus could do this miracle at Bethesda pool in Jerusalem on that Sabbath day. This was a sign done well because it showed who the Real was, and who the fake were.
