Saturday, January 30, 2010
Gospel of John Study
Over the next few days I'll be going back over my notes from the studies we've done in the last few weeks from the Gospel of John. I'll be trying to make them understandable to people who read English and not my abbreviated shorthand chicken scratch. Be looking for me to post previous studies from this series. If you missed any of the studies you can catch up here, and I'll be posting our studies every week from now on. Enjoy.
John 5:1-15
John 5:1-15
-History of Bethesda (Heb: House of mercy): In the 8th century bc a small valley was damned to collect rain water. Around 200 bc the pool was enclosed and a second pool was added. Porches were added. The Jews had a legend that God sent an angel to this pool every so often to stir the water. Whoever was the first to get in the pool after this would be healed of any infirmity.
-In the 1st century bc 2 caves with springs near the pool were turned into baths and dedicated as an Asclepieion. Asclepius was the Greek god of healing. He was worshiped Soter Asclepius (Savior Asclepius).
-So this area has a deep history of healing legends, both religious and superstitious. It is into this area that Jesus walks on a Sabbath and takes note of a paralyzed man. Since this miracle is a healing we tend to think healing is the main issue, the main focal point of what Jesus is doing. While healing this man was certainly a concern of Jesus’, there’s more.
-Jesus is a brilliant teacher. Nearly everything He does and says goes much deeper than the obvious. When He speaks He is saying that thing, but He is also hinting at deeper spiritual things. Whatever He does He is doing that but He is also pointing symbolically to something bigger. So is the case here.
-He heals this man because He cares for this man, but the symbolism of what He’s doing is very deep (remember, John is the gospel of layered meaning and symbolism). We’ve already mentioned the Asclepieion, and the Angel legend. John also tells us He did this on the Sabbath, there were 5 porches, and that it was near the Sheep gate. Context tells us this happened right after His conversation with the Samaritan woman where He said, “I am the living water”.
-He is declaring His superiority to the false gods of human invention. He’s declaring His superiority over superstitions and traditions. He is declaring His superiority over the Law (5 porches are symbolic of the Torah). Near the entrance of the Sheep is pointing to fact that the Lamb of God alone gives access to God. He does this, again, on the Sabbath, forcing the point that the Pharisees have missed the purpose of Sabbath and that He is Lord over it.
- It’s interesting that Jesus chooses only to heal this one man of the many who were there. I think this is because Jesus recognized this man was ready to believe in something else. He had been paralyzed for 38 years, he had undoubtedly tried many other means of healing with no result. He had lost hope in other gods, lost hope in superstitions, lost hope that religious leaders would offer any help. I used to read Jesus’ question “Do you want to get well?” straight forward, as if Jesus honestly didn’t know the answer. After studying this more I can imagine it more with the feeling of “OK, are you done with these other things now? Are you ready to get better now?”
-I think Jesus is asking that same question to us today. “Are you ready to get better?” We think that’s a dumb question, but in this context it makes sense. We all have defects in our lives. Some may be sins, some may just be junk. We deal with feeling lost, like we have no direction, no clear purpose. We deal with loneliness and validation issues. We deal with relationship problems. We deal with guilt and shame. We deal with sin and addiction; things that we know are not pleasing to God. Often we look for solutions to these things in the wrong places. Other relationships, religious works, etc. And the question stands: “Are you ready to get better? Are you ready to stop looking for help and fulfillment from these other things?”
-We don’t need to spend a lot of time on the Jews' response because we talk a lot in this group about striving to not become overly religious. We have talked at length about not putting God in our box and dictating how He should work among people.
-What do you think of the fact that this man clearly did not know who Jesus was, and therefore had no faith in Jesus? What does that do to our theology that God only does miracles and meets needs for the hyper faithful? While God certainly hears the prayers of His people and calls us to have faith, He loves those who have no clue who He is. Why is it when something good happens to a Christian we say, “Praise God, the Lord did that.”? But when something good happen to a nonbeliever we say, “Well that was lucky.”? God will show grace to whomever He decides to show grace.
-History of Bethesda (Heb: House of mercy): In the 8th century bc a small valley was damned to collect rain water. Around 200 bc the pool was enclosed and a second pool was added. Porches were added. The Jews had a legend that God sent an angel to this pool every so often to stir the water. Whoever was the first to get in the pool after this would be healed of any infirmity.
-In the 1st century bc 2 caves with springs near the pool were turned into baths and dedicated as an Asclepieion. Asclepius was the Greek god of healing. He was worshiped Soter Asclepius (Savior Asclepius).
-So this area has a deep history of healing legends, both religious and superstitious. It is into this area that Jesus walks on a Sabbath and takes note of a paralyzed man. Since this miracle is a healing we tend to think healing is the main issue, the main focal point of what Jesus is doing. While healing this man was certainly a concern of Jesus’, there’s more.
-Jesus is a brilliant teacher. Nearly everything He does and says goes much deeper than the obvious. When He speaks He is saying that thing, but He is also hinting at deeper spiritual things. Whatever He does He is doing that but He is also pointing symbolically to something bigger. So is the case here.
-He heals this man because He cares for this man, but the symbolism of what He’s doing is very deep (remember, John is the gospel of layered meaning and symbolism). We’ve already mentioned the Asclepieion, and the Angel legend. John also tells us He did this on the Sabbath, there were 5 porches, and that it was near the Sheep gate. Context tells us this happened right after His conversation with the Samaritan woman where He said, “I am the living water”.
-He is declaring His superiority to the false gods of human invention. He’s declaring His superiority over superstitions and traditions. He is declaring His superiority over the Law (5 porches are symbolic of the Torah). Near the entrance of the Sheep is pointing to fact that the Lamb of God alone gives access to God. He does this, again, on the Sabbath, forcing the point that the Pharisees have missed the purpose of Sabbath and that He is Lord over it.
- It’s interesting that Jesus chooses only to heal this one man of the many who were there. I think this is because Jesus recognized this man was ready to believe in something else. He had been paralyzed for 38 years, he had undoubtedly tried many other means of healing with no result. He had lost hope in other gods, lost hope in superstitions, lost hope that religious leaders would offer any help. I used to read Jesus’ question “Do you want to get well?” straight forward, as if Jesus honestly didn’t know the answer. After studying this more I can imagine it more with the feeling of “OK, are you done with these other things now? Are you ready to get better now?”
-I think Jesus is asking that same question to us today. “Are you ready to get better?” We think that’s a dumb question, but in this context it makes sense. We all have defects in our lives. Some may be sins, some may just be junk. We deal with feeling lost, like we have no direction, no clear purpose. We deal with loneliness and validation issues. We deal with relationship problems. We deal with guilt and shame. We deal with sin and addiction; things that we know are not pleasing to God. Often we look for solutions to these things in the wrong places. Other relationships, religious works, etc. And the question stands: “Are you ready to get better? Are you ready to stop looking for help and fulfillment from these other things?”
-We don’t need to spend a lot of time on the Jews' response because we talk a lot in this group about striving to not become overly religious. We have talked at length about not putting God in our box and dictating how He should work among people.
-What do you think of the fact that this man clearly did not know who Jesus was, and therefore had no faith in Jesus? What does that do to our theology that God only does miracles and meets needs for the hyper faithful? While God certainly hears the prayers of His people and calls us to have faith, He loves those who have no clue who He is. Why is it when something good happens to a Christian we say, “Praise God, the Lord did that.”? But when something good happen to a nonbeliever we say, “Well that was lucky.”? God will show grace to whomever He decides to show grace.
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