I believe the best way to read any story is in its historical and grammatical context. Instead of dogmatically imposing our presuppositions onto the text, to try as best we can to read it for what it is. That is how I treated the passages in the Quran in the previous chapter. It is how I treat the Bible.
Jesus did miracles to prove he was a prophet (Quran 2:87, 253). These proofs were given because people would not have believed otherwise. The Quran even states that those who still did not believe after seeing these proofs did not believe because of God’s own will. God does what He wills, and I agree with that sentiment as I stated in the previous chapter. In John 5, we see some agreement. Some Jews would never have believed unless they saw the signs and wonders. The lame man at the pool of Bethesda did not ask for Jesus’s help according to John. If John had to specify that it was called Bethesda in the Hebrew, this place likely had a different, non-Hebrew primary name. The pool itself likely didn’t belong to the Hebrews. The fact that it had five porches points more to Greek architecture than Hebrew. The lame man trusted in the Greek stories about mystic regenerative waters and yearned to go into the healing pool. He never could. People always cut him off and entered the pool first.
It was said of the pool that an angel would go down into the pool from time to time to stir up the waters for healing. While verses 3b-4 are not in the earliest and best biblical manuscripts, making it likely they are not part of the autograph, this information provides some essential background for the pool itself. At this time, the Roman government maintained control of Jerusalem. Romans liked to impose their own culture upon the world. I think this is the case with many worldly governments. Rome had a strong military presence, even their own fortress close to the the Temple Mount and adjacent the pool of Bethesda. Yes, there is the archaeological evidence to support the pool’s exact location. Romans were importing their theatres and sports complexes into the Jewish world with the ultimate goal of hellenizing the Jews—or making them more Greek. As part of this hellenization, Romans would build baths as shrines to the Greek god, Asclepion. Worldly imperialists have always used similar methods to conquer a people and assimilate them. Asclepion was represented by a standard with a snake on it. Pools dedicated to this Greek god were used for healing practices and rituals. Sometimes Asclepion was said to stir the waters for mystic healing. When a scribe later added that note to the Bible, he wrote that it was an angel of God. I am thankful for textual criticism so we can see what was in the autographs and what was added later. God truly does preserve His word for us in spite of our imperfection. He has provided the vast amount of textual evidence for us to see because He does indeed preserve the words of His prophets. Muhammad was correct about the preservation of the Gospels.
Mystic healing has never been characteristic of God. I don’t believe God would ever cause people to focus on a pool rather than directly on Him. That simply seems inconsistent with God’s desire to glorify Himself. If this is a pool of Asclepion, the story seems to fall into place. Here were all these people who, instead of trusting in the God who worked together their circumstances in the first place, followed after the ways of the Greeks and fell into idolatry because they were so desperate to improve their own circumstances. That’s how idolatry always happens. We become malcontent. We are desperate for healing. So, we go see a mystic healer, fortune teller, or whatever because we want to improve our circumstances. More likely the case for us since we are more conservative, we choose a religion we think will better our circumstances and gain us more in this world and the next. That is simple pride. We fail to realize it was God who worked together our circumstances in the first place. Malcontent is an insult to God because we are saying the circumstances He has worked out for us are not good enough. Malcontent is the heart of a spoiled and prideful brat.
Jesus not only entered this unholy place of idolatry but also sought a Jew out who was worshipping this false god and healed him. Jesus is greater than Asclepion. Asclepion couldn’t heal this man in three decades. Jesus healed him in a moment. That’s embarrassing for the so-called Greek god. Jesus didn’t do this to gain a following. He slipped away quietly instead of drawing attention to Himself. So, Jesus was not like many of the so-called faith-healers and religious leaders today.
The lame man got up to walk! He picked up his mat and went to the Temple to be ritually cleansed. This poor man was questioned about carrying his mat on the Sabbath, which is funny to me. People were so self-righteous that they couldn’t be happy for someone. A sense of self-righteousness will do that to us. It will keep us from loving and celebrating with others when God is doing good things. After he was questioned, Jesus found him in the Temple and instructed him to go and sin no more.
What sin was this man living in that Jesus had to instruct him to go sin no more? He was malcontent and worshipping an idol because he wanted to make his circumstances better. God was good to this man despite his sin. God also heals us in many ways despite our sin. There is this invitation for us to go and sin no more. Instead of always trying to change our circumstances or make our lives better by trying to gain something we don’t have, we are explicitly invited to trust in God’s sovereignty and goodness—a message I think we can both resonate deeply with. If God truly works all things together, we can trust His work and celebrate where we are. We can count our blessings and love one another instead of waiting by the pool of a foreign god hoping desperately for the waters to be stirred while we waste our lives away in self-pursuit.
Don’t waste life seeking personal gain or miraculous healing. There are better things to do, and we can trust God with all of our circumstances because He works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
Many Jews didn’t heed this message. Instead, they started persecuting Jesus for doing things on the Sabbath. They preferred to work for their righteousness instead of lean on the God who works all things. Their sin was the same as the lame man’s. The lame man sought to earn his physical healing from Asclepion. These Jews sought to earn their spiritual healing from the snake that was always with Asclepion. Praise be to God for His grace. Jesus went into pagan places, healed sinful people despite their sin, and calls us to trust God. Will we trust? Or, will we be lost in our malcontent?
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