Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Two ladies met for their 50-year high school reunion.

They hadn’t seen each other since high school and they were asking about each other’s life.

One of them said, “Well, my life has turned out perfectly.”

The other lady said, “What do you mean?”

She said, “We’ll, first I married a millionaire, but he died.

Then I married a Hollywood director.

And he died.

Then I married a Baptist preacher.

And he died.

But now I’m married to an undertaker, so my life has been very well ordered.”

The other lady said, “Well, what do you mean?

It seems like having a millionaire husband die and a Hollywood director die and a Baptist preacher die would be sad.

And now you’re married to an undertaker?

What’s so perfect about that?”

She smiled and said, “Think about it.

One for the money; two for the show; three to get ready; and four to go!”

Brian Sternberg was a champion pole vaulter in the early 1960’s.

He set records in that event in 1963 and was a huge favorite to win the gold medal at the Olympics in 1964.

On July 2nd 1963, while training on a trampoline in Washington State, Brian had an accident and became a paraplegic.

In his own words he describes the accident:

However, life does not always go so smoothly.

Sickness, disease, tragedy and other trials befall us all.

It is into this world Jesus came, and revealed the Father to us.

In the passage we have read this morning I want us to see a man who received a miracle from Jesus and that this miracle contained a message.

This miracle takes place in Jerusalem.

We left chapter 4 with Jesus in Cana.

Now, during a Jewish festival, Jesus is in Jerusalem.

Large crowds would have been gathered there.

Among the crowds were various groups of people.

Two groups are seen in this account.

The disabled-blind, lame, and paralyzed.

(v.3)

The Pharisees, pious and religious Jews.

This miracle serves to deliver a message to the religious and pious of Jesus’ day, the Pharisees.

It would also continue to escalate the tensions between Jesus and the Pharisees.

This of course is all in accord with God’s purposes and redemptive plan.

I.

The Crucial Question

The miracle that Jesus sovereignly performs in this man’s life is purely of grace.

It is also a miracle with a message.

I want you to notice first:

The miracle that Jesus sovereignly performs in this man’s life is purely of grace.

It is also a miracle with a message.

I.

The Compassion of Jesus

We dare not miss the amazing concern and grace of Jesus in this passage.

Verse 3, disabled-blind, lame and paralyzed.

Various infirmities had rendered these individuals incapable of changing their condition.

Powerless.

, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins..”

II.

The Triumph of God’s Grace

, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.”

6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly

He arrives at the temple complex and makes his way not to the places where the elites were hanging out, but to a pool located below the temple complex called Bethesda by the sheep gate which was a small entrance to the city of Jerusalem near the northeast segment of the wall near the temple.

The area near the pool literally had five porches and was used by large numbers of hurting people.

III.

The Twisted Response of The Religious Elite

Jesus Chose to Go Toward the Hurting and Despised

We see evidence of this throughout the gospels.

We have already studied this with the events of the woman at the well in Chapter 4 of this gospel.

, “ Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for him at his house.

Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were guests with them.

30 But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 Jesus replied to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick.

32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

29 Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for him at his house.

Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were guests with them.

30 But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

31 Jesus replied to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick.

32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

In the parable of the large banquet in we read where the master tells his servant to “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.”

In we read how the Pharisees were upset and complaining because Jesus welcomed sinners and ate with them.

In the parable of the large banquet in we read where the master tells his servant to “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.”

The multitudes of hurting people are representative of the human race.

People who are in despair, hurting laying by the pools of human philosophy or man-made superstition or religion to find healing.

Organized religion had not helped this man, nor would that change after his healing.

I need to make a clarifying statement concerning the latter portion of verse 3 and verse 4 which is mentioned in the footnotes of the Christian Standard Bible Translation.

This section reads: “waiting for the moving of the water, because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water.

Then the first one who got in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment he had.”

“For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.”

John Phillips, a well-known bible commentator states, “There is some doubt about the validity of this verse.

Perhaps it reflects the popular explanation of the time for the periodic disturbance of the water.”

John Phillips, a well-known bible commentator states, “There is some doubt about the validity of this verse.

Perhaps it reflects the popular explanation of the time for the periodic disturbance of the water.”

Most New Testament bible scholars believe this section is not original and was added in the margin of a manuscript by one of the scribes who was copying the text.

Nonetheless, it does show us what many thought in that time, and it explains the paralyzed man’s words in verse 7.

These verses are not in the oldest copies of the original manuscripts of the New Testament.

Therefore, in an effort to be as accurate as possible, the translators choose to put the verses in question in a footnote to bring attention to this fact.

The Christian Standard Translation of the bible that I use from this pulpit is an accurate word for word translation of the original Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic texts.

The Christian Standard Translation of the bible that I use from this pulpit is an accurate word for word translation of copies of the original Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic texts of God’s word.

Likewise, the King James Version, New King James Version, NASB, NIV, ESV and NLT are excellent and very accurate translations.

I am happy to discuss any questions or concerns you may have privately.

But we should not be alarmed or build theological camps or start divisive arguments over these very accurate bible translations.

Jesus Sovereignly Chooses to Heal This Man

Jesus chooses this man, who had been lying there for 38 years, and asks a probing question, “Do you want to be well?”

The man answers in verse 7 with what he thinks is an obvious fact to him.

How could he be made well since he was unable to get into the water, which he believed could heal him.

He had more than likely grown negative and bitter after 38 years of paralysis.

The answer that Jesus gives back to the man’s response is not to depend on a mythical cure, but to act upon the command of Jesus, “Get up, pick up your mat and walk.”