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John 4:43 – 5:23

Two Miracles; A Confrontation Over The Sabbath; The First Four Claims Of Yeshua

Yeshua had been in the Judean countryside. News reached Him that the Pharisees, who were very influential religiously and politically, knew that Yeshua was becoming more popular than John the Baptist – and John was immensely popular. The leadership of the Pharisees didn’t like Yeshua, and learning about Yeshua’s growing popularity intensified their dislike of the young Rabbi. So, perhaps to avoid a confrontation, Yeshua left Judea, which was closer to the center of the power of the Pharisees, and headed north to Galilee.

After the two days (with the Samaritans of Sychar, who during that time, came to believe that Yeshua was the Messiah and the Savior of the world) He left for Galilee – where He was raised and where His home was. Now Yeshua Himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country. Interesting. John is letting us know that the Samaritans, who were not Israelis, honored Yeshua, but those Jewish people from His own area, who should have known Him the best and honored Him the most, didn’t. And Yeshua knew He would not be honored by those closest to Him.

When He arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed Him. They had seen all that He had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Holiday, for they also had been there. They welcomed Yeshua, but it was only a shallow kind of acceptance.

Someone observed: A short-lived, superficial acceptance is not the same as an informed, long-term commitment.

Once more He visited Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official (he served king Herod) whose son lay sick at Capernaum (about 16 miles from Cana, which was a day’s journey). When this man heard that Yeshua had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to Him and begged Him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

One of the worst things a parent can experience is the death of a child. A parent will do almost anything to prevent their child from dying. This royal official heard that the young Rabbi from Nazareth had returned to the area. He most likely also heard Yeshua was doing miracles. And he thought that if only he could get Yeshua to come to Capernaum, where his dying child was, Yeshua would be able to heal him.

While this official may have had been able to have Yeshua summoned to Capernaum, or forcibly escorted there, instead of that he traveled to where Yeshua was and begged Him to help. That reveals he had respect for the miracle-working Rabbi, and some humility, and no doubt some desperation too.

Yeshua’s response to his pleas was not entirely positive. “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Yeshua told him, “you will never believe.” The royal official may not have been the only person with Yeshua, and Yeshua’s response seems to have been directed to others who were there, hoping to see a miracle.

There are various reasons to have faith in Yeshua. Experiencing a miracle is one reason to believe in Him, but it’s not the best reason. Experiencing a miracle does not automatically create enduring faith. Many saw Yeshua do miracles but only had a shallow faith in Him and later fell away. Yeshua said to Thomas: Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Yeshua wants us to have that have-not-seen-and-yet-have-believed kind of faith in Him that is not dependant on seeing or experiencing a miracle.

The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” The official expressed his belief that Yeshua urgently needed to come to Capernaum to heal his child or he would die. After all, weren’t most of the miraculous healings done by the prophets (and there weren’t many miraculous healings that are recorded for us), done by those who were in close proximity to the one they healed? Yeshua needed to go to Capernaum to heal his son. Yeshua was willing to heal the child but knew it wasn’t necessary for Him to be there for the child to be healed. Yeshua was close to God, and the Spirit of God is present everywhere, so Yeshua didn’t need to travel to Capernaum for a miracle to happen. “Go,” Yeshua replied, “your son will live.”

While the official may initially have been angry, upset or disappointed that Yeshua refused to go with him, God gave him the grace to trust Yeshua. The man took Yeshua at His word and departed. He believed the word Yeshua spoke to him. And when we believe everything Yeshua has spoken, great things are able to happen. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. Fantastic! What relief, what joy the man must have experienced! And, he was an intelligent man who had an inquiring mind. He wanted to know when the healing took place – most likely to determine if there was a connection with the healing to Yeshua. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.” Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Yeshua had said to him, “Your son will live.” It was clear by the precise timing of the miracle that Yeshua was indeed connected to his son’s healing. So he and his whole household believed. They became loyal to Yeshua.

This was the second sign Yeshua performed after coming from Judea to Galilee. This second sign reveals that God the Father can use Yeshua to heal; that Yeshua is the great healer; that He can heal us from all of the terrible consequences of the Fall of man; that Yeshua can heal us physically and spiritually; that a day is coming when Yeshua will heal the faithful remnant of humanity, and this entire world. And this sign reveals that God’s ability to work through Yeshua is not limited by distance. Yeshua does not have to be physically present for the miraculous to take place. He can be in Cana and a child can be healed in Capernaum. He can be at the right hand of God the Father in Heaven, where He is now, and a person can be healed physically or spiritually, anywhere on Earth.

Some time later, Yeshua went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holidays. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda (which means House of Olives, or more likely, House of Mercy) and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie – the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. And they lay there because when the water of the pool stirred, miraculous healing was given to the first one who got in the water. What a cool thing the God of Israel did for His people! I’m sure no other nation had a pool like this where healing miracles happened. Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord! One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. That’s a long time to be an invalid, to be unable to walk, unable to do most work, unable to support a family, dependant on others.

When Yeshua saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, He asked him, “Do you want to get well?” Notice that Yeshua took the initiative. He noticed this man, learned about his condition, went to him and asked him if he wanted to be restored to health. Maybe He asked him if he wanted to get well because some people get used to their disability and enjoy being taken care of.

The man did want to get better but lacked the ability to get in the water at the right time. “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” But God is able to work through Yeshua in a much greater way than He worked through that pool. Then Yeshua said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” No pool. No stirring of the water. Just a word from Yeshua. At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. Fantastic! The invalid was miraculously healed and immediately restored to full functionality. He was able to walk. He was able to live a normal life. Now that’s a miracle! Praise be to God and praise be to Yeshua whom the Father used to do such an amazing thing! But, not everyone would be happy. Here’s why:

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” But no law of the Sinai Covenant forbids carrying a mat on the Sabbath. The law forbids working on the Sabbath. Carrying a mat on the Sabbath is not work. Not carrying a mat on the Sabbath was a legalistic interpretation of what it means to not work on the Sabbath.

Many people, when they are in trouble, shift the blame to others. But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” The man explained to the authorities that he had been miraculously healed by another man, and after he was healed, the one who healed him told him to carry the mat. If there was anyone to blame, it was the man who told him to carry the mat.

So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Yeshua had slipped away into the crowd that was there. The man didn’t know the name of the one who healed him. I love this about Yeshua – that He didn’t heal people to call attention to Himself or to impress a crowd. He did miracles for the benefit of hurting people. Isn’t that like God, who is constantly doing so much for people, graciously helping humanity in so many ways, without demanding He be acknowledged- even though He should be properly acknowledged?

John recorded a second encounter between Yeshua and this man, this time at the temple. Later Yeshua found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” Yeshua warned the man not to use his restored health to engage in evil, or God might allow something worse to happen to him. While not all sicknesses or disabilities are the direct result of our sins, some are. God may allow an illness or disability to occur to punish or discipline somebody who is sinning.

After this second encounter, the man knew the identity of the one who healed him and informed the authorities. And, the man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Yeshua who had made him well.

Most of the leaders had already decided they didn’t like Yeshua and rejected His spiritual authority. Healing a man on the Sabbath and then telling him to carry a mat was, according to their understanding of Torah, a violation of the command against working on the Sabbath. Violating the Sabbath and encouraging others to violate it gave them a way to persecute Yeshua. So, because Yeshua was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute Him. How very sad! How tragic! How foolish! Their understanding of key elements of the Torah was flawed; and they were so far from God that they were unable to recognize the Son of God who was doing miracles that helped people. And so they rejected and opposed the Messiah and the Savior of the world!

Yeshua was under attack by the leaders. To defend Himself, He clarified who He is and why He did what He did. In His defense, Yeshua made astounding claims about Himself. Many people have made claims about themselves, generally to be proved wrong: I’m the smartest. I understand the truth better than anyone else. I have discovered secret knowledge. I’m a messenger of God. I’m a prophet. I’m the Messiah. What makes Yeshua’s claims about Himself so very special is that they are true, and they give us some of the very clearest revelation of who Yeshua is.

Yeshua’s first claim: the law about not working on the Sabbath didn’t apply to Him because He does what God does: In His defense Yeshua said to them, “My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working.” What Yeshua claimed is astounding. From the beginning of creation, God has been active on the Sabbath – sustaining the universe, ruling over the universe, watching over the world and helping the world and its inhabitants. Can you imagine what would happen if God ceased all His work on the Sabbath? The universe might not be sustained. It might cease to exist. It wouldn’t be ruled by God. It might become chaotic and unlivable. For 24 hours, human beings would not be given any divine help. God works on the Sabbath.

Yeshua claimed that the command about not working on the Sabbath didn’t apply to Him because, just as God works on the Sabbath, so does Yeshua, because He is the unique Son of God who shares the same divine nature and the same divine authority as God the Father!

The Jewish leaders understood this astounding claim and their rejection of Yeshua intensified even more, to the point that they wanted to kill Him. For this reason they tried all the more to kill Him; not only was He breaking the Sabbath (according to their understanding of breaking the Sabbath, and their understanding was wrong), but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. The leaders were right. Yeshua had claimed to be equal to God the Father in nature and in authority. Yeshua is equal to the Father in nature because the Father and the Son share the same divine nature. The Son is divine, eternal, uncreated, sharing all the attributes of God.

Yeshua is equal to God in nature, and Yeshua is equal to the Father in authority over everything that exists. The Son rules with the Father over the universe and everything in it; over all created beings and over all forces.

The Son is equal to the Father in authority over the creation and over all created things, but the Son is inferior to the Father in authority within the Trinity. Just as a human father is superior to his child in authority, so God the Father is superior to the Son in authority. The Father sits on the main throne in Heaven. The Son sits at the Father’s right hand. The Father commands and the Son obeys the command – never the other way around. Did the leaders really want to oppose someone who was greater than the law of the Sabbath because He is equal to God in nature and in authority?

Often, when a man is in a confrontation and the confrontation is escalating, he will back down. Not Yeshua. Yeshua’s second claim: He never operated on His own. He was always being directed by God: Yeshua gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. Yes, and He will show Him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. The best human beings see through a glass darkly. Yeshua claimed, unlike the rest of humanity, to have a view of God that was perfectly clear, unobstructed by sin. He was able to see what the Father was doing all the time, and like a good Son, He imitated what He saw. Yeshua claimed that He was not operating on His own. Everything He did was being directed by God the Father. If He healed a man on the Sabbath, it was because God showed Him that was what He wanted Him to do.

The Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. There is perfect love and trust between the Father and the Son. Because the Father has that kind of love and trust for Yeshua, He shares all of His plans with Him, and the Son faithfully carries out all of those plans. Therefore to oppose Yeshua, who is loved by God, trusted by God and carrying out the plans of God, is to oppose God and the plans of God. Did these Jewish leaders want to oppose God and God’s plans?

Yeshua’s third claim: He will do even greater things, like raising people from the dead and giving them life: The Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. Yes, and He will show Him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. The Father had shown Yeshua a number of miracles, enabling Yeshua to do miracles He wanted Yeshua to do, including the Sabbath healing of the invalid by the pool of Bethesda. While those miracles were impressive, Yeshua claimed that God was going to allow Him to do things which were greater and much more amazing.

For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it. In the future, God the Father will raise the dead and restore them to life. Yeshua claimed to have the same kind of authority and ability to resurrect the dead and give life to the people who please Him. Who are those people who please Him? They certainly include those who become loyal to Him. Along with God the Father, Yeshua will share the responsibility for resurrecting mankind and giving life to those who please Him. Did these Jewish leaders not want to please Yeshua so that He would resurrect them and give them life?

Yeshua’s fourth claim: After the resurrection comes judgment. Yeshua alone will be the judge on the Day of Judgment: Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. A day is coming when every human being will be judged. On the Day of Judgment, each man, each woman will give an account of their lives on Earth and be rewarded or punished, be sent to Hell or allowed to live forever in the kingdom of God. The one before whom every human being will appear for judgment? Not God the Father, but God the Son. The judgment of mankind is a responsibility given exclusively to Yeshua.

Judges are entrusted with tremendous responsibility. They make decisions that involve reward and punishment, life and death. Therefore judges are honored. They should be especially honored by those who appear before them.

Yeshua claimed that the Father will allow Him to judge mankind so that He will receive the same kind of honor reserved for God the Father. Did these leaders want to dishonor the one who will be their judge on the day of judgment, the one God insists all of humanity honor?

And the opposite is true: Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent Him. We want those we delegate to accomplish an important task to be respected. If they’re not respected, it’s an insult to the one who sent them. Yeshua claimed that God the Father sent Him to Earth to accomplish something very important. Therefore to dishonor Him is to dishonor the Father who sent Him. Did these Jewish leaders want to dishonor God, who sent Yeshua to accomplish His great task?

So, who is Yeshua according to the last part of chapter 4 and the first part of chapter 5 of the divinely inspired book of John?

Yeshua is the great healer. He can heal us from all the terrible consequences that resulted from the Fall of man. Yeshua can heal us physically and spiritually. And a day is coming when Yeshua will heal the faithful remnant of humanity, and He will heal this entire world.

And Yeshua does not have to be physically present for a miracle or a healing to take place. From where He is now, at the right hand of God the Father in Heaven, a person can be healed physically or spiritually anywhere on Earth. Do you want physical or spiritual healing? Do you want to be perfectly and eternally healed one day? You need Yeshua.

Humanity is like the invalid by the pool of Bethesda – disabled for a long time and in need of a miracle. Do you want to be made well? Live a fully functional life, the kind of life that God designed you to live? You need Yeshua.

Yeshua claimed that the command about not working on the Sabbath didn’t apply to Him because, just as God works on the Sabbath, so does Yeshua, because He shares the same divine nature and the same divine authority as God the Father. Do you want to oppose someone who is equal to God in nature and in authority? No? Then you better be loyal to Yeshua.

Yeshua claimed to have a view of God that was unobstructed by sin, and that He never operates on His own. Everything He does is directed by God the Father. Therefore to oppose Yeshua, who is loved by God and is carrying out the plans of God, is to oppose God. Do you want to oppose God? No? Trust Yeshua.

Yeshua claimed to have the same kind of authority and ability to raise the dead and give life to the people who please Him as God the Father. Do you want Yeshua to resurrect you and give you life? Then please Him by becoming His loyal follower.

Yeshua claimed that He will be the judge of mankind so that He will receive the same kind of honor reserved for God the Father. Do you want to dishonor the one who will your judge on the day of judgment, the one God insists all of humanity honor? No? Then honor Yeshua.

Yeshua is so special, so important. May we, and our Christian and Messianic Jewish brothers and sisters everywhere, be loyal to Him, focused on Him, keenly aware of Him, close to Him, filled with His Spirit, receiving power from Him, learning from Him, directed by Him. And may we be passionate about Him and carrying on His mission of evangelism, teaching and good deeds. Amen? Amen!