John 5:2-3 – “Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids-blind, lame, and paralyzed.”
Some people in the world would never believe that God would want to have a relationship with them. When they here about God, they think in their mind that they are not the type of person God would have anything to do with. They think they are either too bad, too insignificant, and too ordinary. For many, these thoughts have held them captive for years, keeping them from experiencing the truth of God’s love and grace. They live their life deceived by the enemy.
The Bible speaks of this deception:
“In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)
The reality of Who God is, demonstrated through the life of Jesus, is far different from what the enemy convinces people to believe. As we saw in John 4 previously there is the big surprise of seeing Jesus take a trip straight into Samaria, a place that Jews would go far out of their way to avoid. Then we see Him have a conversation with a Samaritan woman, another surprise given the position women held in society in that day. Here in John 5 we see yet another surprise in the destination and company Jesus chooses.
Jesus’ first destination upon entering Jerusalem is the Sheep Gate-Bethesda. And we see from the verse the type of people that hung out there—the blind, lame, and paralyzed. Now the religious people of Jesus day would have had nothing to do with these invalids, just as they would have had nothing to do with the Samaritan woman at the well. They would have assumed that each and everyone of them were in their despised situation because of either their own sin, their parents sin, or a family members sin (John 9:2). There would have been no sympathy and certainly no personal interaction of any positive nature.
Consistently throughout Jesus’ ministry we see that He makes a point to be with the outcast, the poor, the despised and rejected. This bothered the religious establishment as we see in Mark 2:15-17:
And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
We should be moved to see with whom Jesus chose to give His time. It was normal, common people like us. It was people who were needy. Not the celebrated, the popular, or the well-to-do. It was not the super religious. It was the outcast and the rejected. This is the heartbeat evident throughout scripture like Isaiah 58 where we see God describing true worship as pouring yourself out for the poor and the outcast.
There are many who would never believe such a thing—that God wants to know them personally and be a part of their life. But the reality is,
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).
God is knocking and He’s waiting to have a relationship with you. Don’t turn Him away just because it is so hard to believe.
Filed under: Jesus, Outcast, Poor | Tagged: From Sunday's Message, John 5:1-9a
