Sixth Sunday of Easter

May 25th, 2025
Atonement Lutheran Church
Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C
Sermon on John 5:1–9

In the Name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

John 5:1–9: “¹After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ²Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. ³In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. ⁵One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” ⁸Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” ⁹And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.”

Jesus was in Jerusalem for one of the Jewish Feast. We do not know which feast this was, it could have been the Feast of Booths also called the Feast of Tabernacle, or it could have been the Passover Feast, we do not know. What we do know, is that Christ was doing the work of His Father, preaching, teaching, and healing the sick. Christ went to the pool of Bethesda, near the Sheep Gate – which is in the northeast corner of the Temple.

The Sheep Gate was part of the northern wall that was restored by Nehemiah after the completion of the second temple. Today the Sheep Gate is gone, destroyed when the second temple was destroyed in 70AD. Today St. Stephen's Gate (also called Lions' Gate) stands close to where the Sheep Gate once stood. Before its destruction, the Sheep Gate was used to bring the sheep into the temple area for the temple sacrifices. And here in our text today, we have the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, next to the Pool of Bethesda speaking to an invalid man.

Now the Pool of Bethesda (House of Mercy or House of Grace) is where many sick, blind, and paralyzed people would gather waiting for the waters of the pool to be stirred up. It was a common belief that an Angle of the Lord would periodically come down and stir the waters of the pool. And it was believed that whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease they had. No wonder why there would be so many people there. The pools of Bethesda were so known for healing that during the rebuilding of Jerusalem in 129AD after it was razed in 70AD along with the destruction of the second temple, Emperor Hadrian placed an altar to Asclepius, a Greek god of healing and medicine. And standing next to this pool of water is the very one who gives living water that satisfies the thirsty soul and springs up into eternal life.

It is here in front of the Sheep Gate, next to the Pool of Bethesda that Jesus approached a man who has been there a long time. The man for thirty-eight years has been invalid. Unable to reach the water of the pool. For thirty-eight years this man has been suffering, sorry, and loneliness. For thirty-eight years, has this man been hoping for someone to bring him to the waters of salvation; for someone to relive his suffering, sorry, and loneliness.

You and I are like this man. We too are suffering. While some of us may be suffering from an affliction of the body (like my leg) or the mind. We are all suffering from an affliction of the soul. We are all suffering from sin. We need to be brought to the healing waters of salvation, “²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23)

This is what Christ has done for us. “⁶For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. … ⁸but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6, 8) “²⁴and all are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 3:24) “⁷… have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,” (Ephesians 1:7)

In our text today, we observe an unusual interaction between Christ and an invalid man. The interaction is unusual not because of the time or place. It is unusual because it does not follow the normal interaction that we see between Christ and the person he heals.

In most cases we see people coming to Christ for healing. And when Christ heals a person, He states that it was their faith that made them well. Here in our text today, we do not see this. What we see is Christ coming to the invalid man who did not know who Christ was, and Christ speaks to him.

This is a state of the human condition. We cannot come to Christ. We do not even know who Christ is. Sin has separated us from God, making us blind and deft to Christ and His work of salvation. Our sin does not stop God from coming to us. Out of love of use, God comes to us in Christ Jesus, to speak words of life and healing.

Christ spoke to the man and asked, “Do you want to be healed?” What an odd question to ask in this place. It’s like asking a patient in the hospital if he wants to be healed. Yes, anyone who is sick wants to be healed, don’t they? The problem is that we become comfortable and complacent in our affliction, in our sin. We begin to think that this is how it is, and we can’t find or don’t want a way out of it.

This invalid man is an example of this. When asked “Do you want to be healed?” The man does not answer “YES!”, instead he comes to terms with his situation and does not even think to ask for help, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me”.

Like this invalid man, we too are caught in comfort and complacent about our sin. We know we need to be healed. We look to this world and what it offers to heal our soul. We find that the world only offers a hollow and meaningless solution to our need for help; this distracts us from the all-encompassing love of Christ.

How did Christ respond to this man? He does not tell him to “try harder” as if the man hasn’t already “tried harder”. Nor does Jesus give the man an indifferent encouragement of “you’ll get there one day”. No, Christ came to the man to speak words of grace and healing, “⁸… “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” ⁹And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.”

The Word of God is not empty and powerless. Here we are reminded who the Word of God is and what the Word of God is, “1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) “4In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4)

The man thought he had to reach the pool to be healed; that there was no other way to be healed. The power that healed the man was not the power of the self – as some Eastern philosophy put it – or the power in some tangible object – like relics. No, the power that healed the man is the Word of God. The Word of God acts, and the world responds. The Word of God brings life and salvation. The Word of God does what it says. The Word of God is Christ Jesus

The Word of God that healed the invalid man, heals us today. Christ comes to us in Holy Baptism, in the Lord's Supper, in the preaching of the Word, in reading the Bible, and in praying to God. Though we may not have our physical body healed, the healing that Christ give us is the healing of our souls – the forgiveness of sins – and life everlasting.

Remember, when Christ said to the invalid man “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”, the man did not just stay there, but he responded to Christ's words of salvation and healing. Dear brothers and sisters, listen for the Word of God, listen to his call of salvation, healing, and repentance.

Know that God so loves you, that he gave his only Son, Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Amen.