Religious Blinders
On my personal blog site, I’ve been trying to write a post on each chapter of the Gospel of John which is probably my favorite of the Gospel accounts, but it’s been taking me longer than I thought as I keep finding such depth in simple little truths, as well as having other things on my plate currently in life down here in Peru. So, this article is a continuation of that series.
I couldn’t decide which direction I felt most inspired or led to go in since in this chapter, the fifth, we’re given the account of the healing at the pool of Bethesda. I’ve already taken time to write a point about it in my post, 8 Lies People Believe About Divine Healing, and for more on that I also recommend a really good post, from a different angle, written by Ron O’Brien and posted at Fire Press back in January.
We’re going to take a brief moment to look at the aftermath of this miracle. I’ve always read these accounts in the Gospels stunned that the very religious leaders who’d been praying and crying out for decades and even centuries, not only missed it when the answer to their prayers, a Messiah, came on the scene, but the vigor with which they fought against him, and even killed him. They were so irked at the wonderful things he did for people, such as healings, because he violated their religious customs, and–gasp!–healed on the Sabbath!
Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” (John 5:10)
Now, think about this for a moment. The man had been an invalid for over 38 years. The average life expectancy of people in those days, especially men, was in their 30s and 40s. So this man had spent all of his life, in this condition. That might not even be completely accurate, but the point is he’d been this way longer than most people lived at that time. And given the nature of this pool and its location, he more than likely had been there on a frequent basis, and judging by his response to Jesus, had attempted many times in the past to be first into the pool but had gotten to a point where he’d given up hope that he’d ever get his miracle. Thirty-eight years is a long time.
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