(John 5:1-9)
(John 5:1-9) 1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Bethzatha, which has five porticoes. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed. 4 5 One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" 7 The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your pallet, and walk." 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked. Now that day was the sabbath.
If you were following along in your bibles as I read this text, you may have picked up on something a little odd. Did you notice that verse four is missing? In the pew bibles that you have, chapter five omits the fourth verse altogether and skips from verse three to five. You may notice at the bottom of the page that there is a little footnote about this verse. The text that used to be verse four is written in the footnote. It goes something like this: for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and troubled the water; whoever stepped in first after the troubling of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.
If you have a King James Version, or an American Standard Version of the bible you will find that verse four is actually in the body of the chapter; it is not a footnote like we have it in our pew bibles. Now, I don't want to go too far a-field with this discussion, but I do think, since there are such obvious differences in the translations and how they treat this verse in particular, that we should say a few words about how this text was put together.
The first thing to realize is that none of the original manuscripts of the bible exist - at least none that we know of. Unfortunately, they have either been lost or destroyed over the passage of thousands of years. But we continue to find older and older copies of the different books, but none that we would consider original. So, what we have are copies of manuscripts that were written by scribes or monks long after the events had actually taken place. And…particularly with the Old Testament, much of what would be "original" were actually oral stories, faithfully told to generation after generation. It was only later that these stories were actually written down in the form that we have them today. This is particularly true with the Old Testament, but also holds true to some degree in the New.
So, to get back to verse four, it is now widely believed that this little bit of text, which has now been relegated to a footnote, was an addition to John's original story. Based on the discoveries of older texts, it appears as if verse four was not part of John's original story. You see, since the publication of the King James Version in 1611, older manuscripts have been found. And what is interesting about the oldest texts is that they do not include the text of verse four. It was probably written by a later author or editor who simply tried to explain why this man - the sick man in the story - was hanging out by the pool. And what scholars have concluded is that this was indeed a later editor's way of trying to explain what was going on in Jerusalem at the time; in other words, why all these people were hanging out by the pool. So based on the evidence of older manuscripts, what you will now find in more modern translations is that this text has been omitted from the main body of the text. And a footnote is used to explain why this has been done.
Now, even though it is no longer part of the body of our scripture, I still believe that the text of verse four is still very important. It is important because it lets us know a little bit about some of the local customs and folklore that surrounded the people in Jesus day. I think that the editor who wrote verse four did us a great service by giving us a clue as to the circumstances surrounding the story.
You know, we don't have faith in a vacuum - nobody has faith in a vacuum. There are parts of everyday life that influence what we believe and why we believe the way we do. And quite frankly, as people of faith we are called to respond to those conditions that surround us every day and changes in our culture and society. We cannot live isolated and alone, that would be less than faithful to what God has called us to be and do. The challenge, however, is remaining faithful to God and to the essentials of our faith without letting culture distort who we are. That is a really, really difficult thing to do. And - for good or bad - is part of our walk of faith.
And, like I said, the people of Jesus day had to struggle with the same issues. What verse four helps us understand is that some of the local superstitions had crept into everyday life - even into the life of the Jewish faithful. The ancient story that surrounded this pool claimed that the local deities would visit this pool on occasion and stir up the water with life-giving stuff. And if you touched the water while it was still moving, then you would receive a blessing or a healing. This ancient story was then adopted and modified by the Jews, who believed that is was God's Spirit who stirred up the water - and not the local deities.
What once had been simply local folklore was now believed to be part of God's normal activity in the life of Jerusalem. And this pool, then, became for some of the Jews, a testing ground for their own faith. It became a place where the Spirit of God showed up, giving mercy to the one who was strong enough to make it to the pool first. In other words, the one who needed the help the very least was the one who was able to get to the pool first - probably had dandruff or a hangnail. But the ones who really needed healing - the paralytic, the leper, the lame, the blind, the truly hurting people had no chance of getting to the water. Their ailments prevented them from getting the help they needed. It was a bit of a catch-22.
So, you can imagine what the multitude at the pool must have looked like. There were two types of people there: the ones who really needed help, but who had no chance whatsoever of making it to the pool on their own. And then you had the ones who needed very little help, but who were willing to use their strength to push the weak ones aside. And I am sure you can also imagine that those who were unfortunate enough to really need the healing effects of the pool were going to be there a very long time - as was this poor guy who had been sick for 38 years!
This is the insight that verse four gives us. It helps us understand a bit of the human condition around this story. This is not just a story of Jesus healing a sick man - although it absolutely is that! But verse four lets us know that this poor, sick man had, for most of his life, been abused, pushed aside, and stepped on. Simply because he was weak and sick, others took advantage of him and pushed him down again and again, time after time after time.
It must have been an awful place to be; not only for the sick man in the story but for everybody else like him who sat expectantly day after day by this pool, waiting for the waters to ripple. And knowing that when the water did move somebody else was going to knock them in the head to try and get there first. It is not a pretty picture, is it? It is a story about our selfish side; it's about trying to get ahead at the expense of somebody else. This is a story about failing to do the very thing God has called us to do - which is to help the sick and the poor, the orphan and the widow, the outcast and the marginalized. What we see here is more like a survival of the fittest, with no regard to the needs of others.
I think this story could just as easily have been written today because it reflects the same me-first message that is all around us today. Everywhere you turn we are told that if you don't hurry up somebody else is going to beat you to it. If you are not big enough, you are going to get squashed. If you are not fast enough you are going to get left behind. The only way to succeed is at the expense of someone else. At least that is the message of our culture, isn't it?
I was listening to the radio a while back and heard an advertisement for a book. And I think the title says it all. It sums up all of the selfishness and greed and cruelty that our society seems to thrive on. The name of the book was, It's Not the Big That Eat the Small, But the Fast That Eat the Slow. It was touted as a book to help investors get ahead in the market. But the premise of it says that in order to get ahead we have to conquer and abuse others to do it. The title implies that we are mere predators who swoop down and destroy those who are weak, or sick, or small or slow. If it means getting ahead in life, who cares who gets hurt along the way - just so long as it's not me. As long as I am big and fast and smart and healthy and beautiful, and rich, I'll be just fine. Society will love me because that is what success means to the world.
But what about us? How do we measure success?…By blue ribbons? A large bank account? A bigger car, a larger house? A better label on a shirt? Do these things matter? If these are the things that define who we are and how successful we are, then the stampede to the pool continues, doesn't it? And the blood on our feet and on the backs of our elbows belongs to the hurting ones we step on and push aside in our rush to get ahead.
But Jesus calls us to live differently than that. Jesus calls us to be a community of helping, caring, loving and people who don't just trample on the weak, but who take the time to stop and help them get back on their feet. Jesus noticed a man - a pathetic and helpless man - who had been sick for 38 years! He took notice of his weakness, and helped him up. And he calls us to do the same.
In another part of the gospels, Jesus says, blessed are poor, blessed are the meek, blessed are the hungry, and I think we could probably add, blessed are the sick, the downtrodden and marginalized. All these shall be comforted. All these are called blessed in the Kingdom of God. And guess what…as the body of Christ we are called to be the ones to bring that blessing, comfort and wholeness to the very least of these.
Verse four is not just footnote to our text this morning. It is a footnote to our own lives. Jesus calls us to be a caring community who will put the needs of others ahead of our own. My prayer for us this today and always is that we take our eyes off of the pool - that artificial prize - and look around; look for those whose lives are being trampled. There is so much to do, and so many people who need our help - not our ambition. There is a world of hurting people who have no chance in this world simply because of their situation in life. And we are called to be a community of people who cares for those hurting people.
I am sure that most of you have heard Benjamin Franklin's worldly wise saying, "God helps those who help themselves," BUT…you and I are called to help those who cannot. Amen.