cre⋅scen⋅do

cre⋅scen⋅do [kri-shen-doh]

On Sunday I mentioned that I was barely scratching the surface of John 5. My intention was to preach on John 5:1-18, but unfortunately time would only allow me the privilege of covering the miracle itself. The point of John 5:1-18 is that Jesus Christ is in the business of making people whole and He will not let human rules get in the way. On Sunday I talked about the great news that Jesus is the only One who can make us whole, but was unable to point out convincingly with time restrictions that His passion for doing so got Him killed. I want you to know that it appears in John 5 that the reason John included this story was not simply to point out the goodness of Jesus and His ability to make the invalid whole and well. John seems to be moving us quickly from the pool-side to the cross.*

John wants us to know in chapter 5 that this is the beginning of the end for Jesus. G. Campbell Morgan said it this way- “On the human level, what Jesus did that day, and what He said that day, cost him his life. They never forgave Him.” It is a historical fact that Jesus received the death penalty because of what he did and said on the Jewish Sabbath. I point out the historical factuality of this because we must see that Christianity is about something that actually happened, not merely somebody's ideas. So, when you follow John to the pool at Bathesda, and as you watch Jesus heal a man who had been an invalid for 38 years, be sure to pause a moment and take it all in. On the surface- think of the determination of this paralyzed man to get into the waters when they are stirred. Think of the man stepping in front of him to jump into the pool. Think of the panic that wipes his face clear of determination. See his anger and rage at the "lucky one" who was able to beat him to the waters to be "healed." Take it all in. But don't miss what is happening on a much greater scale. What Jesus was doing was getting himself killed in the process of making a man whole. (Or some may say that I have my sentence flip-flopped: Jesus was making a man whole in order to get Himself killed.) It's a snapshot of the grand scale story of Jesus and you and me. His passion to make us whole and to bring us to God is what killed Him. But we must see that this was no mistake! Jesus didn't just stumble through John 5. Jesus knew exactly what He was doing. He was picking a fight here! I cannot begin to fathom all that was happening here.

What seemed to be a sweet story of the goodness of Jesus and his desire to make us all whole turns into a snapshot of Jesus on his way to the cross. We begin to see men who wanted to follow God, to please God, and to protect the theology of their nation morph into the killers of God Himself. Our stroll that we take with John alongside the pool at Bathesda on that beautiful day turns out to be the swirling of the spiritual realms and not the pool, the beginning of the end for our savior Jesus. Jesus' act of mercy sparked the crescendo of the cruel fight between religious people and God.

More to come tomorrow...


* I am indebted to Dr. Darrell Johnson from Regent College in Vancouver for his insights on the Gospel of John. I truly treasure his wisdom and exposition of the stories of Jesus that I have grown up reading and hearing with much ignorance.