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Intro
That's why you got to know.

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Intro
God's Word and why theology really, truly does matter. Why I love to preach God's Word and why I try to do it so passionately. Because it's not just facts or things that that don't really matter to the day to day program of our lives. They literally matter in everything we do, every environment we live, every relationship that.

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Brenton
We are in. Welcome back to further. I am Brenton Grim. Today we have Matt Mitchell here. How are you doing?

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Matt
Doing great. For having.

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Brenton
Me. Good. So, Matt preached in Burlington. Danville did the gantlet this week. Did it go?

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I went good. Actually, did the the triple gantlet because I left Danville after I preached, I went back down to Fort Madison.

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Brenton
Okay.

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Really? Drive and put some miles on my Prius.

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Brenton
Thank goodness for good gas mileage.

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Yeah, good gas mileage. This right.

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Brenton
So as we you know, Matt and I were kind of talking before we got started here. And there's just a lot of places in this, in this text that we could get lost in the weeds. Yep. We're going to try to avoid that. To some extent, I'm sure some things will come up, but there's just a lot of speculation that goes into this.

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Brenton
What was that? What was that like sorting through all that stuff in your prep this week?

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Yeah. That's a great question. So I know before we got on the podcast, we were talking about this for a second of just what we read in chapter four. Samaritan woman, the royal official and his son, both of them are like faith filled. It's it's clear that they believe in Jesus, and they take action and spread the good news to others.

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And then this accounts, there's a guy, the pool Bethesda. Jesus tells him to get up and he has no faith, and he gets healed physically. And then, at the end, we're still left wondering as far as that character goes, the guy who got healed, is he a follower of Jesus? Is he not? And it's just sort of dot, dot dot.

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Yeah. But I think the point of the passage just, kind of wrap up, big picture here is there's tension building with Jesus and the religious leaders and around the Sabbath. And maybe we'll get into that in the episode here, but, yeah, Jesus being the main character really of every account. But then with the religious leaders, it's more about them than it is about the man who got healed.

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Even though, how do I say he's collateral damage? In a good way. Yeah. Like he gets some some serious benefits. Yeah. Deal.

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Brenton
Yeah, yeah. So, speaking of one of those weeds that we can get lost in, I want to briefly just touch on this textual, variant that we see in, in this passage. So the, the fourth verse is one that's actually left out of, the ESV. It's in a few other, translations, but it's bracketed. So, the idea here is that this wasn't actually original, to John's, when when John wrote the original autograph, but likely was added later as seemingly really a commentary to what, what comes a little later and is confirmed in, in verse seven.

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Brenton
But, yeah. What what do you think is going on there?

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Yeah. Great question. So I'm not an expert on this like I even referenced in my sermon. Go, get a book on this, or look it up online. A great resource is text in Canon Institute. I'm even on there right now. I've got my laptop open, but, one of the, these guys from this particular website, they're out of Phoenix Seminary in Scottsdale.

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One of the guys whose name is Doctor Peter Guthrie. And he just says really simply that, humans are not perfect. So humans make mistakes, not the original authors, but those who are transcribing the originals. So the scribes who were making copy after copy after copy of the New Testament, as time went on. So he said, the original authors of Scripture are carried along by the Holy Spirit and are divinely writing what the Lord has inspired for them to write down.

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But sometimes scribes make spelling mistakes and they write something else and they're that's like, I think maybe a little explanation is needed here. And in this case, it's just, you know, a sentence or two about the angel stirring the waters. And that's why it's bracketed, because we've got manuscripts that are older than the bracketed text that it's not even included in there.

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So it's it's left out.

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Brenton
Yeah, yeah. And I, you know, it's, Hang on, hang with me a second. I had something in my head,

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Brenton
And, you know, the the claim that we make about inerrancy or, you know, inspiration of Scripture is really to the original autograph. So it's it's the original authors of Scripture. We wouldn't say that necessarily the the transmission or the, the later, scribal work was necessarily inspired. And so, you know, I think that this can be this topic can be a little concerning to the Christian, but and along with Matt, I would encourage you guys to look into it if it's something you're worried about.

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Brenton
But I think the takeaway here is that, you know, the, the issues that we see in any textual variant is it never actually changes the meaning of the the text. There are a couple spots, that that is worth looking at. But there are very few.

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Yeah.

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Brenton
Are very small issues. And so this isn't something that, that, you know, theologians or, scholars, Christian scholars are scared of. You know, it's.

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Not all it's.

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Brenton
Something that we need to, be honest about and work through. Right? Yeah. So, I think my, my takeaway here would be, don't, don't let this shake you look into it.

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Yeah, absolutely. It makes sense that that is exactly right. And and I would also just share too, that, I think there's something that's amazing about God's sovereignty and Christianity. And the authenticity of Christianity is that the, the original writers and the original autographs, the actual, you know, papyrus is being written by the apostles, that wrote scripture.

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That is what's inspired. But it's it's not like somebody is somewhere saying, we've got the originals hidden away or, and nothing's ever been changed, even spelling, kind of this, you know, just taking the human factor out of it. Like, people are going to write the wrong piece of punctuation sometimes, and when there's thousands and thousands of these.

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But it doesn't change our theology. It doesn't change our doctrine. Jesus. The same yesterday, today and forever. And that is so clear from all the different Bible translations we have in different languages, because they're so spot on to, these ancient manuscripts.

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Brenton
Yeah. All right. Well, there's a little intro on textual variants. Hopefully that was somewhat helpful. Moving on. In verse six, we, we see Jesus asking the man if he wants to be healed. It's kind of a weird question, right? Yeah. And coming up to someone that's been, an invalid for, what, 39 years and saying, hey, would you like to walk?

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Brenton
So why why do you think he's asking him this question?

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This is a great question. And I don't know if I have the answer because the text doesn't tell us. I think, just a piece of application that's very interesting is there's lots of gospel accounts where basically Jesus clears house and heals everybody that has some sort of sickness or infirmity, and he just goes to right in to this one guy and asks him, do you want to be healed?

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So, the again, the text doesn't say, but I just have to assume that for some reason, Jesus heart is welled up with compassion for this particular guy and he goes up to him. Maybe he's the one that's that's been that spot the longest, I don't know, 38 years a long time. But he just goes to him, you know, do you want to be out of this spot?

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I've even used this passage before with, you know, talking to somebody that I'm counseling that it is stuck. But I'm like, do they want to get out of this spot? You know, and I go to this passage, I'm like, like, do you want to get well? And and we go to John five, like, you know, that's what Jesus asked this guy.

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And and then his excuses and excuses are very common. Like we get into these spots, we're stuck. And it's just like, how is it going to be any different? You know, and we, we just kind of have a sore attitude. So I've used this for kind of like, you know, counseling purposes at times and just been like, hey, this is a legitimate question.

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Do you want to be healed? You want to be? Well, yeah. Because only we can answer that for ourselves.

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Brenton
Yeah. For sure. Well, I mean, if you if you do kind of make that analogous to our, our offer of the gospel today, right, that there are, requirements that come along with it or we're told to take up a cross and carry it. And so do you want this, right? I think that's a relevant question to ask.

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Yeah. I know absolutely. It's like, we can't do anything to earn the gospel, but we do it. You know, in that moment, I have to decide, am I going to I'm going to leave the old life of sin and follow or am I not, you know, and so it's, Yeah, it's a good question. Well.

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Brenton
I was I was wondering earlier today if we've ever discussed the Sabbath on the show and, you know, likely we have. And I'm just forgetting. But, can't hurt to talk about it again, right? Sure. So obviously, in this passage, we see the Jewish leaders setting rules that that God never commanded by not allowing people to carry things on the Sabbath.

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Brenton
I know that the, the legalism that can sometimes be attached to it today often deters people from observing it. Sure. Right. So, I guess can you start by just explaining what what is the Sabbath and what what was the original intent?

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Yeah. So the Sabbath, it's one of the Ten Commandments. It's the fourth one. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And it goes on to say, six days ye shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work. It goes on to say, your son, your daughter, those your your servants in your house, your livestock, every one, everything is supposed to rest.

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And, we can see God displays this as an example. He creates the world in six days. On the seventh day, he rests. We see that in Genesis chapter two. And he made that day set apart and holy, which in this passage is interesting, all the Sabbath talk with the religious leaders, everyone knew that, yes, God rested on the seventh day, even at creation, but he's still upholds creation and he's still governing creation.

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And, he's not taking a break like I'm I'm gonna put it on autopilot or something. But God shows us that he he rested even though he doesn't need a rest. God, God rest. And he shows us that, so, yeah, that's kind of the context. It supposed to be a day for physical and spiritual renewal and rest.

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So we're not just, like, working around the clock all the time. Go, go, go. I think our culture could probably learn something from that. But, I would also say this is significant because when the Israelites, the Jewish people, were commanded to keep the Sabbath as part of the Ten Commandments, they were coming out of Egyptian slavery and they would not have practiced the seven day workweek or, excuse me, a six day workweek resting on one.

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And so they're coming out of this pagan culture. Egyptian gods, working all the time. And then God commands them, says, here's the Ten Commandments. Hey, by the way, one of them is rest. One day, keep it a set apart. Holy day. And, by the way, your God, is an example of this. When he created the heavens and the earth.

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Brenton
Yeah. So do you think that it's still relevant today? I know I am. I mean, this being one of the Ten Commandments, it's it's one that maybe is easily overlooked. Do you, do you think that that's, you know, still relevant for us today?

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Yeah, I definitely think it's relevant for us today. I don't think it's binding. Like there is a specific day, like Saturday or Sunday, and you you need to rest. Otherwise, God's upset at you, or you're breaking his commands. Main reason I think that is because in the New Testament, the Sabbath really gets loosened up. Post Christ resurrection, like, the New Testament apostles are, starting churches not just with Jews, but with Gentiles.

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So Gentiles are coming into the faith, and they didn't grow up with this heritage of Sabbath or some of the other ceremonial laws and things that made people distinctly Jewish circumcision, other things like that. And it doesn't say Sabbath isn't important, but there's a there's this great spot in Colossians two where Paul just basically says, is it in verse 16, therefore let no one pass judgment on you, and questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or new moon or a Sabbath?

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These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. And so this is also actually very meaningful. What he's saying there is not the Sabbath doesn't mean anything. Don't rest anymore. Just work as hard as you can. What he's saying is all of these things in the Old Testament, these festivals, the Sabbath, like, a new moon, you know, these things that would cause you to, like, we're going to order our lives in a certain way because it's it's this new festival.

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It's this new season, you know, it's a Sabbath week to week. All these things ultimately point to Christ and the fact that he gives us rest, and he is the fulfillment of these festivals and all these different things. And so, what I would say is we are not bound to keep the Sabbath as New Testament believers, but there's actually a like a resurgence of people all over the world basically saying, just working and being busy and crazy all the time is probably not God's will.

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I think we need to adopt some version of Sabbath rest and a day off, or it's just like I'm going to do life giving things, not going to answer my email. I'm not going to run around like crazy to do errands or even like kids sports or activities. Like if that's like giving, go for it. If it's like, this is not life giving.

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We're pulling her hair out, finding a day that we are focusing on God for physical and spiritual renewal. So that that's what I would say. And, our, our family, does a variation of this. And Olivia, my wife, she grew up doing this. And honestly, it's one of the greatest gifts I've ever, adopted into my life is this rhythm of taking a a New Testament Sabbath because I'm free to do it, not because I'm bound to do it.

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Brenton
Yeah, yeah, I, I completely agree. I think that, you know, if we aren't, making a Sabbath a priority in our lives, it's to our detriment, right? Yeah. I mean, God gives good gifts to to his people. And this is certainly one of them that, you know, we're encouraged, to rest, and especially, you know, in our, in our time, I think it's partly easily overlooked because we feel like we have more important things to do than rest.

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Brenton
And we can we can just stick it out and do it. But, man, it's a good gift when you, when you actually, partake in it.

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Yeah, it absolutely is. And one final thought on this, it's it really. It helps. It helps give up control because we think if I, I've got to work, I've got to do it, I've got to get it done. I've got I've got to worry about it. And but when you take a day that you're like, I'm seeing the biblical themes and principles of this, I'm going to rest in the Lord and think about him and trust him like, Lord, you're you're upholding the universe, not me.

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I can rest and I can recuperate and, enjoy you and my family. And, it is a real gift. That's really what it is.

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Brenton
Yeah, I think it's a great point. We're not as important as we think we are. Yep.

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Amen.

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Brenton
Okay, so if we look back at the last few stories we've discussed and you you alluded to this a little bit, before, before we started, but I think we, we see a very different response from the man in this story. So going back a couple of weeks, the Samaritan woman at the well, goes back to her town and tells everyone what Jesus had done.

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Brenton
And because of that, many believed the same is true for the official from from last week. He went home and his entire family believed based on his testimony of what he had done. The response from from the man this week looks pretty different. After his final interaction with Jesus, he tells the Jewish leaders that Jesus was the one who healed him.

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Brenton
And I think maybe I'm speculating, but knowing that they were already upset about the situation, right? So this doesn't seem like a hey, guys, look what Jesus did for me. It's like, hey, it was him. It was that guy. Go get him. Sure. And so do you think that that this man, I guess. I guess just coming out of this, do you think that this man left this situation as a believer?

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Again, another great question. And this was probably the hardest part about preparing for this passage because it wasn't clear cut at all. But as I walked away from it, I'm reading the verses I preached in context 1 to 18 this week. It really bleeds right into the rest of the chapter, and Pastor Chris is going to be preaching the rest of the chapter.

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And so I'm excited for us to lean into that. But this is one of those great examples of this story in isolation. Is it a in my opinion, it's not a story about this guy's faith and salvation. And he's, you know, spreads the gospel. He's a character really, that helps light the match. For what? It's going to take place with Jesus and these officials and, you know, he makes the comment at the end of our passage saying, my father's working and so am I, and he's making himself equal with God.

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And then he goes on and he begins to explain, salvation. And people are going to be brought from death to life. People are going to, you know, be resurrected one day, some to, to death and some to life. And so it's, it's setting up something bigger than just this guy getting healed. And so to answer your question, the Bible doesn't say if this guy became a believer or he didn't become a believer.

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I think there's clear examples, like where the rich young ruler comes to Jesus. Jesus says, follow me, but you need to give up your possessions to the poor and then come follow me. And says he walked away sad because he had great wealth or many possessions. And like we know what happened to that guy, because it tells us.

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And but there's other accounts, like the last two weeks where it's like, well, we obviously know the official believe and his whole household believed, and the Samaritan woman believed and spread the word and, and Sychar and the rest of the Samaritans. And she believed, you know, the official believed. But this is it's just we don't know what happened to this guy.

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I hope he left his sin. You know, Jesus said you're well. Sin no more. I hope he left us soon. And I hope he's following Jesus.

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Brenton
Yeah, yeah. So, and some you had said before we even started was that, you know, it's not necessarily clear where somebody is, is saved. You know, in a lot of our stories, it's hard to really mark a moment where where we were regenerated or converted and, and, you know, maybe, maybe that was his situation that this, you know, Jesus healing him was was the start of something.

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Brenton
But but, I think this also serves to point out that John's gospel is very different than the other three synoptic ones. Right. The the other three are pretty specific on, on the stories. And John has a, he has, a goal in mind that isn't necessarily just telling stories. He's, he's far more theologically minded as he as he talks through this stuff.

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Brenton
And so just keeping in mind that, you know, John wrote this book differently than the other gospels and if we follow his, his thought through, I think that it's it's going to point to much more of telling who Jesus is rather than what he did. Right? Yep. I don't know if that's helpful or clear, but anyway, that's where I'm going to leave that one.

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Brenton
Speaking of more speculation, it it seems that John really did include this story in, in the book, largely to show the tension building between Jesus and the Jewish leaders. Jesus certainly knew that, that his command to the man to take up his bed and walk would cause this confrontation about the Sabbath. Right? He wasn't he wasn't ignorant about that.

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Brenton
What do you think? Or I guess, do you think he was he was kind of seeking this confrontation we see in the rest of this chapter that this, this confrontation really plays out in Jesus's able to get a lot of things out to the Jewish leaders. Do you think that this, this whole situation was kind of to to set this situation up with the with the leaders?

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Yeah, I do and the reason I, I think so is because, My ESV Bible, the beginning of 19 through the, as a sub or as a, yeah, a subtitle as The Authority of the son. And I think that's a great way of summarizing what takes place next is Jesus is establishing his authority. Is, the other Gospels.

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He didn't use it in John, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. But really what is taking place here is he's showing that with the Jewish leaders is that he has this authority that they don't have, that, he has God incarnate. He's got himself and he's here healing on the Sabbath, but it's not breaking the Sabbath.

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And so it's yeah, it's building on this and, really through the rest of the book.

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Brenton
Yeah, yeah. And I think it speaks to, you know, Jesus is the, the goal in his ministry, right? It was it was in, in part at least to, to push back on, on the perversion that had happened in, in the Jewish religion at that point. And he's, he's correcting some of those things.

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Absolutely.

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Brenton
All right. Well yeah. As I studied this this week, there was, there's a lot of questions that came out of it. There was a lot of you know like we've said speculation and the the passage just isn't clear on a lot of these things, but there are, a lot of fun things to talk about.

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Brenton
And I think that's kind of what we accomplished today. So it was a fun conversation.

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Yeah.

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Brenton
I appreciate you doing it. Yep. Chris will be back next week. So this is your time to send in questions for him. So, ask it further. Podcast.com. Yeah. Look forward to following up the story next week with Chris. But I appreciate you work this week and, yeah, reaching.

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Happy to do it.

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Brenton
Yeah. All right. Well, we will talk to you guys next week.