John 5:1-3(4) - Healing at the pool

5:1-3(4)

“Some time later”. We aren’t told exactly when this incident happened. It occurred in Jerusalem and at the time of “one of the Jewish festivals”. Again, we are not told which one. It was probably Passover, Pentecost or Tabernacles. The wider significance is on the length of Jesus’ ministry. There are three explicit mentions of Passover (2:13,23; 6:4 and the one towards the end of John, ef 11:55). If these are the only three that occurred during Jesus’ ministry then His ministry lasted 2-3 years, if there is a fourth then it lasted 3-4 years. I suspect John would have said it was Passover if that was indeed the festival, so Pentecost or Tabernacles is my best guess (but that is all it is!). John’s use of the phrase “Jewish festivals” implies that he expected there to be Gentiles among his readers.

Archaeological evidence of this pool has been found, and it in fact consisted of two pools. This explains why there are five colonnades: one at each side of the four sides, and one between the two pools.

It was believed that the pool had healing powers. Hence the “blind, lame and paralyzed” lay there, hoping to be healed. Christian healing meetings always attract people, as do other types of “faith healers”. Medical research always attracts a lot of financial support, herbal and alternative medicines are always popular. Some of these things do genuine good, others are at best questionable and at worst downright fraudulent. Yet we are so concerned about our health, and there are times when people have conditions about which we can do nothing. So these disabled people sought out this hope that offered.

If you look in your Bible you probably won’t find verse 4 in the main text (unless you are using KJV or NKJV), but you will find a footnote with it in. The reason is that verse 4 is not found in the best manuscripts, the earliest one it is found in dates from about 400 AD. It was probably added as an attempt to explain why people believed they could be healed. Even accepting the explanation given by verse 4, the pool was not that effective. It only “worked” from time to time, and even then only one person got healed. It is worth observing that in this whole incident Jesus only healed one person (or at least only one is recorded). Jesus did not always heal everyone, though He did often heal many.