2BC BIBLE STUDY NOTES

Wednesday in the Word

Second Baptist Church

July 2, 2025

John 4:31-5:9

1. Verses 31-34. After Jesus shared with the Samaritan woman how he could provide her with spiritual water, he then shared with his disciples that he was fueled by spiritual food. After returning from the town to buy food, the disciples urged Jesus to eat thinking he must be starving from not eating. Jesus informed his disciples that his physical hunger was surpassed by his spiritual hunger. The disciples urged him to eat the food that they brought, but he told them he had already eaten. His spiritual hunger has been satisfied and his need for physical food was diminished due to his spiritual appetite being satisfied. His disciples were puzzled by his answer and questioned each other if someone else provided him with food. Jesus then told them that “My food” was doing the will of God. Jesus was teaching them and us that our spiritual lives are fed when we do the work of the Lord. Jesus was sharing that there is a spiritual satisfaction from serving the Lord. Seeing the Samaritan woman respond in faith and run off to tell her neighbors was refreshing to Jesus. In other places, people needed miracles, signs and wonders, but this woman believed based on his words. And there is nothing more refreshing and satisfying than seeing people respond in faith. Jesus needed food like anyone else, but his satisfaction was not in his physical needs being met, but in doing the work of God. This is why we don’t want to be just pew warmers, but folks who are active in ministry working to share the good news and love of God.

2. Verses 35-38. Jesus told the disciples that they have a saying about the harvest being 4 months away. Jesus tells his disciples that that saying isn’t appropriate for their current situation. In their situation, the harvest has already come. Jesus wanted his disciples to put on their spiritual eyeglasses and see that the spiritual harvest for souls was at hand. And as workers in the Lord’s fields, they need to prepare themselves to bring in the harvest. Jesus uses another common saying about a sower and reaper. He uses this saying to let the disciples know that the seeds of the kingdom were sown by those who came before them. The seeds were sown with the prophets and John the Baptist and the people are ready to receive Jesus as Lord to inherit eternal life. Jesus told the disciples that the hard work was done by those who came before them, all they had to do was reap the harvest. And even today, the harvest is plentiful due to the preaching of the gospel. There is work to be done in the fields. Let us be busy with the work of the kingdom and help others gain eternal life by coming to the Lord.

3. Verses 39-41. The excited Samaritan woman told many in her town that she met a man who told her everything she ever did. She was convinced this man, Jesus, may be the Messiah. Her testimony compelled many to go to the well where Jesus was. These Samaritans were hoping to see the Messiah come. These Samaritans went to see Jesus based on the testimony of his words. When the townspeople met Jesus, they too were amazed by his words. They believed the words of Christ and requested that Jesus stay longer to share with them. The people told the woman that they believed Jesus as well after hearing that he was the Savior. This is an important lesson. The people believe his words without the need of signs and miracles. This was pure faith. This is the kind of faith God requires. These folks didn’t need a miracle working Savior to believe, they believed based on his words. Our goal is to take the Lord at his word. This was the kind of faith that Abraham had. These folks saw Jesus through a spiritual lens.

4. Verses 43-54. Jesus left the Samaritan after two days and traveled to Cana. Upon his arrival, he was met by a crowd who saw the miracles he had done before. The crowd was expecting some more miracles. Notice this crowd is not calling him the Messiah or the savior. Their focus is on his miracle working skills, not what he means to them from an eternal perspective. A royal official came from 15 miles away in C'apernaum and requested that Jesus return with him to heal his sick son. Jesus could see the crowd’s desire for a miracle and tells them that they only believe when miracles are happening. Jesus then told the royal official that his son is well. Jesus doesn’t go to see the boy, but declares he is well 15 miles away. It was a miracle, but no one in the crowd could see it. The royal official heard Jesus and returned home. He believed Jesus and didn’t request that Jesus travel with him. When he gets close to home his servants tell him that the boy is well. The royal official asked what time the boy became well, and the servant answered at the same time Jesus said he would get better. The royal official shared this with his household, and they all believed it.

5. Chapter 5:1-2. Jesus left Galilee and Cana and went to Jerusalem during the time of the Jewish festival, the ancient Jews had three annual festivals, and we don’t know which one this is. Some have speculated that it was the festival of tabernacles, which was the festival where the people celebrate how God came to abide with them, or tabernacle with them in the wilderness. How God provided a divine presence with them and led them through and eventually out of the wilderness. This is a time when everyone is making small huts to reflect and rejoice about how God delivered. How God did the miraculous and provided when it seems like no provision was possible. The feast of tabernacles was a time to reflect on God’s grace and power and look toward the coming messiah. Jesus arrives in a place near the sheep gate called the pool of Bethsadia. This pool was a pool of water that was fed by rainwater and underground springs. This is why it would bubble. The people thought it might have some supernatural properties, but it was just a spring that would bubble from time to time. The pool was originally used to wash up prior to going into the temple. It was a place of preparation and cleansing. It is possible that this water was used to ceremonially prepare the sheep for sacrifice. The text says that this pool was near the sheep gate. The sheep gate was an opening in the city wall that led directly to the temple. It was through this gate that the shepherds would lead the sheep that would be sacrificed in the temple. The word of God required that this gate be anointed and sanctified since the sacrifices were going to come through it. This gate was also the only gate without real locks or bars (Nehemiah 3 says it had no bolts or bars). It was also the only gate that was consecrated/dedicated and set aside as holy. This gate was holy and always open and accessible. In John 10:7 Jesus said he was the gate. He is the door that has no locks and is always open. Do you see it. In Christ there is always access, Not only is there a pool near the sheep gate, it is in a place called Bethsaida. The place was Bethsaidia which meant house of grace or house of mercy. Grace meaning free gifts, and mercy means second chances. Jesus is in a place that symbolizes that access to the presence of God is always open. He is at the pool, in Bethsaida, near the sheep gate.

6. Verses 3-6. It is here that Jesus finds a man who was paralyzed for 38 years. What do we know about this man? The text doesn’t say much. It just says that he had been in the condition he was in for 38 years. We don’t know if he was thirty- eight or 78; all we know is that for thirty-eight years he had been like this. The number 38 is significant for the ancient Jews. In Deut 2:13-15, it says that God told the Israelites to get up and cross over the Zared Valley and 38 years had passed since the time that God’s hand was against the people who failed to trust him. For 38 years God had punished the children of Israel to wander in the desert, but after 38 years of punishment he allows them to move from punishment of the desert to the promise of the promise land. Is it possible that this brother becomes a living metaphor, that the time of punishment is over, and time of grace has begun. Just like the children of Israel were allowed to go into the promise land after 38 years of God’s wrath, so this man has the opportunity after 38 years to meet the promise of God and move from the situation of just going nowhere to being able to walk in the newness of life. We don’t know how he got this way. We don’t know if he was born like this, had an accident or was injured by someone. All we know is that he is stuck lying on a mat. We don’t know if he can’t move at all or just can’t move real fast. This brother is lying there. He was waiting to get into the pool for superstition had it that when the pool bubbled one could get healed. This spot was ideal because it offered shade and cool breezes for those who were sick and people could ask people passing by for money. Notice the man doesn’t ask for Jesus, but Jesus approached him. As a matter of fact this man doesn’t even know who Jesus is. But nevertheless, Jesus approaches this man with a question. Jesus asks the man does he want to get well. Jesus doesn’t ask him if he wants to walk or see or hear or be delivered from a demon. He just asks do you want to be well? Beloved what a question. Jesus doesn’t ask the brother for a lot of detail about his situation. Jesus doesn’t ask what the doctors have said. He just wants a simple yes or no. And all he really wants is a yes. When Jesus asks this question, but the brother doesn’t say yes, he goes into something else.

7. Verses 7-9. He tells Jesus he can’t get healed because he can’t get to the water, he has no one to help him. And when he tries someone else gets in the pool before him. This man has it that he is attributing his being in the condition so long due to lack of assistance help. He puts the blame on the fact that no one has shown him some mercy. His excuse is that no one has helped him get into the water. His excuse is focused on what others have not done for him. “I have no one.” I have no one. I have nobody that can help me. I have no one that can assist me. The main problem is that Jesus did ask the man why he could not get whole, he ask the man if he wanted to get whole. This man just assumed the only way he could get whole was if someone helped him into the pool. He said he had no one, beloved if God is present, you always have someone. The second excuse was that his timing was always off. He declared that when he tried, he was always beaten by someone else into the water. His excuse was about missed opportunities. He was telling Jesus that he almost got there, but others were too fast. Missed opportunities. The good news is that God can turn it around at any time. Just because it seems like you missed your opportunity, God can still turn it around for you. His ability to turn it around is not based on your timing, but his. Your timing might be off, but his is just right. You might be too slow, but he is never late. The third excuse was that he was placing all his hope in something that could not heal him anyway. His excuse was that the pool was limited to only helping one person at a time. Whoever got in there first. The pool probably never healed anybody; it was just a superstition. It was just a myth. This brother was putting his eggs in the basket of a myth. He was trusting in something that could not do what he needed. This man was trusting in a pool that really could not do anything for him. This brother limited how he could get blessed. He was expecting his blessing to come in one way and through one door only. This brother had a lot of excuses, but Jesus was determined that despite this brother’s excuses he was going to perform a miracle. This is odd, because usually the bible usually highlights someone’s faith before a miracle. Blind Bartimaeus had faith when he called Jesus and Jesus said your faith has healed you. The Roman centurion had faith that Jesus would heal his servant and Jesus said he had never seen such faith. The woman with the issue of blood got her healing by just touching Jesus in faith. But here in this text Jesus shows us that he can do a miracle on your behalf even when you don’t have any faith at all. See miracles aren’t always about your faith, but they are always about God’s will and God’s bigger plan. Jesus doesn’t even wait for the man to say yes or no. The bible says that Jesus just told the man to get up, pick up his mat and walk. This man leaves without even doing his best to find out who just changed his life. Jesus did this miracle not only for the man, but to provoke the Jews by doing a miracle on the Sabbath day.

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