Stirring Up the Waters

Consider the story of the impotent man in John 5. This is someone whose name we’re never told but who has an interaction with Jesus that changes him forever. I believe we should see ourselves in him.

Have you ever wondered why we’re not told the names of specific key individuals in the gospels? I believe it’s because they represent particular characteristics we should relate to. We should see ourselves in those people. Their names are withheld so that we might insert ourselves into the narrative.

For example, in Luke 24, we’re told about two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They had identical experiences, yet we’re told the name of one but not the other. Why? Consider what they had been through. Their faith was shaken, and they were now walking away, back to the life they knew before, but Jesus met them and explained to them from the Scriptures the way of truth concerning himself. After he left, they responded, “Did not our hearts burn within us as he spoke?” And with joy they turned back to Jerusalem, back to hope, back to Christ. If you’ve ever experienced that same feeling of doubt, only to have Jesus bring you back through the word of truth, then you are that other disciple.

Consider the woman of Samaria. A large section of John 4 is devoted to her, but we never find out her name. Yet, if you’ve ever been so moved by Jesus that you think “It’s like he’s speaking about everything I ever thought or did,” then you are the woman of Samaria.

There are many more examples, but in this article, I’d like to consider the story of the impotent man in John 5. This is another person whose name we’re never told but who has an interaction with Jesus that changes him forever. I believe we should see ourselves in him.

Have you ever felt totally helpless? Have you ever felt so defeated that all you can express is your despair? That was the impotent man. Jesus came to him by the pool and asked him a simple question, “Do you want to be healed?” He responded, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” (John 5:6-7).¹

He couldn’t even answer the question. Defeat so consumed him that all he could express was his helplessness. How did he get this way? The text, as always, offers us clues to help us understand.

The chapter starts by saying that at that time, there was a “feast of the Jews.” The Bible does not say what feast it was, but the fact that John, the author, calls it “a feast of the Jews” tells us that whatever feast it was, the religious rulers would celebrate it their way and not the LORD’s way. But he also tells us that Jesus “went up to the feast,” which means, we can be sure, that Jesus would celebrate it properly. We should be able to figure out what feast it is by considering what he does at the feast. The only event described at this feast is the healing of the impotent man, so that healing must reflect the proper practice of one of the feasts, and so it does. In Deuteronomy 16, it says this about the Feast of Weeks: “Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you.” (Deuteronomy 16:10).

What Jesus did in the healing of the impotent man fits perfectly with these instructions. The healing of the impotent man was a free will offering. The man didn’t ask for healing; in fact, he was incapable of doing so, but Jesus healed him anyway. And in doing so, Jesus made the man whole using his blessing, the power of the Holy Spirit. Without looking at the rest of the provision of the Feast of Weeks or those of the other feasts, which don’t fit what happens at the pool, we can be very confident, based upon the Lord’s actions, that this was the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. It also fits when you consider that John 5 was the Lord’s first public preaching effort in the Gospel of John and, as we know, Pentecost is about preaching the gospel. But what else does that tell us? It tells us that preaching the gospel and the power to do so is a free will offering to the LORD.

We’re told the impotent man had been there for 38 years. Why? It seems to be both an exceedingly specific and random number! But, with a bit of digging we find this number is in only one other place in Scripture, and that’s in Deuteronomy 2:14. “And the time from our leaving Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until the entire generation, that is, the men of war, had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.”

So, 38 years represent the time the children of Israel wandered and died in the wilderness after having rejected God. The impotent man represents those lost souls in the wilderness; the wilderness of despair, where they died, each one bearing the same defeated character as the impotent man. Have you ever noticed that in those 38 years, knowing they would perish in the wilderness, they never prepared their children to enter the Promised Land? They never even circumcised their sons. Joshua 5:7 tells us, “So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.” This passage tells us not only did they not circumcise their children, they weren’t even parents to their kids; it was Joshua or Moses or the LORD, whoever the word “he” represents, but it wasn’t their parents. This thought might seem inconceivable until you consider the impotent man. We have no idea if this man had kids, but if he did, he certainly wasn’t raising them while he wallowed for 38 years by the pool.

Which raises the question, why were the children of Israel so defeated after Kadesh-Barnea? Why couldn’t they just repent of their sins and receive the LORD’s ever-present forgiveness? Because they had not forsaken the Father by their actions; they had rejected Him. In those first two years, both coming out of Egypt and passing through Sinai, there was no doubt the LORD was with them. They had seen the miracles in Egypt: the parting of the Red Sea, the fire and voice on Mount Sinai, the pillar of fire by day and smoke by night, yet at Kadesh Barnea, they rejected him anyway. Why? Because they didn’t trust Him. They didn’t believe their sins could be fully forgiven, and they refused to let go of the idea that at some point the other shoe would fall, and they would be punished for their sins. And when they saw and heard about the “giants” in the land, they knew, “that’s where the LORD was going to take out His vengeance upon us.” They hadn’t learned the lesson in Egypt when the angel of death passed over them despite their sins, solely because of the blood of the lamb. They didn’t learn it at the Red Sea, when they were helpless and Moses said, “Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD,” the waters parted and they were once again saved. Again and again, they refused to learn the lesson that salvation is the free will offering of the LORD and not a test of obedience. Consequently, when they rejected Him at Kadesh, they rejected that truth, because that’s the way the flesh is. It believes and trusts only in itself. Yet, for those few who embrace it, it is the power of God unto salvation. So, what about the impotent man?

John 5:4 tells us something that doesn’t appear to make sense on the surface. It reads, “For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.” (KJV). Many manuscripts take out this verse because it suggests superstition, but superstition comes not from what it says, but from people’s response. Consider the “fiery serpent” on the pole that Moses made in Numbers 21. At the time, those who looked upon it obtained healing, yet later, Hezekiah destroyed it because it had become an idol. The children of Israel had come to think there was some power in the pole. The situation at the pool was much the same. The impotent man, like all those who lay by the pool, was only considering what happened when the water was stirred and not who stirred it, or why.

The truth is that at a particular season in the life of every person of faith, the LORD does stir the waters. We are tested by “fiery” trials, just like the children of Israel, to determine whether we will trust the Father or reject Him. One such trial happened to me in the fall of 2023. At that time, I noticed a lump on my neck, which turned out to be tongue cancer. I never felt so hopeless or forgotten or judged for my sins as I did when I heard the diagnosis. Yet, as I went through chemo and radiation treatments, and my body grew weaker and weaker to the point where I couldn’t eat and could barely walk, my faith grew stronger and stronger because of the love shown me from everyone in my life—natural brothers and sisters, spiritual brothers and sisters, co-workers, old friends, people I didn’t even know. So much unexpected and undeserved love was shown to me that I couldn’t explain it, except to recognize it as the love of God. It was as if He was saying, “How much love do I have to show you before you realize it all comes from me?”

Well, I learned the lesson, at least I hope I did, but what about the impotent man? After he was healed, Jesus found him and said, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” (John 5:14). What could be worse than being in the state he was in for almost 40 years? I believe the man answers when he departs and tells the rulers that Jesus made him whole. The only thing worse than helplessness is hopelessness.

So, whatever your trial may be, however it is that the LORD comes along and stirs up the waters in your life; however helpless you feel, remember, you are the impotent man, and Jesus has indeed come along and made you whole. So never give up the hope he has placed in your heart and never doubt God’s love, but instead, take that very moment to “stand still and see the salvation of the LORD.” (KJV).

Jim Sullivan,
Stoughton Ecclesia, MA