Shownotes
A man has been sick for 38 years! He doesn't have any hope or any helpers. But then Jesus arrives. What he does for the man is amazing, but it makes some people really angry. Join Dave as he explores John 5.
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Transcripts
G'day, Dave here.
Speaker:Welcome to episode 40 of stories of a faithful
Speaker:God for kids.
Speaker:Say someone comes up to you, someone who's
Speaker:never met me, and starts describing me like this.
Speaker:She's an old woman, 94 years old, wrinkles all over her face, smells a bit like dirty socks
Speaker:and has ants living in her armpits.
Speaker:Then one of my sons comes up to you and says,
Speaker:no, no, no, thats not right at all.
Speaker:Hes not a woman.
Speaker:Hes not really old.
Speaker:He doesnt have ants in his armpits.
Speaker:Ok, he does smell a little bit like dirty socks, but everything else youve said is
Speaker:wrong.
Speaker:And the stranger gets really angry and says,
Speaker:you dont know him.
Speaker:I mean her.
Speaker:I know her.
Speaker:How dare you try and correct me?
Speaker:You say youre her son, but you dont even know her.
Speaker:Who are you going to believe? The person who's never even met me or my son?
Speaker:Hopefully you'd say my son.
Speaker:Oh, and, uh, by the way, if you've got any
Speaker:advice to help me stop smelling like dirty socks, jump on faithfulgod.net and send it in.
Speaker:I'll read it out on the show so other people who smell like dirty socks can be helped too.
Speaker:Anyway, unfortunately, in today's story, there are people who think they know God better than
Speaker:God's own son.
Speaker:In fact, they get angry at God's son because
Speaker:they think he doesn't really know God.
Speaker:Who are you going to listen to?
Speaker:Get ready for our next episode of stories of a faithful God for kids.
Speaker:At the end of our last episode, a whole family had started believing in Jesus.
Speaker:He had proven his faithfulness to them.
Speaker:He had said that a dad's son would get better
Speaker:even though he wasn't anywhere near him.
Speaker:And that's exactly what happened.
Speaker:That was up in Galilee.
Speaker:Sometime later, it's time for another festival
Speaker:in Jerusalem.
Speaker:So Jesus heads back down south again.
Speaker:John tells us that in Jerusalem there's a pool with five covered porches.
Speaker:There are lots of columns holding up a roof surrounding the pool, which is called Beth
Speaker:Zatha.
Speaker:Try saying that ten times fast.
Speaker:It sounds like a really beautiful place, but there's actually a lot of sadness there
Speaker:because lying all around the porches are sick and hurting people.
Speaker:Some are blind, some are lame, some are crippled.
Speaker:They're all there because they desperately want to get better.
Speaker:They seem to believe that if you get into the pool at just the right time, you will get
Speaker:better, which really isn't much of a hope, is it?
Speaker:Theres a man there whos been sick.
Speaker:Not for one year, not for five years, but for
Speaker:38 years.
Speaker:In all that time he hasnt been able to find a
Speaker:cure for his sickness.
Speaker:How terribly hard.
Speaker:On this particular day though, Jesus arrives.
Speaker:And even though the man doesnt know Jesus,
Speaker:Jesus can give real hope somehow.
Speaker:Jesus knows how long this mans been sick and
Speaker:he asks him a really strange question.
Speaker:In John chapter five, verse six, Jesus says,
Speaker:do you want to be well? Umm, hes been sick for 38 years.
Speaker:Hes lying in the place where people come to try and get better.
Speaker:Yeah, I think he wants to get well.
Speaker:But remember, Jesus isn't being mean or silly
Speaker:when he asks a strange question.
Speaker:He's getting ready to teach someone or show
Speaker:them something.
Speaker:The man's answer shows just how sad he is.
Speaker:In verse seven he says sir, there is no one to help me get into the pool.
Speaker:When the water starts moving, I try to be the first one into the water, but when I try,
Speaker:someone else goes in before I can.
Speaker:So not only is it a pretty weak hope to get
Speaker:better, if you get into the pool, this man can't even get into the pool.
Speaker:And not only can he not get in by himself, he doesn't even have any friends to help him get
Speaker:in.
Speaker:This man has no hope, no helpers, no
Speaker:happiness.
Speaker:Except Jesus is the one who's just asked him
Speaker:the question.
Speaker:And now Jesus says something that seems
Speaker:impossible.
Speaker:He says something that if anyone else said it
Speaker:would actually be kind of nasty.
Speaker:But because it's Jesus saying it, it's the
Speaker:most wonderful thing in the world for this man to hear.
Speaker:In verse eight, Jesus says to the man, stand up, pick up your mat and walk.
Speaker:Now if I said that to a man who can't walk, it wouldn't make any difference.
Speaker:I don't have any power to make his legs work.
Speaker:But remember, Jesus is God the son, God the
Speaker:Father made the world through Jesus just by speaking.
Speaker:Jesus words have the same power that created the universe.
Speaker:And so as soon as Jesus tells him to stand up, pick up his mat and walk, suddenly his legs
Speaker:work.
Speaker:Suddenly his body is doing exactly what Jesus
Speaker:told him to do.
Speaker:He stands up, picks up his mat and starts
Speaker:walking.
Speaker:This is so good.
Speaker:Now the day when all this happens is a sabbath.
Speaker:Every Saturday was what's called a sabbath.
Speaker:And God had said in the Old Testament not to
Speaker:do any work on a Sabbath.
Speaker:Have a rest, take a break, trust that he'll
Speaker:look after you.
Speaker:It's meant to be a day of happiness and fun
Speaker:and refreshment.
Speaker:Unfortunately, some of the jewish leaders had
Speaker:taken this kind gift of God and turned it into something that was really hard and scary.
Speaker:And strangely, they thought they were doing it for God.
Speaker:They thought they were doing what God wanted.
Speaker:Here's how they're thinking.
Speaker:Theyre like, okay, God doesnt want us to work on the Sabbath, so, um, whats work?
Speaker:Obviously, that thing you do at school or the job the grownups do, but other things could be
Speaker:worked too.
Speaker:Like if you go on a long walk, that could take
Speaker:a lot of energy, so it must be work.
Speaker:And then they actually came up with the number
Speaker:of steps you could take on a Sabbath before it became work.
Speaker:They said, if you walk a thousand steps or more, that's a big no no. Would you feel like
Speaker:you were having a rest if you had to count all your steps all day?
Speaker:Remember, they didn't have step counters on their wrists in those days.
Speaker:This isn't what God wanted at all, but they thought they were doing it to obey God.
Speaker:It shows that they don't really know God.
Speaker:Another thing they say not to do on the
Speaker:Sabbath is carrie anything like a mat? Uh oh.
Speaker:Some of these leaders see the man who's just been healed carrying his mat, and they're
Speaker:like, oh, how dare he? How can he do such a horrible, horrible thing
Speaker:on the Sabbath? God's going to be so angry.
Speaker:They go up to the man who's been healed and say in verse ten, today is the Sabbath.
Speaker:It's against our law for you to carry your mat on the Sabbath day.
Speaker:He doesn't want to get in trouble, so he blames someone else.
Speaker:He says, the man who made me well told me, pick up your mat and walk.
Speaker:Do you hear the most important thing going on? John calls him the man who's been healed.
Speaker:The man himself talks about Jesus as the man who made him well, this guy's been sick for 38
Speaker:years.
Speaker:Hello.
Speaker:This is massive.
Speaker:Let's stop and celebrate for a moment rather
Speaker:than thinking about carrying mats.
Speaker:But the leaders don't want to celebrate
Speaker:because as well as thinking that God doesn't want them picking anything up on a Sabbath,
Speaker:they also think they're not allowed to heal anyone.
Speaker:They think that's work.
Speaker:And so they think, we need to find this guy
Speaker:quickly and stop him from all this Sabbath breaking.
Speaker:They say to the healed man, who is this man who told you to pick up your mat and walk?
Speaker:But he's actually got no idea.
Speaker:Jesus has slipped away in the crowd.
Speaker:Later on, the man goes up to the temple and Jesus comes and finds him again.
Speaker:He gives him a warning a warning that says, sure, your body's better now, but there's
Speaker:something else you've got to be even more concerned about.
Speaker:Jesus says in verse 14, see, you are well now, but stop sinning or something worse may happen
Speaker:to you.
Speaker:What could be worse than 38 years of being
Speaker:sick, being punished by God forever? It's great that this guy's body is better.
Speaker:But if he doesn't start trusting God and living his way, he's a goner.
Speaker:Now the guy has a choice.
Speaker:He can start listening to Jesus, or he can go
Speaker:back to the jewish leaders.
Speaker:It's a choice of which one knows God better,
Speaker:which one understands what God wants more.
Speaker:Unfortunately, the man chooses the leaders.
Speaker:He goes back to them and tells on Jesus.
Speaker:In verse 15, he goes off to the leaders, using
Speaker:the legs that Jesus has just healed, and tells them that it's Jesus who made him well.
Speaker:Now the leaders know exactly who to get angry at.
Speaker:They start trying to make life hard for Jesus, because in their minds, he's been working on
Speaker:the Sabbath and disobeying God.
Speaker:Jesus has an answer for them, though.
Speaker:He tells them that God, his father, is always working.
Speaker:And so he keeps working.
Speaker:He's doing the same things that his father's
Speaker:doing.
Speaker:In fact, he's doing the work that his father
Speaker:gave him to do.
Speaker:Saving people, giving life to people, healing
Speaker:people.
Speaker:One day he'll judge between those who trust
Speaker:God and those who don't.
Speaker:Well, if the leaders weren't mad before, they
Speaker:certainly are now.
Speaker:Listen to how angry they are.
Speaker:As I read verse 18, it says this made the jews try harder to kill him.
Speaker:They said first Jesus was breaking the law about the Sabbath day.
Speaker:Then he said that God is his own father.
Speaker:He's making himself equal with God, which
Speaker:would be really evil if Jesus isn't equal with God, wouldn't it?
Speaker:But Jesus is equal with God.
Speaker:He is God the son.
Speaker:God the father is his father.
Speaker:Jesus is telling the truth.
Speaker:And to prove that, he gives them three pieces of evidence.
Speaker:First, in verse 33, he says, you have sent men to John, and he has told you about the truth.
Speaker:He's talking about John the Baptist.
Speaker:Remember, right at the start of the gospel,
Speaker:the leaders had sent people to John to find out who he is.
Speaker:And while John had told them a little bit about himself, what he really wanted to tell
Speaker:them about is Jesus.
Speaker:Jesus is the one to focus on.
Speaker:Jesus is the one who takes away the sin of the world.
Speaker:Jesus is the one who gives God's holy spirit.
Speaker:Jesus says he doesn't need John to tell people
Speaker:about him.
Speaker:But hey, these leaders have sent people to ask
Speaker:John, so they should at least listen to the answer, right?
Speaker:The second piece of evidence proving that Jesus really is God's son, he's even better.
Speaker:It's all the miracles he's done.
Speaker:In verse 36, Jesus says, but I have proof
Speaker:about myself that is greater than that of John.
Speaker:The things I do are my proof.
Speaker:These are the things my father gave me to do.
Speaker:They show that the father sent me.
Speaker:No one else besides God can speak to someone
Speaker:and they be healed.
Speaker:Jesus didn't even touch the man.
Speaker:He didn't give him anything like medicine.
Speaker:He just spoke like God spoke at creation.
Speaker:Let there be light and light burst out into the world.
Speaker:They should be able to look at that, at the healing Jesus is doing by speaking and all the
Speaker:other things he's done and say, this guy must be from God.
Speaker:Finally, there's a third piece of evidence, and that is God.
Speaker:The father's already told them all about Jesus, what he'd be like, what he'd do when he
Speaker:arrived.
Speaker:Can you guess where he said all that?
Speaker:It's in the Old Testament.
Speaker:The old testament is all about Jesus.
Speaker:If you go back and listen to the episodes on the Old Testament, you'll hear me talking
Speaker:about Jesus all the time.
Speaker:The Old Testament gets people ready to
Speaker:recognise and understand Jesus.
Speaker:What's really sad is that these leaders,
Speaker:they've been reading the Old Testament lots, but they don't really want to know what God
Speaker:says, so they don't recognize that Jesus really is God's son.
Speaker:Jesus says to them in verse 37, and the father who sent me has given proof about me himself.
Speaker:You have never heard his voice, you have never seen what he looks like.
Speaker:His teaching does not live in you because you don't believe in the one that the father sent.
Speaker:You.
Speaker:Carefully study the scriptures.
Speaker:That's the Old Testament, because you think that they give you eternal life.
Speaker:Those are the same scriptures that tell about me, but you refuse to come to me to have that
Speaker:life.
Speaker:So sad.
Speaker:But you know what? We don't have to make that mistake.
Speaker:Jesus has kindly shown us that he really is God the son.
Speaker:He really has come from the father.
Speaker:Anyone who tells you something about God
Speaker:that's different to what Jesus says doesn't really know God.
Speaker:If we do listen to Jesus, if we do believe his words, Jesus has some good news for us.
Speaker:In verse 25, he says, I tell you the truth.
Speaker:Whoever hears what I say and believes in the
Speaker:one who sent me has eternal life.
Speaker:He will not be judged guilty.
Speaker:He has already left death and has entered into life.
Speaker:If you believe Jesus and his father, you have eternal life.
Speaker:How good is that? Back in Jesus day, lots of people are about to
Speaker:start believing in Jesus.
Speaker:Or at least it looks like they believe in him.
Speaker:Will they really listen to his words though? Well, that's a story for next time.
Speaker:Don't forget to write in at the website and tell me how to get rid of a stinky sock smell.
Speaker:It can be serious or funny.
Speaker:I don't mind.
Speaker:And also, don't forget to tell people about the podcast.
Speaker:Keep trusting Jesus.
Speaker:Bye for now.
