在耶路撒冷的毕士大池
约翰福音五章1至14节
1这事以后,到了犹太人的一个节期,耶稣就上耶路撒冷去。
2在耶路撒冷,靠近羊门有一个池子,希伯来话叫作毕士大,旁边有五个廊子;
3里面躺着瞎眼的、瘸腿的、血气枯干的许多病人。(有古卷在此有:等候水动;
4因为有天使按时下池子搅动那水,水动之后,谁先下去,无论害甚么病就痊愈了。)
5在那里有一个人,病了三十八年。
6耶稣看见他躺着,知道他病了许久,就问他说:你要痊愈么?
7病人回答说:先生,水动的时候,没有人把我放在池子里;我正去的时候,就有别人比我先下去。
8耶稣对他说:起来,拿你的褥子走罢!
9那人立刻痊愈,就拿起褥子来走了。
10那天是安息日,所以犹太人对那医好的人说:今天是安息日,你拿褥子是不可的。
11他却回答说:那使我痊愈的,对我说:拿你的褥子走罢。
12他们问他说:对你说拿褥子走的是甚么人?
13那医好的人不知道是谁;因为那里的人多,耶稣已经躲开了。
14后来耶稣在殿里遇见他,对他说:你已经痊愈了,不要再犯罪,恐怕你遭遇的更加利害。
信息分享
躺在那里的人,有瞎子、跛子和瘫子。当中有一个患病38年的人正等候医治。他回答耶稣的问话让我们了解很多,他说:「没有人来帮我,其他人都比我更快下到池子。」可见他正陷于绝望的深渊。
基督对他发出的命令,一定令他感到很奇怪。可是,当他望着基督的眼睛,他的信心便油然而生,并有所行动,他便即刻彻底痊愈。怎么会发生的呢?这一定不是人的工作,他只是简单地相信并遵从基督的话,便立即得了医治。
他的痊愈完全是一个神迹;而且,这一瞬间的转变,还带来他往后日子的更多福分。他可以离开这里,去38年来从未踏足的地方,他更可以去做一些他长时间都没有做过的事,都只因他在某一刻相信基督并听从祂的命令而行。我们今天也是一样,我们在一瞬间获得救恩,但自此之后,随着我们学习与基督同行,我们将会发现很多新的事物、经历很多的福分,并得着新的产业。
后来,基督在圣殿再见到他。他是到圣殿向神感恩吗?我们喜欢这样思想。但基督却叮嘱他说:「谨守你的生活,不要再犯罪。你已经痊愈了,要开始一个全新的生活。」今天这句话同样是给我们的。基督既已救赎我们,我们就必须确保自己为祂而活,只做那些讨祂喜悦的事。
AT THE BETHESDA POOL IN JERUSALEM
John 5: 1-14
1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.
3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.
4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.
5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”
9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.
10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”
11 He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’”
12 Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”
13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.
14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
Message
There were blind who could not see, lame who could not walk, and paralytics who could not move. One man had been ill for 38 years waiting to be cured somehow. His reply to Christ’s question tells us so much. “I have no one to help me. Everyone else gets along all right but not me.” He was well down in the pit of despondency.
Christ’s command must have sounded amazing. But as he looked into the eyes of Christ, faith came to him and he acted. He was healed immediately and completely. How? It is certainly not by work. He did not earn it. He simply believed, obeyed, and was healed.
The cure was a miracle and the work of a moment but he entered into the benefits of it more and more as the days went by. He went to places he had possibly not seen for 38 years. He did things he hadn’t done for a long time. All because in one moment he believed Christ and stepped out at His word. It is the same today. We are saved in a moment but ever since, we have been discovering new things, new treasures, new blessings as we have learned to walk with Christ.
A little later Christ found him in the Temple. Was he there to give thanks to God? We would like to think so. But Christ gave him a further word, “Watch your life. Stay away from sin. You have been healed. Now live as a man who has been given a new start in life.” Those words could have a message for us today. Since Christ has saved us, let us make sure that we seek to live for Him and do only those things which will please Him.

