John v. 14. Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole : sin. no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
MOST men will make good resolutions in a season of affliction ; but few carry them into execution when
they have obtained deliverance. They, however, to whom troubles are sanctified will remember the vows that are upon them. They will repair as soon as possible, not to houses of dissipation or amusement, but to " the temple " of God ; and, while others are only hardened by their mercies, these will be favoured with fresh manifestations of God's love. The man whom our Lord addressed in the text, experienced this. When he was returning thanks for the cure he had received in his body, Jesus instructed him for the good of his soul. We shall consider,
I. The mercy vouchsafed to him.
Bethesda was a pool that possessed very singular
qualities —
[The name Bethesda signifies a house of mercy. The pool so called had the property of healing all manner of dis- orders : its healing operations, however, were confined to certain seasons ; they depended also on the agency of a superior power a, and were limited to the first person that went into it after its waters were agitated by an angel. Multitudes of dis- eased persons constantly attended there ; and five porches were built for their accommodation. When that healing power was first given to it cannot be ascertained ; probably God had but a few years before endued it with those qualities, in order to prepare the people for their Messiah, and to typify his works.]
In the porches around this pool an impotent man had long waited in vain —
[He had laboured under an infirmity thirty-eight years, and had long attended there in hopes of a cure ; but he had no friend to help him with sufficient speed ; nor had the people charity enough to let him take his turn. Every one consulted his own good in preference to his ; and thus his efforts were daily frustrated, and his hopes continually deferred.]
But Jesus seeing him, wrought a miracle in his favour —
[Jesus needed no solicitations to excite his pity. Though unasked, he tendered the man effectual relief. Little indeed did the man understand the import of our Lord's question b;
a To ascribe them to the blood of the sacrifices stirred up in the water by a messenger from the temple, only shews to what wretched shifts infidelity is often driven by its desire to explain away the mi- racles of Christ.
b ver. 6, 7.