John 5:12-13 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?” But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place.
I ask myself how on earth did that man not know who healed him? If I apply the information I have in these verses, I can imagine a scenario where the man never got Jesus’ name. There were no words of introduction. The portico around the pool was packed with people because of the feast (5:1). Jesus saw the man and asked if he wanted to be healed. The man gave his excuse for not being able to get to the pool, and then Jesus said, “Get up. Pick up your pallet and walk.” The man got up and started walking, and as soon as the man walked away from Jesus, He slipped away through the crowd. I see the man turn back in amazement to thank Jesus, but He’s already gone.
Why did Jesus slip away so quickly that the man couldn’t even thank Him or get His name? Was that loving? I think the explanation lies in why John told this story. In John 20:31, we learn that these things were written so that those who read it might believe in Jesus and be saved. If we go back to John 3:14-21, we get the introduction to the encounters of the Samaritan woman, the men of Sychar, the royal official and the healing of his son, and now the lame man’s healing.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.
These are examples of God’s love for the Gentile world as well as Israel. Each encounter revealed God’s judgment, which is shown by their responses. Jesus is the Light. His deeds and words revealed where God was at work to save and to judge. The unbelieving Jews played an important part in Jesus being lifted up, so we would have a savior. The healing on the Sabbath, the willful blindness of the Jews, and the hardness of the healed lame man are necessary to the gospel story and exemplify what John said about Jesus. They show us that God had given all things into Jesus’ hand so we might believe in Him.
One thing for sure was that Jesus didn’t need or want notoriety or glory from man. He wasn’t doing these things for a show. So let’s be encouraged today as we love with Jesus to make as little of ourselves as possible, and as much as we can of Jesus. That’s what Jesus did. He made much of His Father by entrusting what He did to His Father, and made little of Himself. He humbled Himself as a servant of His Father. May we be filled with the humility of Jesus and make much of Him and little of ourselves.
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