You would think that a miracle would be a cause for celebration for everyone, but that was not always the case during Jesus' lifetime.

Today, on Truth for Life, Alastor Begg considers what Jesus revealed about himself when he helped a helpless man at the pool of Bethesda and why the religious leaders responded with hostility.

We're looking at chapter 5 in John's Gospel.

The verse that is our verse for this morning is essentially verse 19. Truly, truly, I say to you,

says Jesus, the son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the father doing.

For whatever the father does, that the son does likewise.

Ryle, Bishop Ryle of old, commenting on that, he says, to me, this seems one of the deepest

things in the Bible, and it certainly demands our attention, and we will give our attention

to it presently. But what we discover is that the words of Jesus

actually spark a controversy, and the Jews have seen in that statement by Jesus sufficient to actually

decide to kill him. We ought not to pass over this because we're familiar with it. The reaction

of the religious authorities

was to say to one another, if there is any way that we can get this man and kill him,

that is exactly what we're going to do. Now, the setup for it, of course, is the healing of this

man. In tracing a line through these verses, I just

have four words, and I can identify them for you if they're helpful. My first word is just

the word transformation. For what is described in these opening 17 verses is just that.

The background to it is there for your further study.

My purpose is not to exegete the first 17 verses, not to miss the impact of them, but nevertheless,

not to tackle them piece by piece. We know this, that Jesus has gone up to a feast. We don't know the nature of the feast.

We know that there was a gate there, and there was a pool. And we know that in that context,

there were five-roofed colonnates, or alcoves, if you like. And the picture is of these poor individuals who have been drawn to this

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