John 5:1–18

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 ¹³ But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.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.” ¹⁵ The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” ¹⁸ Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

Commentary

Vs. 1 “After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”

Once again there is a feast of the Jews; that is a yearly commanded feast that God required all His people to attend; now these were held at Jerusalem, the capital of the nation of Israel where the Temple was. Notice that the particular feast is not named, since it is not the feast that is important to Gospel, rather the Lord and His working on it for the wellbeing of mankind.

Vs. 2-4 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.

Now in Jerusalem there was a certain pool of water called Bethesda where those who were afflicted with various diseases and crippling aliments went to seek to be healed of them. “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.” ^{Vs. 4} This pool of water then became for those afflicted (in their own minds) the last chance of hope for them. Now what seems remarkable to me is that these being in Jerusalem, and so near the Temple, would not seek the Lord God. Nonetheless God’s mercy was still being shown to them, for the angels stirring the water, and thus healing whoever stepped in first, was demonstrating (to them and to all) His healing power.

Vs. 5-6 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?”

And so, it was that Jesus attended this very place, and seeing a man there who had an infirmity for thirty-eight years, and knowing that he had been in that condition a long time, now says to him, “Do you want to be made well?” Really is a question that He asks us all, because we are all born spiritually dead because of sin, and thus we are all alienated from God because of it. And so only Jesus Christ can heal us and restore us to God, by first cleansing us of our sins and transgressions by His shed blood on the Cross, and then He brings us to new and everlasting and abundant life by His Spirit. All which takes place the moment we believe in Him (Eph. 1:13-14).

Vs. 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.”

And so, the disabled man not yet knowing who Jesus is responds to Him under the notion that being placed first in the water of pool was the answer to his plight, rather than seeing that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Answer!

Vs. 8-9 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.

Jesus then upon hearing the man’s response immediately says to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And with that Word the man was immediately made well, and so he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath which for the Jews was a commanded day of rest, (when one was to do no work), and yet for them it only became a burden where every little deed and action could be judged as doing work. Yet its intent was to bring to mankind, and the beasts of burden, and even the land, a time of rest and refreshing. Something which Jesus in healing the crippled man on the Sabbath would’ve been doing for him, for that man’s body, mind, and soul.

Vs. 10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”

Amazingly when the Jews saw that the long-time crippled man; who had just been healed by Jesus; was now walking and carrying his bed, they were only deeply offended and outraged! For they now say to him, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.” Thus, in their zeal for wanting to keep the Sabbath, they had lost complete sight of its God given purpose!

Vs. 11 He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ ”

And so, the now healed crippled man, obviously feeling the pressure from them, (for too “break” the Sabbath for a Jew was a very serious matter), now says to those rebuking him, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ ”

Vs. 12 Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”

Immediately then when the man said that, the Jews wanted to know, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” Thus, their wrath is now turning from him, to Him who made him well and told him to take up his bed and walk.

Vs. 13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.

However, the healed man did not know who Jesus was, for their interaction had been brief and Jesus had withdrawn from there, for a multitude of people was gathered in that place.

Vs. 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.”

Later then when the crowd had dispersed and things had calmed down, Jesus went and found the man that He had healed now in the Temple, and finding him there, He now says to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” Apparently then that man’s long-term affliction was as a direct result of his own sin, for Jesus here warns him, “… Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”

Vs. 15 “The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.”

Now when Jesus told him that, that man went directly to the Jews and told them that it was Jesus who had made him well. And so, though the man’s body had been healed, yet his heart had not been changed.

Vs. 16 “For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.”

This then became the rallying cry for the Jews, to both persecute and seek to kill Jesus, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. Not that Jesus had broken the Sabbath, only that Jesus had violated their strict and extreme interpretations of it, and so for them Jesus doing so was akin to a declaration of war against them, and their beliefs about it!

Vs. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”

Even while under the threat of death from the Jews, Jesus did not capitulate to their wrong interpretations of it, rather He more boldly declared to them that, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” After God had finished creating the world and galaxies and universes and all things in them in six days, He rested on the seventh day. Later He would use this in commanding Moses to tell the children of Israel to do likewise, to rest on the seventh day from all their labors. However here Jesus makes it clear that God in creation rested on the seventh day, that is for sure, but God in redemption does not rest, for as Jesus reveals, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” Working yes, but not for their own profit, but for the profit and well-being of others, because sin and Satan never rests! And so, until God’s Word and Will is completed and fulfilled, they will be working!

Vs. 18 “Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.”

Now when the Jews heard Jesus say that, they became even more entrenched in their desires to kill Him, because He not only broke their Sabbath, (not God’s), But Jesus also made it plainly clear to them all that God was His Father, thus making Himself equal with God, which was something the Jews could not comprehend, the Triune or Trinity God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all three in One! And yet throughout the Scriptures you can find examples of God in speaking of Himself, even from the beginning, speaking of Himself in the plural, ex. “Let Us make man in Our image…” ^{Gen. 1:26}

Scripture Quotations 

New King James Version (1982): Thomas Nelson.