John 5, Part 1

Chapter 5 reveals Jesus to be the Authority over all of life. In revealing His authority, Jesus first demonstrated the truth of His authority. He healed a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years—and He healed him on the Sabbath. Both acts pictured the truth of His authority. The healing of the man showed His authority over the physical world, and the breaking of the Jewish Sabbath law showed His authority to determine the rules of worship. After demonstrating the truth of His equality with God, He then began to teach the truth. This procedure, first demonstrating some truth and then teaching it, was to be followed time and again as Jesus revealed who He was throughout the Gospel of John.

Invalid Healed

John 5:1–9 ESV

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, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.

Jesus attended a Jewish feast in Jerusalem. The feast is not named, but it was probably one of the three Feasts of Obligation: the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles, or Pentecost. These were called Feasts of Obligations because every male Jew who lived within twenty miles of Jerusalem was required by law to attend them. It is significant that Jesus was seen attending the feast. It gave Him an opportunity to reach a large number of people. Most of the people who attended the feast would be God-fearing people and have their minds upon God; therefore, they would be more prepared for the gospel. It gave Him an opportunity to teach people to be faithful to the worship of God. He, the Son of God Himself, was faithful.

The diseased and the ill—picture those in the world who are gripped by desperate need. The setting is a pool by a sheep market. The word market is supplied by the translator; it is not in the Greek text. It may have been a sheep market or sheep gate or sheep stall where the animals were kept. Whatever it was, there was a pool to provide water for the animals to drink and five porches to provide a resting area for the comfort of the people. The pool and a “great multitude of impotent folk” lying around the pool were the focus of attention. Note their need—which is a picture of all in the world who live in desperate need, all who are blind, lame, or withered spiritually.

There were the blind who could not see.

There were the lame who could not walk.

There were the withered who were deformed and paralyzed.

There were so many who were poor and beggarly.

Note their desperate hope and faith. Either the description given in Scripture is to be taken literally or else men of that day gave their explanation as to what caused the pool to be troubled. If this account is man’s description of what happened at the pool, then there was apparently a subterranean pocket of energy, either air or a stream underneath the pool that caused the pool to occasionally bubble up. The people of that day, grasping for something to help them in their daily lives, said that a supernatural occurrence was happening when the water bubbled. An angel was thought to be swimming around in the water. The first person to move into the water after the bubbling was believed to be healed.

Men are always grasping for something to help them in their daily lives. It may be some supernatural or destined power in a pool of water or in the astrology of stars above or in some magical person on earth. Men never change, regardless of the generation. In their grasp for help in life, they continue to seek everywhere except in Christ, the Son of God Himself. They hope and put their faith in everything except Him.

The second scene was that of Jesus and the man. This is a picture of Jesus, who has the power to meet the needs of the desperate in the world. The outline of this point is adequate to see what happened.

The man’s plight. He was either paralyzed or lame; he had been that way for thirty-eight long years. Jesus’ compassion: it was heart-warming, touching, and revealing—demonstrating how He wants to reach out to every person. He saw the man lying there and knew all about his desperate condition. Note the striking point: it was Jesus who initiated the relationship, approaching the man and reaching out to help Him.

Jesus sees and knows every man’s condition. He reaches out to every man in compassion, offering help. He reaches out through … • the message of the Word • the witness of family or friend • the beauty of nature • the thoughts about God that penetrate every man’s mind

The man’s helplessness. He was all alone in this world, having no family or friend who could help him.

The Lord’s power. This is a significant point: the man did not know he was healed until he obeyed the command of the Lord. Jesus did not pronounce a “word of healing”; He merely commanded the man to act. In the act the man was to show his faith. If he believed, he would arise and walk; if he did not believe, he would simply lie there, continuing on just as he had always done.

No man has to continue on and on through life just as he has always been, enslaved to the sin and corruption and desperate needs of the world. He can experience the healing power of Jesus Christ, the power to change his life and make him into a new man. All he has to do is one simple thing: believe the Word of Jesus Christ enough to obey, doing exactly what Jesus says. It is a clear fact: if we believe Him, we obey Him; if we do not believe Him, we do not obey Him. To be made whole and changed into a new man—a new man who is freed from the sin and desperate needs of this corruptible world—we have to believe Him enough to obey Him.

The problem: Jesus had healed the man on the Sabbath. By healing the man on the Sabbath, Jesus was breaking the Jewish ceremonial law; He was committing a serious sin, violating a ritual and rule of religion. The rest of the man’s story centers upon this fact.

Jewish Response

John 5:10–12 ESV

10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”

This is a picture of dead religion trying to meet the world’s desperate need. Dead religion is a religion of legalism. The religionists were trying to meet the needs of people through rules and regulations, ceremony and rituals.   They were more concerned with the man who was violating the ritual of the Sabbath than with the man who was suffering in a pitiful condition.  Dead religion is a religion ignorant of true authority. They should have known that the power of God had healed the man and should have been eager to share with the man Jesus, the man upon whom such power rested. But note: they cared little about the power of God and His messenger. They cared only that the status quo be maintained, that their religious practices continue as they were and not be violated. Their thoughts were upon their own religious position and security.  Dead religion is a religion blind to love and good. Note the question of the religionists. It was not, “Who is the man who has healed and helped you so much?” but, “Who is the man that broke the religious law?” They did not see the good that had been done. They saw only that their position and security were threatened, that someone had more power and influence, doing more good than they were. 

The Jews are spoken of some seventy times in the Gospels. They are always spoken of as the opposition to Jesus Christ—as those who set themselves against Him. They include some Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, priests, and secular leaders. They were the religionists and leaders who personally refused to believe Jesus Christ. They rejected both His claim to be the Son of God and His offer of salvation and eternal life.

John 5:13–14 ESV

13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”

This is a picture of the believer’s responsibility. Note that Jesus had left the man right after healing him because of the large crowd on the porches. For some unstated reason, Jesus did not want to attract a crowd at this time. The point is striking: Jesus sought the man out again! Remember, Jesus had reached out to save the man; now He was reaching out for another purpose. When He found the man, a picture of the believer’s responsibility was painted.  There was the duty to worship. Jesus found the man in the temple worshipping and giving thanks to God.  There was the duty to remember his healing, his salvation. The moment should never be forgotten or lost.  There was the duty to sin no more. Apparently the man had been lame or paralyzed because of some accident caused by sin. Jesus cautioned the man: “Sin no more.”  There was the duty to fear the judgment. Jesus warned the man that if he did not repent and turn from his sin, he would face a more terrible judgment than his crippling paralysis.

John 5:15–16 ESV

15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.

The man told the religionists who had healed him. He did not do this to bring harm to Jesus. He thought the religionists should know and would want to benefit from knowing Jesus personally.  The reason the religionists opposed Jesus needs to be studied closely.  breaking the Sabbath law was a serious matter to the Jew. Just how serious can be seen in the strict demands governing the Sabbath. Law after law was written to govern all activity on the Sabbath. A person could not travel, fast, cook, buy, sell, draw water, walk beyond a certain distance, lift anything, fight in a war, or heal on the Sabbath unless life was at stake. A person was not to contemplate any kind of work or activity. A good example of the legal restriction and the people’s loyalty to it is seen in the women who witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion. They would not even walk to His tomb to prepare the body for burial until the Sabbath was over.

It was a serious matter to break the Sabbath law. A person was condemned, and if the offense were serious enough, the person was to die.

The leaders’ conflict with Jesus over religious beliefs and rules is sometimes thought by modern man to be petty and harsh, or else such conflicts are just not understood. Three facts will help in understanding why the conflicts happened and were life-threatening, ending in the murder of Jesus Christ. 

The Jewish nation had been held together by their religious beliefs. Through the centuries the Jewish people had been conquered by army after army, and by the millions they had been deported and scattered over the world. Even in the day of Jesus they were enslaved by Rome. Their religion was the binding force that kept Jews together, in particular

•    their belief that God had called them to be a distinctive people (who worshipped the only true and living God)

•    their rules governing the Sabbath and the temple

•    their laws governing intermarriage, worship, and cleansing

•    their rules governing what foods they could and could not eat

Their religious beliefs and rules protected them from alien beliefs and from being swallowed up by other nationalities through intermarriage. Their religion was what maintained their distinctiveness as a people and as a nation. Jewish leaders knew this. They knew that their religion was the binding force that held their nation together. They therefore opposed anyone or anything that threatened or attempted to break the laws of their religion and nation.  Many of the religionists were men of deep, deep conviction, strong in their beliefs. Therefore, they became steeped in religious belief and practice, law and custom, tradition and ritual, ceremony and liturgy, rules and regulations. To break any law or rule governing any belief or practice was a serious offense, for it taught loose behavior. And loose behavior, once it had spread enough, would weaken their religion. Therefore, in their minds Jesus was committing a terrible offense by breaking their law. He was weakening their religion and threatening their nation.   The religionists were men who had profession, position, recognition, esteem, livelihood, and security. Anyone who went contrary to what they believed and taught was a threat to all they had. Some religionists undoubtedly felt that Jesus was a threat to them. Every time Jesus broke their law, they felt He was undermining their very position and security. 

The error of the religionists was fourfold.

1. They misinterpreted and corrupted God’s Word.

2. They committed serious sin after sin in God’s.

3. They rejected God’s way of righteousness, God’s Messiah, who is Jesus.

4. They allowed religion in its tradition and ritual, ceremony and rules to become more important than meeting the basic needs of human life: the need for God and the need for spiritual, mental, and physical health. Being the true Messiah, Jesus was bound to expose such error. Therefore, the battle lines were drawn.

The Messiah had to liberate people from such enslaving behavior. He had to liberate them so they could be saved and worship God in freedom of spirit.

The religionists had to oppose anyone who broke their law. They had to oppose Jesus because He was a threat to their nation and to their own personal position and security.

The religionists’ attack took two forms.

1. First, they tried to discredit Jesus so the multitudes would stop following Him.

2. Second, failing to discredit Jesus, they sought some way to kill Him.

Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 2004. The Gospel according to John. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.