John 5:1-18

The Father and Son working together

verse 7 explain how the legends told this was an angel and how all the sick and lame would be healed if they were the first ones in the water. This man couldn’t win because he was paralyzed

John: An Introduction and Commentary iii. ‘The Jews’ and the Man Who Was Healed (5:9b–13)

so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, ‘It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.’ The OT forbad work (i.e. carrying out one’s usual occupation) on the sabbath. This included bearing loads on the sabbath: ‘This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your forefathers’

John: An Introduction and Commentary iv. Jesus and the Man Whom He Healed (5:14)

as ‘stop sinning’, implies that the man was engaged in some sinful activity and Jesus was telling him to stop doing it. Jesus had already dealt with the man’s physical infirmity; now he addressed his spiritual condition. Those who interpret Jesus’ words as a command to ‘stop sinning’ suggest a couple of sins he may have been involved in: (1) he was flaunting his new-found freedom by carrying his mat around Jerusalem without any regard for the sabbath law (unsatisfactory because it was Jesus who told him to take up his mat and carry it in the first place); (2) he returned directly to ‘the Jews’ and told them who his benefactor was (this interprets in a very negative light the man’s action in giving news about who healed him, which may be unjustified)

verse 15, the evangelism of going out and being bold for Christ after your salvation

Verse 18 the Jews, your friends may try to denounce Christ, put down religion or going to church. Why because Christ is God and he is your savior. That is what you and i need to hold fast to.

you need to bring out the secular, the Jews to the personal application for the students. Instead of the Jews put freinds or peers. Instend of the man being old, make him their age. They are the sinners at the pool seeking to be healed by Christ, christ comes, they go to their friends, their frineds make fun of them. That well hit home.