This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because … He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. John 5:18 ESV1
Read John 5:1-18
This next healing is an account only recorded in the Gospel of John. It is a story of desperation alleviated by power, belief distorted by condemnation, and reaction based on fear; it includes warnings, obedience, testing, teaching, truth, persecution, and revelation. It is one man’s story of suffering, healing, and the hope of sanctification. But it is also a story that can open the reader’s eyes to the identity and authority of Jesus, and it is an account filled with instruction on how to live a life of victory in His Name.
“After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed” (John 5:1-3), “[waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.]” (John 5:3b-4 NASB2). “One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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?’ 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.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk.’ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked” (John 5:1-9a).
“Now that day was the Sabbath. 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.’ But he answered them, ‘The Man who healed me, that Man said to me, “Take up your bed, and walk.”’ They asked him, ‘Who is the Man who said to you, “Take up your bed and walk”?’ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 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.’ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working.’ This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God” (John 5:9b-18).
One does not have to wonder why John wrote his Gospel. He clearly states his purpose. “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). John chose to include in his Gospel the accounts that witnessed to this purpose. Let’s break down this story and discover why John may have incorporated this particular event into his very purposeful narrative on the ministry of Jesus. I will share what I have discovered. Perhaps the Holy Spirit will show you more and different things.
What about this account points to Jesus being the Christ, the Son of God?
… a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem …
At least three times a year all able-bodied Jewish men were required to travel to Jerusalem in obedience to God’s command, “‘Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God at the place that He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths’” (Deuteronomy 16:16). John doesn’t name which feast Jesus was in Jerusalem to commemorate. It may have been one of the required feasts or another, but which feast He was in Jerusalem to celebrate doesn’t really matter. The important thing is that He was there for a feast. The purpose of all of the feasts was to point to Jesus.
“In a nutshell, here is the prophetic significance of each of the seven Levitical feasts of Israel:
1) Passover (Leviticus 23:5) – Pointed to the Messiah as our Passover lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7) whose blood would be shed for our sins. Jesus was crucified during the time that the Passover was observed (Mark 14:12). Christ is a ‘lamb without blemish or defect’ (1 Peter 1:19) because His life was completely free from sin (Hebrews 4:15). As the first Passover marked the Hebrews’ release from Egyptian slavery, the death of Christ marks our release from the slavery of sin (Romans 8:2).
2) Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:6) – Pointed to the Messiah’s sinless life (as leaven is a picture of sin in the Bible), making Him the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Jesus’ body was in the grave during the first days of this feast, like a kernel of wheat planted and waiting to burst forth as the bread of life.
3) First Fruits (Leviticus 23:10) – Pointed to the Messiah’s resurrection as the first fruits of the righteous. Jesus was resurrected on this very day, which is one of the reasons that Paul refers to him in 1 Corinthians 15:20 as the “first fruits from the dead.”
4) Weeks or Pentecost (Leviticus 23:16) – Occurred fifty days after the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and pointed to the great harvest of souls and the gift of the Holy Spirit for both Jew and Gentile, who would be brought into the kingdom of God during the Church Age (see Acts 2). The Church was actually established on this day when God poured out His Holy Spirit and 3,000 Jews responded to Peter’s great sermon and his first proclamation of the gospel.
5) Trumpets (Leviticus 23:24) – The first of the fall feasts. Many believe this day points to the Rapture of the Church when the Messiah Jesus will appear in the heavens as He comes for His bride, the Church. The Rapture is always associated in Scripture with the blowing of a loud trumpet (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:52).
6) Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:27) – Many believe this prophetically points to the day of the Second Coming of Jesus when He will return to earth. That will be the Day of Atonement for the Jewish remnant when they “look upon Him whom they have pierced,” repent of their sins and receive Him as their Messiah (Zechariah 12:10 and Romans 11:1-6, 25-36).
7) Tabernacles or Booths (Leviticus 23:34) – Many scholars believe that this feast day points to the Lord’s promise that He will once again “tabernacle” with His people when He returns to reign over all the world (Micah 4:1-7).”3
To those whose hearts are willing, God opens eyes to understand and believe the clues He has put into, not only the feasts, but all over His Word, and throughout the World. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:29).
… in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate …
“The first gate mentioned in the rebuilding of Jerusalem was known as the Sheep Gate…near the pool of Bethesda…, and it is believed that this was the gate by which the offerings or sacrifices were brought into the temple. In fact, it is suggested that this was the first gate rebuilt BECAUSE it was used for this purpose! … Interestingly, the Sheep Gate is also the LAST gate mentioned in the list: …This means that the Sheep Gate was not only the starting point, but it was also the ending point of the wall!
So what, then, is the significance for us today of a gate where sheep entered into the temple area for slaughter? What is the significance of a gate mentioned both first and last in a list?
Sheep and lambs are used in the Bible as symbols of Christ: ‘The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”’ (John 1:29-30 NIV)
Friends, Jesus is the Lamb of God. Jesus is the one who takes away the sin of the world! The Sheep Gate, then, speaks of the very first experience we come into in our Christian life – the realization that Jesus, the Lamb of God, takes away the sins of the world! The Sheep Gate speaks to us of the cross and the sacrifice that was made for our sins!
Jesus’ death on the cross is the starting point of everything, and it is also the end of everything. Everything begins and ends with Jesus’ sacrifice!”4
The simplicity of spiritual healing is as difficult as walking and working after being an invalid for thirty-eight years, yet it is as simple as believing, taking up one’s bed, and walking. This man could not have obeyed Jesus and received healing if he did not believe. Salvation in Jesus seems senseless to the unbelieving and unnecessary to the self-sufficient, but to those with the faith of children, the gates to the Kingdom fling open wide (see Mark 18:3). This man lay with others at the Sheep Gate desiring healing. They were so close to the Temple, through faith in the Lamb of God, they could have been even closer to God.
… a pool, in Aramaic, called Bethesda [by which], lay a multitude of invalids … waiting for … an angel of the Lord … [to make them] well …
In the beginning, when he was first afflicted by this infirmity, the invalid man likely had friends or relatives who would have been willing to help him get into the pool. But thirty-eight years is a long time. Someone couldn’t be there all day, every day. It was probably merciful enough that his loved ones got him to the pool every day, just in case the waters were stirred, and just in case he could actually make it in the water. This day, though, greater mercy arrived at the Pool of Bethesda than anyone could have imagined.
“The name of the pool, ‘Bethesda,’ is Aramaic. It means ‘House of Mercy.’ … The covered colonnades would have provided shade for the disabled who gathered there, but there was another reason for the popularity of the Pool of Bethesda. Legend had it that an angel would come down into the pool and “stir up the water.” The first person into the pool after the stirring of the water “was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted” (John 5:4, NAS). The Bible does not teach that this actually happened—John 5:4 is not included in most modern translations because it is unlikely to be original to the text—rather, the superstitious belief probably arose because of the pool’s association with the nearby temple … Obviously, the man [who ‘had been an invalid for thirty-eight years’ (John 5:5)] believed the urban legend about the stirring of the water. He blamed the fact that he was never healed on his tardiness in getting into the water.
Jesus swept aside all superstition and bypassed altogether the need for magic water with one command: ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk’ (John 5:8). The man was instantly cured, and ‘he picked up his mat and walked’ (verse 9). The man did not need quicker reflexes or beneficent angels or enchanted water. The man needed Jesus.”5
The Heavenly Being who went down to the Pool of Bethesda, made a stir, and brought healing was Jesus. He is the only One who brings eternal salvation. Salvation does not come from adhering to superstitions or from the use of magic charms. It is not earned by righteous living or a commitment to a religion. Salvation comes by receiving the gift Jesus gives and entering into a relationship with Him. Jesus is the Merciful One who came to this Earth, where we lay paralyzed by sin and set us free from our infirmity.
What shows us, by believing, how we may have life in His name?
… ‘Do you want to be healed? ’… ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk.’ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.” …
Everything about the Christian life is won or lost based on the quality of one’s faith. When the followers of Jesus asked Him, “‘What must we do to be doing the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent’” (John 6:28-29). There is no more important thing humans can do than to believe upon Jesus the Christ. If we choose not to believe Him, we will not have “life in His name” (John 20:31). “’Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life’” (John 5:24).
The desire to be healed was what brought the invalid man to the Pool of Bethesda day after day for thirty-eight years. That desire to be healed, coupled with the realization that he could do nothing to aid in his own healing, opened his heart to Jesus’ help. Similarly, we have to want to be freed from sin, and we have got to come to the end of our own striving to gain this freedom before we will turn to Jesus for what He offers.
It was the acting upon the belief that he was healed which lifted this man out of his desperate situation. It was in obeying a command, that would previously have been impossible, which allowed this man to take up his bed and walk. Accordingly, we will never, during our time on this Earth, experience all that is available to us through “life in His name” (John 20:31) if we do not believe we are saved and if we do not trust in the reliability of the countless promises God gives us in His Word. And we will never be truly changed, experience ultimate freedom, or attain the previously unsurmountable if we do not obey the seemingly preposterous directives of Jesus.
… Now that day was the Sabbath …
Jesus had a reason for performing this healing on the Sabbath. I believe, God ordained that the healed man be noticed by the Jews as he was carrying his bed on the Sabbath. Jesus could have healed this man a day earlier or a day later, but He didn’t want to waste an opportunity to open the eyes of the greatest number of people possible to who He was and to the reason had He come.
Jerusalem would have been a terribly busy place during the feast, if Jesus had healed this man at a time other than the Sabbath, it may have been overlooked. Because He healed on the Sabbath, and because the Jews saw the man carrying his bed, Jesus got their attention. This audience allowed Him to teach about His authority and declare His deity. Jesus announced, “‘My Father is working until now, and I am working’” (John 5:9b-17). The self-righteous among the Jews, who were counting on favor with God by obeying the Law, may have not believed Jesus’ teaching on His authority and His relationship to the Father (see John 5:19-47), but they heard His profession. “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18). Perhaps, though, there were many there with humble and open hearts who were unmeasurably blessed through overhearing this teaching.
Jesus chastised the faithless group with, “‘You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). Jesus may come to us at unexpected times with truths which may be hard for us to accept. If we are spiritually proud, we will miss so much of what Jesus attempts to teach us. It is through humility that the eyes of our hearts are opened (see Ephesians 1:15-23) and enlightened to all the that is available through “life in His name” (John 20:31).
… the Jews said to the man who had been healed, ‘It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful.’ …
According to Jewish Law, working on the Sabbath was an offense with serious consequences, namely death (see Exodus 31:14, Exodus 35:2 & Numbers 15:32-36). So, we can give this man a break for blaming his Healer when he was accused of breaking the Sabbath. And we can understand why the religious Jews would have been so concerned about keeping this Law. But Jesus taught, “‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath’” (Mark 2:27). In God’s eyes, people are always more important than laws. The Jewish Law was designed to help people, not handicap them. Things had gotten so out of control.
As Savior, Jesus sets people free from struggling to follow an impossible set of rules and leads them into the whole new realm of being filled by the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul taught, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery … For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ … But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh … But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Galatians 5:1, 13-14, 16-18).
Jesus healed the invalid with one command. That man was then able to do what had been impossible. With one act, the Cross, Jesus set all humanity free from the paralyzation of sin. Now, through the filling of the Holy Spirit, humans can keep the commands: “‘Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’… And … ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37, 39-40). Through the Spirit, humans can display “the fruit of the Spirit [which] is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). Living in that kind of freedom is “life in His name” (John 20:31). “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed” (John 8:36).
… the man who had been healed did not know … Jesus …
Sadly, those who have been set free from sin, might not really know Jesus either. Humans get to know Jesus by spending time with Him in prayer, through the reading of God’s Word, and by living daily in the power of the Spirit. God has preserved the Bible all these many years for a reason. Everything He has revealed about Himself, which we need to know to experience all He intended for our lives and for a relationship with Him and other people, is contained within its pages. Those truths are reinforced through the Holy Spirit, our lives, and the world around us.
The more we spend time with Him, the more we get to know Him and the more of His power we experience in our daily lives. When we don’t take the time to get to know Jesus, we can fall for all manner of falsehood. But when we really know Him, we will be more than conquerors through anything life can throw our way (see Romans 8:31-39). Experiencing this abundant victory is living “life in His name” (John 20:31).
… “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” …
While He was on Earth, Jesus provided healing for all who wanted it. This man wanted healing (see John 5:6-7). Initially, he was filled with much faith. He immediately and exuberantly obeyed. Likewise, Jesus provides spiritual healing for all who want it. Many are initially filled with faith and exuberantly accept Jesus’ gift, but that is where they stop (see Matthew 13:20-22, Mark 4:16-19 or Luke 8:13-14). It is possible to trust Jesus for salvation but not with one’s daily life. It is possible to make Him one’s Savior but not one’s Lord.
There is the potential, even when one has been freed from the penalty of sin, to go right back into the lifestyle that got him/her into trouble in the first place. I know a man who had been a heavy drinker in his younger years. His liver was severely damaged in the process. By the grace of God, he was able to receive a liver transplant and got a new lease on life. For a while, through will power and with the help of loved ones, he stayed on the straight and narrow. But eventually, he went through a difficult patch in his life. He left his support system. He began to frequent the places he had earlier in his life, and he started drinking again. Today, he is in worse shape than he was before his liver transplant; he is not only sick, he has lost hope of getting better. He is not benefiting from the new life that was given to him.
Similarly, in a spiritual sense, if we refuse the help of the Holy Spirit and do not walk away from that which led us into our sin-sick state in the first place, we can spurn the freedom Christ gave His life to secure for us. Through the Holy Spirit, God “has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3), but we can “grieve the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 4:30) by continuing to walk in sin. The Holy Spirit is repelled by sin but drawn to holiness. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:7b-8a). When one, with the help of the Holy Spirit, walks in holiness, the favor of God rests on him/her, and he/she experiences “life in His name” (John 20:31).
Hopefully, no one reading this has physically experienced the same sad situation this poor man lived. Imagine, lying, waiting, suffering every single day for thirty-eight years. Surrounded by hurt, hopelessness, and despair, yet desperately alone, in the physical bondage of a body that refused to work properly, unable to get help, prevented from contributing to society, and the subject of judgment and cursing. In addition to this, he was most likely plagued by his own condemning thoughts and harassed by his own unfulfilled dreams. He had nothing to take his mind off of his condition.
No, we may not have been subject to the same exact physical suffering that this man experienced, but spiritually we all have a story of heartbreak and pain. Sin that we have committed and sins that have been done to us have left wounds on our bodies and our souls. But there is a Healer. He is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, who gives us life in His name. Do you want to be healed?
1 Scripture quotations marked with ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All Scriptures are taken from the ESV unless otherwise noted. To aid in understanding, I have capitalized references to God.
2 Scripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright The Lockman Foundation, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995.
3 https://www.gotquestions.org/Jewish-feasts.html
4http://www.scripturalnuggets.org/Folder5/THE%20GATES%20OF%20JERUSALEM%20PART%203.htm