John 5:1-17 - Bethesda - The Mysteries of God's Word

A man lies helpless for thirty-eight years, surrounded by a crowd of suffering, and the moment Jesus notices him the story gets uncomfortably personal: “Do you want to be healed?” We trace John 5 from the streets of Jerusalem to the Pool of Bethesda, the “house of mercy,” including the fascinating historical and archaeological details that anchor this passage in a real place near the Sheep Gate.

We slow down for a question many listeners may have when they notice missing lines in some translations. Why do certain manuscripts omit the “stirring of the water” explanation, and how should that shape our reading of the text? Rather than getting lost in legend, we keep our eyes on what John emphasizes: Redemption and life is not found in the pool but in Jesus Christ  as he speaks wholeness into a body that has known only defeat.

Then comes a defining moment: the healing happens on the Sabbath. The religious leaders obsess over a carried mat while a restored man stands right in front of them. The clash exposes how easily human rules can smother God’s heart for life and healing. Jesus’ follow-up in the temple adds weight:  “Sin no more,” a reminder that God's grace aims at transformation. The episode closes with Jesus’ stunning claim, “My Father is working until now, and I am working,” setting up the next wave of controversy about his divine authority.

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Transcript

Opening And John 5 Begins

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Grace and peace to you. Thank you once again for joining me for the mysteries of God's Word. Today we are in John chapter five, and we begin at verse one. After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheepgate a pool, an Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. These first two verses in chapter five once again give us some detailed movement of Jesus' ministry. Jesus had been in Cana of Galilee, and after that he's moving back to Judea, to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. This is the only feast in the Gospel of John that's not named specifically. Now Jewish men were required to come to Jerusalem to attend

Feast Context And Going Up

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three feasts the Passover, Pentecost, and the Festival of Booths. While we can't say with absolute certainty what specific feast this is, we do know that this occurred after the healing of the official's son in chapter four. So it's likely that this was the festival of the booths, as Jesus had gone down for the Passover earlier. One of the things that confused me initially was it says that Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Well, where I live, when we say we're going up somewhere, we generally talk about going up north. But Jerusalem is south of Cana. The reason we're told that Jesus went up to Jerusalem is Jerusalem is elevated in the hills from Cana. You can only imagine when you have to walk up the path rather than drive a car, you notice those inclines quite a bit more. Therefore, Jesus goes up to Jerusalem. And then we're told that Jesus goes to a pool that's in Jerusalem by the sheepgate. A pool named Bethesda. Now the sheep gate was simply a small opening in the north wall of Jerusalem, just west of the northwest corner. It was for letting sheep in. And the very word Bethesda here means a house of mercy. So the pool's very name Bethesda means house of mercy. Recent excavations in Jerusalem have found this very pool near the sheepgate. They have found the five covered walkways or covered colonnades, confirming the accuracy of John's gospel. And there were actually two trapezoid shaped pools next to each other, with four of the covered walkways on the four sides and one in between the pools. Picking up in verse three. In these lay a multitude of invalids,

Pool Of Bethesda And Its History

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blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, Do you want to be healed? In verses three through five, we're told that there are a multitude of invalids here. It was a custom at this time for people with disabilities to gather at this pool. They would lie under the five covered walkways and they were looking for supernatural healing. People would make pilgrimages to this pool to receive what they believed would be supernatural healing from the water. And the large number of disabled people that are just living at this pool gives a sad picture of the spiritual state of Israel and the world. Some of you may recognize that the end of verse 3 and verse 4 have been omitted in some translations. And there's a good reason for that. Those verses are not found in the earliest and best Greek manuscripts, and therefore it wasn't penned by the Apostle John. It's highly possible that a scribe added those words to explain why people were going to that pool for healing. Local legend had it that an angel would stir the pool, and the first one in would be healed. And that's why people would make pilgrimages to this pool to gain its healing. The apostle John probably left this out because it was a local superstition, and it wasn't based in truth. Picking up in verse six. 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 in the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I'm going another steps down before me. Jesus said to him, Get up, take your bed and walk. And at once the man was healed. He took up his bed and walked. In verse six, Jesus knew how long this man had been laying here at the pool, perhaps for years, maybe even decades. He'd been disabled

The Missing Verse And Legend

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now for thirty eight years. Again we see the supernatural knowledge that Jesus had of this man's physical condition and his spiritual condition. Jesus singled this man out from among all of the sick and invalid people. Then Jesus asks this man a question to get his attention. Do you want to be healed? To stimulate this man's will, to give him hope, Jesus asks, Do you want to be healed? How many times in our lives can we feel beaten down? Do we lose hope? And we become so depressed that we feel there's no way forward. Perhaps on an even deeper level, Jesus is asking this man if he's willing to be healed spiritually. Man's greatest need is to be healed from his sinful condition. But at times man is blinded to his own broken and beaten down condition, accepting it as normal, failing to even

Jesus Heals The Longtime Invalid

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recognize he is sick. And the man's reply shows that his thoughts are focused on the pool. How the pool could save him. He didn't recognize who stood before him. He had a desire to be physically healed, but in his mind he trusted that superstition that had come from local legend. While he admits he needs help, his hope for healing had become hopelessness, because he could never be the first in the water. In spite of this man's lack of faith and inability to recognize who's standing before him, Jesus says, Get up, take your bed and walk. And the man is healed. What an incredible picture of God taking a sinful, unbelieving man and breathing life into him. With the same power of creation that Jesus used to bring creation into being, Jesus speaks wholeness into this broken body. The Greek word for get up means to awaken, to arise, to be resurrected. It's used to refer to the resurrection of Lazarus. It's used to refer to the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus has the power to awaken life from death. At once the man was healed. This didn't take time. There was no slow mending of the cells, not even a minute or seconds. The moment Jesus spoke the word, this man's body was made healthy. The supernatural power of God was shown by the man's ability to stand up, pick up his mat, and walk. Muscles that had wasted away and become useless, now working like they were new. Isaiah prophesied that in the days of the Messiah the blind would see, the deaf would hear, and the lame would leap like a deer, in Isaiah thirty five, five and six. Now after thirty eight years of being lame, can you picture this man leaping through the streets after getting a new pair of legs? And the last part of verse nine I saved for now. That day was the Sabbath. Jesus intentionally healed this man on the Sabbath. Jesus did so to show that he is Lord of the Sabbath to the Jewish people.

Sabbath Rules And Leader Pushback

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The Old Testament had laws for not working on the Sabbath, and that the Sabbath was a day of rest. These laws were intended to provide rest from one's employment. However, the Jewish rabbis added thirty nine different activities beyond your employment. One of their extra laws included carrying anything from one place to another. But God desires life and healing for his people, not unnecessary restriction or punishment. If the waters of the pool would have healed this man on the Sabbath, the religious leaders wouldn't have argued against that kind of healing, but now that Jesus did this, they were not about to allow God in the flesh to break their rules. And this is a milestone in Jesus' ministry, because Jesus goes from being hardly known amongst the Jewish leadership to open debate with the religious leaders of Jerusalem over the Sabbath. And in the next four chapters of the Gospel of John, we will see this controversy continue. Picking up in verse 10. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, It is the Sabbath, and it's 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, and there was a crowd in the place. In verses ten through thirteen, we see the Jewish leaders trying to enforce their regulations on this man who had been healed. And the man who had been healed answers the Jews that the man who healed me told me to take up my bed and walk. While on the surface, someone might think that this man is attempting to shift the blame for disobeying the local customs from himself to Jesus, he's actually pointing to the one he believes is from God, rather than these rabbinical Jews. The man reasoned correctly. If Jesus had the power to heal, surely he was from God, and he has the right to explain the law. Another interesting note on the words that are used here is that when the man said, the man who healed me, he's actually saying, the man who made me or produced me. The very word that the man uses for the word heal here actually means to create, like when God created the universe. It's used in Acts 4.24, when it says, who made the heaven and earth, or in Hebrews 1.2, through whom also he created the world. These are the same words used for healed here. What the man is saying is not simply the one who healed me, but he's saying the one who made me. The man clearly believed that Jesus was sent from God after being made whole. The Apostle John's use of this word to describe this healing with the same power that brought the universe into existence shows how Jesus can speak life into death. And when this man is pressed to tell the Jews who did this, he says, I don't know who it was. And we see here just how little this man knew about Jesus. Despite the fact that Jesus had already performed many miracles and cleared the temple in Jerusalem on his previous visit, this man did not know or recognize him. And while the Jewish leaders are focused on the rules about carrying a mat, this man's only thoughts were on his new legs and obeying the one who made him new. We also see that Jesus had withdrawn. We know that Jesus was not afraid to speak the truth to the Jewish leaders during his ministry, but Jesus was wise in his actions. When Jesus perceived there would often be a political conflict with the Jewish leaders, he would withdraw and go to a different area. And again, part of Jesus' withdrawal is because there's a crowd in the place, which reminds us just how packed out this pool area was. Picking up in verse 14. Afterward Jesus found him in

Sin No More And Jesus' Authority

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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 is 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. Here in our last four verses for today, we see that Jesus finds this man in the temple. Jesus sought out this man again in the temple complex to speak to him, and Jesus tells him, Sin no more. It is a very important lesson to understand that God's kindness and favor to us doesn't give us permission to get away with sin. Rather, it should compel us to obey God. We love because He first loved us. Second Corinthians 5 14 reads, For the love of Christ controls us, because we've concluded this, that one has died for all, and therefore all have died. The very thing that empowers us to die to ourself, to put off our selfish and sinful nature, is Christ. Christ has conquered sin. Christ has forgiven us for our sin. It allows us to get up and live a life that is full and healed, just like this man. Jesus says that nothing worse may happen to you. And this seems to imply that this man's suffering was due to his sin. There are times when illness and injury is simply because of man's fallen condition. All of creation groans. All of creation is under the curse of sin. So illness and disease and suffering are not tied directly to our sin. But there are also times when our illness or sickness is directly tied to our personal moral decisions. When we make bad decisions, there are consequences. The purpose of Jesus' comment here is to teach us that all sin has consequence. As Romans 6.23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. When the man heard these words, he testified to the greatness of Jesus Christ. We don't know why this man told the Jewish leaders. Perhaps he was intimidated by them, or perhaps he thought this would be a positive witness to them. However,

My Father Is Working Until Now

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the Jewish leadership used this only to persecute Jesus. And the Greek word for persecute in verse 16 means a continued attack. The Jews were going to make a heyday out of Jesus breaking the Sabbath. Because for the Jewish leaders, following their human regulation and religion was more important than living in truth and in healing. There is no prohibition against doing things good on the Sabbath. In Mark 227, Jesus said, The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Jesus disregarded these extra oral traditions of men, which were not found in the law of God. It was Jesus that was truly obeying the scriptures. And Jesus' reply to them was, My Father is working until now, and I am working. You note here that Jesus didn't say our Father or your Father, he says my Father. Jesus is suggesting a far closer relationship to God than these Jews. The Sabbath was a day to honor and celebrate the work God had done in creation. Exodus twenty, eleven reads, For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. What Jesus is describing here is that Father God is continually working. He is upholding the universe even on the Sabbath, and so is he. God upholds all things by the power of his word, he neither faints nor grows weary, and Jesus is claiming to be equal with the Father, and the Jews understand what he's saying. We'll pick up next week in verse eighteen, but let me just read it because all of this flows together. Verse eighteen reads This is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, but not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. Thank you for joining me this week for the healing of the invalid at the pool of Bethesda. God bless you this week.