Healing at the Pool

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. 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 5:1-9

In certain versions of this passage, there was an added portion about angels in the water (vs. 3-4). It was apparently folklore which some scribe added for reasons we don’t know. Folklore is not scripture, so this English Standard Version and other modern translations simply omit it.

The subject of the story is the man who had lain helpless by the pool for probably most of his life, hoping to be helped into the water when it was disturbed, which was the legend or superstition about this pool. Many others lay there too, and did so every day.

This was Passover time, when the streets of Jerusalem were crowded with Jews from all over the area. A great time for Jesus to demonstrate His healing power. The Sheep Gate was the first one rebuilt by Nehemiah upon the nation’s return from Babylonian captivity. It represents salvation. This was a time of celebration and a special, historic place. Bethesda means House of Mercy. The pool is fed by an underground stream which builds up pressure every so often and “belches,” like a geyser. There is spiritual connotation in the physical infirmities of the people lying there, waiting to be healed by the disturbance in the water. The categories were 1) blind – powerless to see God, 2) lame – powerless to walk with God 3) paralyzed – powerless to work for God. Jesus knew (aorist tense) from eternity past about this man’s condition, just as He knew from eternity past about the woman at Jacob’s well and the nobleman’s dying son. He came here to heal this man.

“Do you want to be healed?” (!) That would be an attention-getter, much like “give me a drink of water.”  Oddly, the man didn’t give a simple yes or no answer. He obviously didn’t realize the implication of Jesus’ question, so he began to babble his excuse for lying there so long. There was no one who cared enough for him to help him into the water he thought would heal him. When he tried to drag himself there, others would rush in ahead of him, beating him out. Desperate people do desperate things. This was not a compassionate scene, but one of degradation and despair.

Next, the shocking command: “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 

We don’t see him arguing. He immediately obeyed.

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.” John 5:10

The Jews (religious leaders, remember, not the common folk) were constantly lurking about, monitoring the activities they could criticize and chastise, especially Jesus, now that He was openly ministering among the people. This man troubled them greatly. They did not understand Him or His message and seemed to have no way to counter His growing popularity. One of their pet rules was the Sabbath…anything one does on the Sabbath that can be called work is forbidden. This was a crime punishable by death in The Jews’ law. And they called everything work. It was a never-ending laundry list of “shall nots.” They overstressed the commandment regarding the Sabbath day to the point of exasperation, corrupting God’s original law and adding rules and prohibitions that God never gave nor intended as burdens to His people. The Jews, however, loved to burden the people. That’s how they kept them under control. They ignored the miracle of the healing to nag the man for carrying his bed on the Sabbath.

The Sabbath day is a remembrance of God’s grace. He made total provision in six days. We rest on the Sabbath to remember the perfect provision of God in our salvation. He did it all; we can do nothing.There had been many infirm people at that pool that day. Jesus healed one. He didn’t come to physically heal everyone, but to bring eternal life to everyone. Perfect physical health would be a disaster in a race of spiritually dead people. That one man’s healing made a bold statement about the power of the healer and about the phoniness of manmade religion. This act drew attention from the religious oppressors.

Jesus was His own perfect publicist. The healing was instantaneous, permanent and freely received, as is salvation by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. The walking demonstrated the healing. Carrying the bed was visual testimony of the healing and it identified the one healed. This event was a public proclamation of grace in freedom from religion, superstition and ritual.

Well, even I will admit that carrying one’s bed is work, but the Lord of the Sabbath is the one who gave the command, and so this was, to say the least, an exception. It sure made a point with the healed man and all who witnessed this event, including The Jews. They did not yet comprehend Who this was who overruled the Sabbath law. Nor did the healed man, but he and they would soon get a taste of His authority.

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. John 5:11-13

Lawful or not, the man who healed me gave the command. Jesus had mingled into the crowd, and our healed man didn’t know who it was, or where He went. Interestingly, the man headed straight for the temple, for that is where Jesus found him later.  

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. John 5:14

The man’s healing had been public, calling attention to the healer. The temple conversation was private, intimate, personal instruction, for the assurance and spiritual growth of the new believer:

For 38 miserable years, you didn’t know what to believe. Now you know. Don’t slip back into an attitude of unbelief (sin). That would be placing yourself back at the mercy of the world (worse thing).

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.” John 5:15-17

John 5:18 - 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.