John 5:1 - Meaning and Application

This miraculous healing is not recorded by the other Gospel writers. They mostly describe the miracles Jesus did in Galilee, while John tells us about those he did in Jerusalem. Here we are told when and where this cure happened, and the details help show both Christ’s wisdom and God’s mercy.

The cure happened at a feast of the Jews, that is, the Passover, the best-known feast. Even though Jesus was living in Galilee, he went up to Jerusalem for the feast (John 5:1). He did this because it was God’s command, and as one under the law, he obeyed it. Even though he was the Son of God, he could have claimed an exemption, but he chose obedience to teach us to attend religious gatherings (Hebrews 10:25).

He also went because it was a good chance to do good. Many people gathered there from all over the country, and there were also visitors from other nations. Wisdom should speak in public places where many people are gathered (Proverbs 1:21). Since they had come together to worship God and spend time in holy exercises, they may have been in a serious and open frame of mind. A heart ready for devotion is more open to God’s light and love, and Christ is welcome there.

The place was the pool of Bethesda, which had a healing power in it and is described in detail (John 5:2-4). It was in Jerusalem, by the sheep gate or sheep area, where sheep were kept or brought in. Some think it was near the temple, and if so, it gave a sad but useful sight to those going up to pray. There they could see human suffering close by, even while going to worship.

The pool was called Bethesda, which means “house of mercy.” It showed God’s mercy to the sick and disabled. In such a world full of misery, it is a blessing that there are places of mercy, places that help against pain and sickness. Dr. Lightfoot thought this may have been the upper pool and the old pool mentioned in Isaiah, once used for washing away ceremonial uncleanness, with the porches added for dressing and undressing, but later used for healing.

It had five porches, covered walkways or colonnades, where the sick lay. In this way, human kindness joined with God’s mercy to help the needy. Nature provides remedies, but people must provide places like hospitals. The pool was crowded with sick and crippled people. There were blind people, lame people, and people with shriveled limbs or paralysis. The picture reminds us how many troubles afflict people in this world, and how full of suffering the earth is.

The evangelist mentions these three kinds of sufferers because they were least able to get into the water quickly, so they had to wait the longest. They had come from far away and had patience to wait for a cure. We would do the same for our bodies, and we ought to. But how much wiser people should be for their souls, and how eager to have their spiritual sickness healed! By nature, we are all helpless in spiritual things, blind, lame, and weakened. Yet God has made full provision for our healing if we will only follow his directions.

The pool had a special healing power because an angel went down and stirred the water, and the first person in was healed of whatever disease he had (John 5:4). Some have tried to explain this as a natural or artificial effect, but that idea has no solid support. The common view is that the power was supernatural. Jewish writers do not mention it, perhaps because they wanted to hide any sign that might point to the coming Messiah.

The water was prepared by an angel, who went down and stirred it. Angels are God’s servants and friends to people, and they may be more active in removing diseases than we realize. The trouble in the water was the signal that the angel had come, like the movement in the tops of the mulberry trees was the sign to David. When the signal came, people had to act at once. In the same way, the waters of God’s mercy heal when they are stirred into motion. Ministers must stir up the gifts in them, because when they grow cold and dull, the waters settle and are less ready to heal.

The angel did not come every day, and perhaps not often, but only at certain times, as God saw fit. God gives his favors freely, according to his own wisdom. The healing power itself was wonderful in two ways. It could cure any disease, whatever caused it, and it worked only for the first person who stepped in. That teaches us to notice and use our opportunities quickly, because a chance may never come again. The angel stirred the water, but left the sick people to make the effort to get in.

God has put healing power into the Scriptures and ordinances, because he wanted to heal us. But if we do not make proper use of them, the fault is ours, for we do not want to be healed. This is all we are told about this standing miracle. We do not know when it began or when it ended.

Some think it began when Eliashib the high priest started building the wall around Jerusalem and dedicated it with prayer. They believe God showed his approval by placing this power in the nearby pool. Others think it began only recently, at Christ’s birth, and some at his baptism. Dr. Lightfoot, reading in Josephus, the ancient Jewish historian, about a great earthquake in Herod’s seventh year, thirty years before Christ’s birth, thought the angel may first have come down then to stir the water, since earthquakes often accompanied such descents. Some think the miracle ended with this healing, and others at Christ’s death.

Whatever its exact beginning or end, it clearly had a gracious meaning. First, it showed God’s goodwill toward that people and proved that, though they had been a long time without prophets and miracles, he had not rejected them. Though they were now oppressed and despised, and many were asking, “Where are all the wonders our fathers told us about?”, God let them know he still cared for the city where they worshiped. We may also give thanks for the power and goodness of the mineral waters, which help preserve human health, because God made the springs of water (Revelation 14:7).

Second, it pointed to the Messiah, the promised Savior, who is the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. It was meant to raise people’s hopes for him, the Sun of righteousness, who rises with healing under his wings. These waters had once been used for purification, and now for healing, to show both the cleansing and healing power of Christ’s blood, that unmatched bath that cures all our diseases. The waters of Siloam, which filled this pool, pointed to the kingdom of David, and of Christ the Son of David (Isaiah 8:6). So it was fitting that this pool now had such saving power. For us, the washing of new birth is like Bethesda’s pool, healing our spiritual sicknesses, not at certain seasons, but always. Whoever will, let him come.

The person healed was one who had been sick for thirty-eight years (John 5:5). His disease was severe. He had a weakness, likely losing the use of his limbs, at least on one side, as often happens in paralysis. It is sad when the body is so disabled that, instead of serving the soul, it becomes a burden even in daily life. We have good reason to thank God for bodily strength, to use it for him, and to pity those who are in such bondage.

His sickness also lasted a very long time, thirty-eight years. He had been lame longer than most people live. Many are so long disabled for the duties of life that, as the psalmist says, they seem made in vain, born to suffer rather than to serve, always dying little by little. Shall we complain of one long night or one bout of sickness, when perhaps for many years we have scarcely known a day of illness, while many others, better than we, have scarcely known a day of health? Richard Baxter’s note on this passage is very moving: “How great a mercy it was to live thirty-eight years under God’s wholesome discipline! O my God,” he says, “I thank you for the like discipline of fifty-eight years. How safe a life this is, compared with full prosperity and pleasure!”

The cure and its circumstances are briefly told in John 5:6-9. Jesus saw him lying there. Notice that when Christ came to Jerusalem, he did not visit the palaces, but the hospitals. This shows his humility, his gentle care, and his deep compassion. It also points to the great purpose of his coming into the world, to seek and save the sick and wounded. A large crowd of poor cripples was there at Bethesda, but Christ fixed his eyes on this one man and singled him out from the rest, because he had been there the longest and was in a worse state than the others. Christ delights to help the helpless, and he shows mercy to whom he chooses. Perhaps others who suffered alongside him mocked him because he had been disappointed so many times. Christ took him as his patient, for it is his honor to stand with the weakest and support those who are being crushed.

Jesus also knew how long the man had been in that condition. Those who have suffered for a long time may comfort themselves that God keeps count and knows our frailty. Then Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be made well?” It seems like an odd question to ask a man who had been sick so long. Some people do not want to be made well, because their sores help them beg or excuse their laziness. But this poor man was too weak both to beg and to work. Christ asked him for several reasons.

First, to show his own pity and concern. Christ asks gently about the wishes of those in trouble, as if to say, “What would you have me do for you?” Second, to test whether he was willing to receive help from one whom the great people disliked and tried to discredit. Third, to teach him to value the mercy and to awaken a desire for it. The same is true in spiritual matters. People are often unwilling to be cured of their sins, because they do not want to leave them. If that one point were gained, if people were willing to be made whole, the work would be half done, because Christ is willing to heal if we are willing to be healed (Matthew 8:3).

The poor man took this chance to repeat his complaint and describe how helpless he was, which makes his cure shine all the more clearly. “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool,” he says (John 5:7). He seems to think Christ’s question meant he had been careless: “If you really wanted to be healed, you would have watched more closely and gotten into the water long ago.” But the man is saying, “No, sir, it is not for lack of will, but for lack of a friend, that I remain unhealed. I have done all I could, but it has been useless, because no one else will help me.”

He does not think of any other way to be cured besides the pool, and he does not ask for any other help than to be put into it. So when Christ healed him, his own imagination or expectation did not help bring it about, because he was not thinking of such a thing. He also complains that he has no friend to help him. One would think that some who had already been healed would have given him a hand, but the poor are often left without friends, and no one cares for them. To the sick and helpless, it is as real a kindness to work for them as to give money. In this way, poor people can show charity to one another, and they ought to do so, though we rarely see it. I say this to their shame.

The man also lamented his bad luck, because every time he was ready, someone else stepped in ahead of him. He was always only a step away from the cure, yet he stayed helpless. No one showed enough kindness to say, “Your need is greater than mine, so you go first, and I will wait until next time.” The old rule, “Every person for himself,” seems to have ruled there.

After being disappointed so often, he was close to giving up. Yet this was the very moment when Christ came to help him, because Jesus loves to help in hopeless cases. Notice how gently the man speaks about the people who treated him badly, without any bitter complaint. We should be thankful for the smallest kindness and patient under the greatest insult. Even when our hurt feelings are justified, our words should stay calm.

It is also worth noticing that, though he had waited so long without success, he still stayed by the pool, hoping help would come someday (Habakkuk 2:3). Soon after, our Lord Jesus healed him with a word, even though the man did not ask for it or expect it. Jesus said, “Rise, take up your bed” (John 5:8).

Jesus told him to rise and walk, which seems like a strange command to an impotent man, one who had been disabled for a long time. But this divine word carried divine power with it. It was a command to the disease to leave, and to the man’s body to become strong. Still, it was spoken as a command for him to act. He had to try to rise and walk, and in making the effort, he would receive the strength to do it.

This is often how the conversion of a sinner works, because turning to God is like being healed from a long sickness. God usually works through his word, and often it comes as a command: “Arise and walk,” “turn and live,” “make yourselves a new heart.” None of that means we can do it by our own strength, apart from God’s special grace. In the same way, the man’s effort did not cause the healing, and yet if he had refused to try, he would have carried the blame.

Jesus also told him to take up his bed. First, this showed that the cure was complete and truly miraculous. He did not slowly grow stronger over time. He moved at once from extreme weakness to full strength, able to carry a heavy load like a trained laborer. The man who could not even turn in bed that moment could carry his bed the next.

Second, it made the cure public. Since it was the sabbath, carrying a burden through the streets would draw notice, and everyone would ask why he was doing it. That would spread word of the miracle and bring honor to God. Third, Christ was giving a witness against the traditions of the elders, which had stretched the sabbath law beyond its true meaning. He was also showing that he is Lord of the sabbath and has authority to guide it as he pleases.

Joshua and the Israelites marched around Jericho on the sabbath when God commanded them, and this man carried his bed in obedience to Christ’s command. Carrying a bed on the sabbath might sometimes be an act of necessity or mercy, but here it was more than that. It was an act of worship, meant entirely for God’s glory. Fourth, Jesus was testing the man’s faith and obedience. By carrying his bed in public, he exposed himself to criticism and could even be punished in the synagogue. Would he take that risk for Christ? Yes, he would. Those healed by Christ’s word should be ruled by his word, whatever it costs them.

The word of Jesus worked at once, because divine power went with it. Immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked (John 5:9). He felt Christ’s healing power in an instant. What a joyful shock it must have been for that crippled man to find himself suddenly strong, able to help himself, and living in a whole new world. Nothing is too hard for Christ to do.

He also obeyed Christ’s command. He took up his bed and walked, and he did not care who blamed him or threatened him. The proof that we have been spiritually healed is that we rise and walk. Has Christ healed our spiritual diseases? Then let us go wherever he sends us, and carry whatever he chooses to place on us, walking before him.

Afterward, we are told what happened to the man. First, we learn what passed between him and the Jews who saw him carrying his bed on the sabbath day. This healing happened on the sabbath, and it was the sabbath that fell in the passover week, so it was a special holy day (John 19:31). Christ did not need to treat sabbath days differently from other days, because he was always doing his Father’s work. Still, he performed many notable healings on that day, perhaps to teach his church to expect spiritual blessings from him in their Christian sabbath worship, blessings that his miracles pictured.

The Jews criticized the man for carrying his bed on the sabbath and told him it was not lawful (John 5:10). It is not clear whether they were officials who could punish him, or ordinary people who could only report him. Even so, this much was good in them, they cared about the honor of the sabbath and did not ignore what they thought was its profanation, like Nehemiah did (Nehemiah 13:17).

The man defended himself by appealing to a warrant that could support him (John 5:11). He was saying, in effect, “I am not doing this to show contempt for the law or the sabbath. I am obeying the one who made me whole, and that is proof enough that he is greater than both. The one who could work such a miracle could surely tell me to carry my bed. The one who had authority over nature could also direct a positive law, especially in a matter that was not at the heart of the law. The one so kind as to heal me would not command me to do something sinful.”

By healing another paralytic, Christ had shown his authority to forgive sin, and here he showed his authority to give law. If his pardons are valid, then his commands are too. His miracles prove both. Then the Jews asked who had given him this warrant (John 5:12): “What man is that?” Notice how carefully they ignored the one thing that could have led them to believe in Christ.

They did not even ask, out of curiosity, “Who healed you?” Instead, they eagerly grabbed at the chance to find something against Christ. They asked, “What man told you, ‘Take up your bed’?” as if they wanted the patient to testify against his doctor and betray him.

Notice what this shows about them. First, they were determined to treat Christ as only a man, asking, “What man is that?” Even with clear proof, they would not admit that he is the Son of God. Second, they were ready to judge him as a bad man, assuming that anyone who told this man to carry his bed must be guilty and must be prosecuted.

The healed man could not tell them who Jesus was, because he did not know him then. Christ had healed him before the man knew his name. This is a reminder that Christ does many good things for people who do not yet know him. He gives light, strength, life, and comfort, and we often do not realize how much we receive through his mediation, his work as the go-between between God and us.

Because the man did not know Christ, he could not yet trust him personally for this healing. But Christ knew the condition of his heart and gave help suited to him, just as he did for the blind man in a similar case (John 9:36). Our peace with God begins not so much with our knowledge of him as with his knowledge of us. We know God, or rather are known by him (Galatians 4:9).

For the present, Christ kept himself unknown. As soon as he had done the cure, he withdrew, and in the crowd he was no longer noticed. This may mean either that he simply stepped back into the crowd as an ordinary man, or that he avoided both praise and criticism. He stayed away from the applause of those who would celebrate the miracle and from the blame of those who would condemn him as a Sabbath-breaker.

Those who serve God faithfully in their own day should expect both praise and rejection. It is wise, as far as possible, to stay out of reach of both. Praise can lift us up too high, and criticism can push us down too low. Christ let the miracle speak for itself, and the man who had been healed could confirm it.

Next comes what happened at his next meeting with Jesus (John 5:14). Christ found him in the temple, the place of public worship. When we attend public worship, we may expect to meet with Christ and grow in our knowledge of him. Christ himself went to the temple, even though he had many enemies, because there he gave witness to God’s appointed worship and had chances to do good. The healed man also went there, and Christ found him the same day, it seems.

He likely went there for several good reasons. First, he had been kept away so long by his sickness, perhaps for thirty-eight years, and now that the burden was lifted, his first visit was to the house of the Lord. Second, he had a clear reason to give thanks to God for his recovery. When God restores our health, we should answer with serious praise, and we should do it quickly while the mercy is still fresh in our minds (Psalm 116:18, Psalm 116:19). Third, since carrying his bed had seemed to show disrespect for the Sabbath, he now showed honor for it by giving himself to the public worship of God. Works of necessity and mercy are allowed, but when they are finished, we should go to the temple.

When Christ spoke to him, he was not finished with him. He now turned to the healing of his soul, and he did that through his word. First, he reminded him of his cure: “Behold, you are made whole.” The man already knew he was healed, but Christ drew his attention to it. He was to consider how sudden, how unusual, how free, and how easy the cure had been. He was to admire it, remember it, and let the memory stay with him, as in Isaiah 38:9.

Then Christ gave him a warning against sin: “Sin no more.” This suggests that his sickness had come as a punishment for sin, whether for one very serious sin or for sin in general. We know that sin is often the cause of suffering (Psalm 107:17, Psalm 107:18). Christ does not usually bring up sin with every sick person, but he did so here and with another man in a similar state (Mark 2:5). While such long sicknesses last, they often keep people from many outward sins, so watchfulness is especially needed once the sickness is gone.

Christ was warning him that when the outward pressure is removed, a person may drift back into sin unless God’s grace stops him. When the trouble that had blocked the current is gone, the water may rush back to its old path. In the same way, after healing mercy, there is great need to stay alert, lest we return to foolishness. The suffering he had escaped should warn him not to sin again, and the mercy he had received should bind him to honor the One who healed him. Every providence speaks this same message: go and sin no more.

This man began his new life very well in the temple, but Christ still thought it necessary to warn him. People often promise much when they are sick, and when they first recover they mean well, but later they forget all about it. Christ also warned him of the danger if he returned to his old life of sin: “Lest a worse thing happen to you.” Christ knew all hearts, and he knew that this man needed to be frightened away from sin.

Thirty-eight years of lameness was terrible enough, but there is something worse that can come if a person turns back to sin after God has shown such mercy. The place where he had lain was sad, but hell is far worse. The punishment of people who turn away after deliverance is worse than thirty-eight years of weakness.

After this conversation between Christ and the man he healed, we see two things in the next verses. First, there is the poor man’s report to the Jews about Christ, in John 5:15. He told them that it was Jesus who had made him well. He likely meant this to honor Christ and help the Jews, without thinking that one so powerful and good could have enemies. But anyone who wants to help Christ’s kingdom needs the wisdom of the serpent, that is, careful and wise judgment, so zeal does not do more harm than good. They must also not throw pearls before swine.

Second, there is the anger and hatred of the Jews against Christ. The rulers of the Jews began to persecute Jesus. Their hatred was unreasonable, because he had healed a poor sick man and eased the public burden, since that man had likely lived at the people’s expense. So they persecuted him for doing good in Israel. Their hatred was also cruel, because they wanted to kill him. Nothing less than his blood, his life, would satisfy them.

They also hid their real hatred behind concern for the Sabbath. That was the claimed offense, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. As if that one detail could spoil the best and most holy actions, or make guilty a man whose works were otherwise so worthy. In this way, hypocrites often hide their true hatred of godliness under a false zeal for religion’s outward form.