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Sermon

Jesus’ Provocative Healing at Bethesda

Speaker
David Capoccia
Scripture
John 5:1-16

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In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia examines John 5:1-16 and Jesus’ healing of the sick man by the Pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath. John presents this sign-miracle so that you might be rescued from self-righteous religious tradition to believe in Jesus.

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Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

This passage from John 5:1-16 teaches us the danger of clinging to man-made religious traditions while missing the Son of God himself. Jesus deliberately heals a man on the Sabbath, provoking the Jewish leaders whose man-made rules about Sabbath work had become more important to them than the mercy and power of God. We are reminded that external rule-keeping cannot save us and that self-righteous religious tradition can actually blind us to the grace of God in Christ.

Key Lessons:

  1. Jesus demonstrates his divine authority by healing instantly and completely through his spoken word alone, proving he is the Son of God.
  2. Man-made religious traditions, even when well-intentioned, can become burdensome traps that obscure the true way of salvation through faith in Christ.
  3. A positive change in circumstances is never an excuse to ignore ongoing sin — physical healing without spiritual repentance leaves the deeper problem unresolved.
  4. External rule-keeping that neglects the heart is worthless before God, whether in ancient Judaism or in modern evangelical Christianity.

Application: We are called to examine whether we have elevated extra-biblical convictions to the level of God’s commands, whether we trust in our own rule-keeping for righteousness, and whether we are looking to Jesus alone as the source of salvation rather than any system of religious performance.

Discussion Questions:

  1. In what areas of your life might you be adding rules beyond what Scripture commands and then judging others for not keeping them?
  2. How does the healed man’s response to Jesus — going back to the Jewish leaders rather than following Jesus — serve as a warning about choosing worldly comfort over costly faith?
  3. What is the difference between having personal convictions and holy self-discipline versus trusting in external rule-keeping for your righteousness before God?

Scripture Focus: John 5:1-16 — Jesus heals a man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath, deliberately commanding him to carry his mat, which provokes the Jewish leaders and exposes their misplaced devotion to man-made tradition over the power and mercy of God.

Outline

Introduction

Thank you, thank you so much musicians, and good to sing with all of you. Let’s pray now as we look to hear from God.

Lord, those things we sang are the things that we do desire in our hearts. Your kingdom come, your will be done in this service, Lord. We want to behold the glory of the Lord. We want these truths to press on us in their full reality for our joy, for our sanctification.

But we also, along with the prophets, Lord, want to see your glory go across the earth. We want to see the earth filled with the knowledge of the Lord.

And Lord, we know one day that will be the case, and yet we desire it now. Teach us, Lord, as we are your witnesses in the meantime to the world. Teach us from your word. Help me to be able to explain your word. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The Rabbinical Tradition of Fencing God’s Law

While preparing for the sermon today, I came across an article about one Orthodox Jewish man’s experience of trying to keep the Sabbath in Brooklyn.

In the article, the man describes a distressing challenge he encountered when he and his wife first moved into that city. They could not lawfully bring their baby to synagogue.

According to the religious tradition established by the ancient Jewish rabbis, it is a violation of God’s law as expressed in the Torah—the five books of Moses—for a Jew to carry anything from one place to another on the Sabbath. They cannot carry anything from one domain to another.

The rabbi said this represents the transport of goods, which is work. God forbid the Jews to do any work on the Sabbath. They are to keep the day holy and rest.

What this means is that Jews cannot carry a water bottle, a copy of the Tanakh—the Hebrew Bible—or even their own child when walking from their homes to the synagogue on the Sabbath. By the way, you can’t push a stroller either, because that too is considered work.

This was very difficult for the Jewish man. Did God not want him and his wife to bring their baby to synagogue? Was the family, or part of the family, simply going to have to stay home until their child could walk?

For a little while, his solution was to have a gentile push the stroller for him on the Sabbath as he went back and forth from synagogue. The father was very uncomfortable with this, however.

He was quite relieved when the local rabbis established a new eruv in the section of Brooklyn in which the man lived.

What is an eruv? The short answer is an eruv is a workaround for the rule about not carrying things on the Sabbath. The rabbis say that you cannot take items from one domain to another on the Sabbath, one area to another. But who carries items around your own home? That’s your home domain. You’re not transporting goods if you’re just moving items around your home.

So what if one extended the boundaries of one’s home domain, the domestic space? Extend it far enough to even cover the place that you need to transport your item to, or even your child who cannot walk?

This is what an eruv does. An eruv is an area of extended domestic domain marked off by something tangible, like translucent fishing line, through which Jews may lawfully carry objects back and forth on the Sabbath. These eruvin—that’s the plural—can be quite large.

The article mentioned that there were plans for an eruv to eventually encompass all of Brooklyn. All of that would be considered domestic space, and you could carry items back and forth on the Sabbath. Much to the relief of the devout Jews who are otherwise very much restricted by the Sabbath rules.

Now, it’s worth asking: in light of all that, what did God really have in mind when God commanded Israel to honor his Sabbath and to use it as a day of rest rather than work? Surely not this.

Don’t these rules and the workarounds the Jews must come up with just to keep the rules so they can still live life sound ridiculous? You cannot even carry your baby on the Sabbath. Why have the Jews imposed such a burden on themselves that God never commanded and never meant for them to bear?

“Why have the Jews imposed such a burden on themselves that God never commanded and never meant for them to bear?”

Well, the answer is the rabbinical commitment to fencing in God’s law.

Extra Rules to Prevent Sin

See, the ancient rabbis, like the rabbis today, were committed to helping God’s people avoid sin, breaking his law, violating his commands. They wanted to do this at all costs, lest judgment fall upon the Jews and the Jews not enter into God’s kingdom.

The rabbis realized, though, that it’s very easy to break God’s law even accidentally, without intending to. So they came up with extra rules to make sure that Jews never even got close to disobedience.

“They came up with extra rules to make sure that Jews never even got close to disobedience.”

They prescribed these rules to keep you further out so that you’ll never violate God’s law. For example, to avoid accidental ceremonial uncleanness, the rabbis prescribed extra ceremonial washings before meals in Jesus’ time. Before you eat, you have to wash your hands ceremonially. It’s not in God’s law, but it’s what they prescribed.

Another example: to avoid blaspheming God’s special name, Yahweh. God specifically said, “Don’t blaspheme my name.” The rabbis prescribed never saying or even reading God’s special name at all, which is something they still avoid today.

To avoid breaking the Sabbath, the rabbis came up with 39 categories of work and prescribed that the Jews never do any of these categories of work on the Sabbath, even if the work is easier or commonplace.

You might say, “Isn’t that going to make things more difficult for the Jews?” Better safe than sorry. That’s the thinking. Yes, it’s more hoops for us to jump through, but if we keep all the rules and all the extra rules, then everyone will be safe from sin. No one will violate God’s law, and we Jews will be blessed.

When Traditions Surpass Scripture

These extra rules, which were originally intended to be a help to God’s people in keeping the law, not only became very burdensome and afflicting to the Jewish people, but they came to acquire an authority equal to and sometimes even superior to what God said in his word.

Violating the tradition of the rabbis was soon itself considered sin, and it could bring the harshest consequences. In some cases, even death.

The thought became that those who truly love God and are going to be in his kingdom not only keep the laws expressed in the Tanakh, but they keep the law according to the tradition of the rabbis. That’s what a true Jew does. That’s what a true, holy person does. He follows the tradition of the rabbis.

“These extra rules came to acquire an authority equal to and sometimes even superior to what God said in his word.”

But what did God think of these man-made religious traditions imposed upon his people?

Jesus Exposes Religious Tradition

Well, when the Son of God, the Eternal Word, became flesh, entered the world, dwelt among us, he not only did not hold to the tradition of the rabbis, but he went out of his way to expose the ridiculousness of many of these holy traditions. As well as reveal the way these traditions function like a whitewashed covering for hearts that were far from God and full of uncleanness and sin.

Our next passage in the Gospel of John is exactly what we’re going to see Jesus do. Jesus will visit the pool of Bethesda and heal a man in a way that clearly breaks religious tradition, breaks the rabbis’ rules. In seeing how both the Jews and the healed man react to Jesus’ provocative healing, we will discover the great danger of holding fast to man-made religious traditions while missing the Son of God himself.

“We will discover the great danger of holding fast to man-made religious traditions while missing the Son of God himself.”

Please take your Bibles and open to John 5.

John 5:1-16. Verse 18 is in the bulletin, but I think we’ll just go to 16. The sermon title for today is “Jesus’ Provocative Healing at Bethesda.” John 5:1-16. That’s Pew Bible page 1063 if you’re using the Bibles that we have provided for you.

We’re going to read the passage, but just as a heads up, I’m going to skip over part of verse 3 and verse 4. You’ll see why a little bit later. John 5:1-16.

“After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticos. In these lay a multitude of those who are sick, blind, lame, and withered.

A man was there who had been ill for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you wish to get well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.’

Jesus said to him, ‘Get up, pick up your pallet, and walk.’ Immediately the man became well and picked up his pallet and began to walk.

“Now it was the Sabbath on that day. So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, ‘It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.’ But he answered them, ‘He who made me well was the one who said to me, “Pick up your pallet and walk.”‘ They asked him, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Pick up your pallet and walk”?’ But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place.

“Afterwards, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘Behold, you have become well. Do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.’ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who made him well. For this reason, the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.”

Like I said last week, Jesus’ honeymoon period with the people of Israel is clearly over. We aren’t in the presentation phase, the presentation of the Son of God phase, that we saw in John chapters 1 to 4. We’ve definitely moved into the opposition to the Son of God phase, which will run from John 5 all the way to the end of John 12.

The stubborn refusal of the Jews to believe, even after witnessing all the miraculous signs of Jesus’ ministry, will become quite apparent.

Here, though, is Jesus’ third sign, third miraculous sign in this gospel. A sign of healing. Though this sign is not so much concerned with the man who is healed—I mean, there is some concern for him—but the focus is not on the man who was healed, but on the Jews who, incredibly, become enraged after the healing and even want Jesus dead.

Why this new, even murderous, anger from the Jews toward Jesus?

Well, it all has to do with man-made Jewish religious traditions about what was and what was not allowed on the Sabbath. But Jesus purposefully chose to heal on the Sabbath. And John purposely chose to write about it so that we who are reading it now might learn a crucial lesson.

What is that lesson? We can capture the main idea of the passage this way: John presents the sign of Jesus healing a sick man on the Sabbath so that you might be rescued from self-righteous religious tradition to believe in Jesus. It’s really going to be one or the other.

We can divide our passage into three main parts. I’ll use three narrative headings as we make our way through the verses. The first heading covers verses 1 to 9, and it is number one: “Jesus Heals the Sick Man on the Sabbath.”

The Setting: A Feast in Jerusalem

Look at verse 1.

“After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”

Notice that beginning phrase: “After these things.” After what things? Well, after the events that we heard about in chapter four. Jesus returned to Galilee and he healed the royal official’s son, of that man who, or yeah, of the son of the man who met him in Cana. I heard about that miracle.

How long after those events are we now? We don’t know. This is just some time afterwards. What is Jesus doing now? He’s going up to Jerusalem again to celebrate one of the three main Jewish feasts.

All adult Jewish males are commanded to do that in the Torah, in the Books of Moses. So Jesus is obediently fulfilling the law.

“Jesus is obediently fulfilling the law.”

Which feast is it? We don’t know. Could be the Passover, but the author doesn’t tell us because it’s not important for what comes afterwards. But what is important for us to know is something about a location that Jesus visits while in Jerusalem, which is what we see in verses 2 and the beginning part of verse 3.

The Pool of Bethesda

Look there now. “The reason Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticos. In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered.”

Okay, here John gives some background to his Jewish readers regarding a certain pool, the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. Now, why weren’t his audience of Jews, Hellenistic Jews, why weren’t they familiar with this pool?

Well, it’s possible that they had never visited Jerusalem, so they never saw it or ever knew about it. But probably, even more basically, it’s because the pool no longer exists by the time John is writing. Jerusalem is destroyed in 70. The pool surely was destroyed along with it.

But John likely writes this gospel around 80 or 90, towards the end of the first century. You may notice, though, that verse 2 is in the present tense: “There is in Jerusalem a pool,” not “There was in Jerusalem a pool.” Does this verb indicate that John actually writes before Jerusalem’s destruction? Probably not.

This is likely a use of what’s called the historical present. You write about the past as if it’s in the present in order to make it more vivid for the readers, the persons listening to your account. This is a common technique in the storytelling John does at other places in his gospel. We do it all the time too, probably.

What’s happening here? The pool doesn’t exist at John’s time, but it was there, and he wants his readers to know about it. But what exactly is this pool?

Well, just outside the northeast wall of Jerusalem in Jesus’ day, on the other side of the sheep gate, there was this double pool called the pool of Bethesda. That name is—it says Hebrew, but that’s Hebrew Aramaic. This is an Aramaic name meaning either “House of Outpouring” or “House of Mercy.”

The pool has five porticos we’re told. That is, five colonnades. What’s a colonnade? Well, that’s just a double row of columns with a roof. It doesn’t have any walls. A colonnade, or the stoa as it was called, was a common outdoor structure in the Greco-Roman world.

“Just outside the northeast wall of Jerusalem, there was this double pool called the pool of Bethesda.”

This pool has a colonnade on each one of its sides and one going right down the middle. So what was one pool is divided into two half-pools. That’s why we have five porticos or colonnades.

This pool, by the way, has been uncovered by archaeologists and is visible in Jerusalem. Actually, in our study trip to Israel last year, my wife and I got to visit the pool of Bethesda, the ruins of it.

Now, what’s the purpose of this particular pool? Well, as a freshwater reservoir, the pool could have fulfilled a number of functions. But one of them apparently was bathing, even ceremonial cleansing and ceremonial washing.

The Pool’s Supposed Healing Powers

And notice who, according to verse 3, is particularly attracted to this pool and laying in its various colonnades. All kinds of sick people. A multitude of sick. Why?

Well, the pool of Bethesda had gained a reputation as having special healing properties. Furthermore, according to verse 7, this healing capability was popularly thought at the time to relate to an intermittent—every once in a while—disturbance or stirring of the waters in the pool. The water gets agitated. That’s somehow associated with the healing.

“All kinds of sick people are lying around the pool, hoping for a miracle, vainly hoping for a miracle.”

Now, the end of verse 3 and verse 4 provides a further explanation as to where the pool’s healing power came from. But you may notice in your Bibles that these words are in brackets or there’s a footnote for these verses. Let’s read the end of verse 3 and verse 4 now.

“These sick were waiting for the moving of the waters. For an angel 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.”

The Questionable Origin of Verses 3b–4

Why are these verses in brackets? Why is it the footnote? That’s because these verses are very likely not original to John’s gospel. They’re not actually part of the Bible as God originally wrote it.

The reason why many Bible interpreters and translators make this conclusion about these words is because these words are not in the earliest and best manuscripts we have for the Book of John. Half of verse 3 and verse 4 only appears in later manuscripts of the Book of John, which means it was probably added later.

What happened most likely is that a copyist was looking at the verses and felt like there needed to be a further explanation as to why the sick people are gathered at the pool. So he includes it as a footnote, or maybe he puts it in the actual text, but he’s trying to give an extra explanation as to why all these people are gathering here. He tells us there was this story, this idea that people believed an angel invisibly stirred up the waters from time to time and imbued the waters with magical power that would heal whoever went into the pool first after the stirring of the water.

Now, we don’t know if that’s true. Maybe the guy said that this is true and he added it into the Bible, but we don’t know if that’s true. If that is indeed what people thought, well, then their belief was based on false hope. There wasn’t an angel actually stirring the waters. This wasn’t a miracle that God was providing for these people, because this sounds way more like pagan superstition than any kind of miracle we see God do in the Bible.

“Healing by lottery for those who are quickest to get into the pool? That’s not the way God usually does things.”

Are you kidding me? Healing by lottery for those who are quickest to get into the pool? That’s not the way God usually does things. That sounds much more like a pagan idea.

So maybe that is what people thought, but it certainly wasn’t based on truth. There was a stirring of the waters that is mentioned in verse 7, which perhaps could be explained as an unknown spring sometimes bubbling up from time to time to disturb the waters. People thought, “Hey, why is it bubbling all of a sudden? There must be something supernatural going on.” And so there’s this speculation about even angelic healing, perhaps.

But whatever the exact reason for the pool’s reputation, water does have a therapeutic quality many times. Certain baths, certain pools have that quality. But whatever the exact reason for the pool’s reputation, we learned in verse 3 that all kinds of sick people are lying around it in these porticos, hoping for a miracle, vainly hoping for a miracle.

A Man Sick for Thirty-Eight Years

The text then introduces us to one of these sick people in verse 5.

“A man was there who had been ill for 38 years.”

Ouch. 38 years is a long time to be sick. It’s actually more time than I’ve been alive. This man’s been sick 38 years.

“Thirty-eight years is a long time to be sick.”

Was he born with illness? Possibly. Though what we read in verse 14 suggests that the man became sick sometime after his birth.

What was the sickness? Is he lame in his legs? Was he injured? Is he paralyzed, unable to use his legs? Again, possibly. Though the passage doesn’t use that word to describe the man. It doesn’t call him lame. Instead, and repeatedly, it refers to him simply as someone who is sick.

So probably he has some disease that has so deeply afflicted him that he can hardly move. He’s so sick, and this has been going on for 38 years. Probably it got worse over time, and now he’s just one of the many hoping for a healing at this pool.

Is he ever going to find it? Well, someone finds him first. Look at verse 6.

Jesus Finds the Man

“When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, he said to him, ‘Do you wish to get well?’”

How curious. Amid whatever else Jesus is doing at the Jerusalem feast, Jesus stops by this pool and finds this man. Out of all the others, the verse says Jesus saw him and knew how long the man had been suffering.

How did Jesus know? I suppose Jesus could have asked around, but based on what we’ve seen so far in the Gospel of John, we know that Jesus has supernatural knowledge. He probably knew this without asking anybody. He knew all about this man.

“Jesus has supernatural knowledge. He probably knew this without asking anybody.”

The man, if he wants to get better, which at first may sound like a silly question—Jesus, he’s been sick for so long, and now he’s lying in one of the spaces around the pool of Bethesda. You think he doesn’t want to get well?

Let’s remember Jesus always has his reasons for asking the questions that he does in the Bible. Now, one of them here is no doubt to suggest to the man that Jesus can do something about the man’s condition. Jesus can even make him well. He wants to ask the man if he’s interested.

Well, that’s what the man responds in verse 7.

The Man’s Hopeless Situation

“The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.’”

An interesting response the man gives. This response surely both explains why he hasn’t gotten well yet and suggests what Jesus could do to help him get well.

Why hasn’t the man gotten well? He can’t get to the pool fast enough when the water is stirred up. No one is helping him, which means someone else always gets into the water before he does.

This suggests that the water has been stirred—whatever that means—multiple times since the man has been there. Does this mean then that some people were actually healed? That those quicker persons who got into the water before him actually experienced healing?

Not necessarily. I imagine some of the first ones who got into the water experienced healing as a temporary placebo effect because they had such expectations, such supernatural expectations about being healed at this pool. The same thing happens today. People who expect something to make them better, even though it doesn’t do anything to make them better, they obtain that thing—whether it’s a medicine or experience—and they suddenly feel better. But usually it only lasts for a little while.

So maybe that’s happening with some people in the pool. A guy gets in first, and he’s like, “I’m cured!” But it’s just a temporary thing.

Or maybe there’s another explanation, and this would be more pitiful. Maybe when the people notice the water being stirred up, everybody jumps in. They’re trying to be the first one in. But nobody can tell who’s first. And everybody looks themselves, and they’re like, “I’m not healed. I’m not healed. I’m not healed. Must have been somebody else.” But the fact is nobody was healed.

Maybe that’s the case. But the sick man suggested to Jesus that maybe if the sick man had help—help to get into the water first—then the man could get well. “You, stranger, maybe you could help me get into the water?”

Well, even having a stranger’s help, compassionate stranger’s help, that’s no guarantee of healing, right? Maybe they still won’t get to the water first. But this is pretty much the man’s only hope. The future looks bleak for him, just as bleak as his past, really.

People and the pool have failed him. Nobody’s helping him. He hasn’t been able to get well from the pool. But he’s got nothing else to look to.

“People and the pool have failed him. He’s got nothing else to look to.”

Jesus Heals with a Word

But then verses 8 and 9, first part of verse 9.

Starting with verse 8:

“Jesus said to him, ‘Get up, pick up your pallet, and walk.’ Immediately the man became well and picked up his pallet and began to walk.”

Without further conversation, Jesus does for the man what other people and the pool could never do. Jesus instantly and fully heals the man so that the man starts walking.

Notice how Jesus does the healing. As before, like we saw in John 4, Jesus doesn’t touch the man and doesn’t do any sort of dazzling display. He just speaks to the man.

Specifically, he gives him three commands: “Get up,” or we could translate that as “Rise up.” “Pick up your pallet,” that is, roll up the straw mat that you’ve been lying on and put it on your shoulder. And then “Walk,” start your way home.

These three commands were previously impossible for the man to obey because of his sickness. But the one giving the commands now is no mere man. He is a man, but he is also the Son of God.

Therefore, in the very pronouncement of these words, God put life and strength back into the man so that the man immediately does what Jesus commands him to do.

“He is also the Son of God. In the very pronouncement of these words, God put life and strength back into the man.”

Immediately, verse 9 says, the man became well. This is characteristic of Jesus’ healings. As long as him and his true apostles, apart from the supposed faith healers in our day, instantly well, fully well.

What is this not a sign of the clear power, authority, and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ? Just from this, we can say with confidence that Jesus is indeed the Son of God. He is the Lord. He is the Christ.

And if you believe in him, you will have eternal life. He is the only one who can give it to you. He proves everything he said about himself and salvation in this one miracle.

It Was the Sabbath

Therefore, the middle of verse 9 might seem like a fine place to end this story. But actually, the story is just getting started. Because we hear at the end of verse 9.

“Now it was the Sabbath on that day.”

That seems like a random bit of information. Why is that included? Why mention the Sabbath now?

This is not random. What Jesus just commanded the man to do, as part of the man’s healing, goes directly against what the rabbis, what the Jewish authority, what the Jewish people believed was lawful for the Sabbath.

And this is on purpose. Jesus intends for this man’s healing to provoke a response from the Jews, a response that will tellingly reveal where their hearts are with God.

“Jesus intends for this man’s healing to provoke a response that will tellingly reveal where their hearts are with God.”

And we see this Jewish response in verses 10 to 13.

The Jews Confront the Healed Man

This is our second heading now. Number two: “The Jews Confront the Healed Man for Working.” The Jews confront the healed man for working.

Look at verse 10.

“So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, ‘It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.’”

Take a moment. Think about this. This man has just been healed from a debilitating 38-year sickness. Suddenly to walk in full strength. The fact that he’s now carrying his mat on his shoulder is a testimony to the powerful mercy of God that has been unleashed in his life.

Yet the only thing the Jews can think to say to him in response is, “Hey, stop violating the Sabbath.” I think they’ve missed something here, don’t you?

“The only thing the Jews can think to say is, ‘Stop violating the Sabbath.’ I think they’ve missed something here.”

Notice the phrase “the Jews.” Again, undoubtedly, John has in mind here specifically the Jewish leaders, the scribes, the Pharisees, Jewish religious leaders. But as is John’s custom in this book, John doesn’t designate that these are the Pharisees or the religious leaders. He just calls them “the Jews.”

And this, again, is to show us that what the leaders do and say ultimately represents the response of the Jewish people as a whole to Jesus. They lead the people to take the same response toward Jesus that they do. So John calls them simply “the Jews.”

Notice the verb tense of the phrase in this verse. This is the imperfect tense, which means that the Jews keep saying what they say to this healed man. It’s ongoing. “Hey, you stop carrying your pallet. It’s the Sabbath. Hey, stop what are you doing? That’s not lawful.” And they keep coming after him.

Why wasn’t it lawful for the man to carry his bed? There’s nothing in the Torah that forbids this. It’s not like this man was a straw mat salesman moving his inventory from one place to another or peddling his merchandise. “Hey, you want a straw mat? Give me 10 shekels.” No. He’s just bringing his bed home.

But the rabbis had already defined, at this time, that carrying objects from one place to another is work. Doesn’t matter what the object is. Doesn’t matter how far away the place is. If it’s from the home domain or somewhere else or from somewhere else in the home domain, hey, that’s work, and that’s forbidden on the Sabbath.

“Come on, we got to make sure we don’t violate the law. Follow the rules.”

Thus, according to the religious tradition, the accepted Jewish religious tradition, this man is breaking the Sabbath and dishonoring God. How sacrilegious!

And this is not a judgment without consequences. These Jewish religious leaders could bring serious penalties upon this man for breaking the Sabbath. They’re coming after him.

How’s he going to respond? Verse 11 we find out.

“But he answered them, ‘He who made me well was the one who said to me, “Pick up your pallet and walk.”‘”

Well, how does the man respond? He points back to the person who healed him. “The guy made me well. The one who miraculously cured me, he told me to do this. I’m not going to argue with him.”

That is a true answer, and one that should have got the accusing Jews thinking. But is this basically an effort to pass the buck, to avoid responsibility, to lay the blame on the one who healed him? “He told me to do it. Don’t blame me. I’m not in your religious law. But the guy who healed me, he told me to do this.”

Who Told You to Break the Sabbath?

Well, the Jews come back again in verse 12.

“They asked him, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Pick up your pallet and walk”?’”

Notice what the Jews don’t include in their question. They don’t say, “Who is the one who actually healed you?” “I don’t care about that.” Only, “Who’s the one who told you to break the Sabbath? Who’s the one who told you that you could pick up your mat, keep carry your straw bed, and break the Sabbath? Who did it? Give us the identity of this lawbreaker.”

“They don’t say, ‘Who healed you?’ Only, ‘Who told you to break the Sabbath?’”

Jesus Had Slipped Away

Verse 13 then gives us a surprising bit of new information.

“But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place.”

Now, what? The healed man isn’t able to identify the one who healed him and who told him to work on the Sabbath because the man doesn’t know. The end of the verse tells us why. Before the man could ask or notice, after being healed, Jesus slipped away into the crowd.

No doubt there was much awe and excitement after this sudden healing. I’m sure some of those sick people around the guy were being healed. They’re like, “That’s the guy who was sick for 38 years. He’s been here forever. Look at him.” There’s a bunch of excitement. Everybody crowds around him. They’re asking him questions. There’s a big commotion.

Jesus doesn’t stick around and try to draw any excitement to himself. He just leaves. Slips away.

Verse 13’s notable observation leads us to two other ones. First, since verse 13 is true, that means Jesus healed this man quite apart from any faith this man had in Jesus. He didn’t even know who Jesus was. He certainly didn’t have faith that Jesus would miraculously heal him. He had no reason to expect that.

Though faith is involved in many miracle accounts in the Bible, it isn’t true to say that God requires faith from people before they can be healed. Not always. Not with this man.

A second observation, though: Jesus clearly had the opportunity to heal other sick people at the pool, maybe even all the sick people at the pool. He didn’t choose to do so. He just had mercy on one man, just this man, who didn’t even know who Jesus was and didn’t believe in Jesus.

Why did God choose to do that? Why did Jesus choose to do that? We don’t know, except that it fit the Father’s plan for Jesus. It’s part of his Messianic mission. This is another example of that truth we see throughout the scriptures.

“God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and compassion on whom he will have compassion.”

Nobody can blame God for not healing them. But this man has received an incredible gift he never deserved.

Yet the Pharisees are foiled. The Jews cannot identify the Sabbath-breaking culprit responsible for all this mess. Or can’t they?

The Jews Begin Persecuting Jesus

Let’s look at the final heading, covering verses 14 to 16.

This is number three: “The Jews Begin Persecuting Jesus for His Healing.” The Jews begin persecuting Jesus for his healing.

Verse 14.

Jesus Warns: Stop Sinning

“Afterward, Jesus found him—that is, the sick man, formerly sick man—in the temple and said to him, ‘Behold, you have become well. Do nothing anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.’”

Well, here’s a fascinating development we see here. That sometime later during the feast, the healed man goes into the temple complex, probably to offer worship and sacrifice based on his new healing, his new health, his even his ceremonial cleansing. He can come back to worship now.

When he does so, this man is probably still on cloud nine based on the wonderful change of circumstances in his life. And then Jesus finds the man again, and he directs him to a more urgent matter than his physical well-being.

“Behold, you have become well,” Jesus says. “You can see for yourself that your healing is genuine. This is no placebo. This is no temporary thing. Your healing is genuine. You are well. And I’m the one who did it for you.”

But then Jesus says, “Do not sin anymore,” or we could also justly translate that as “Stop sinning.” That’s an interesting command and exhortation because what does that imply? That the man has been sinning, that he is a sinner who must repent, must turn from his sin, and must turn from all that dishonors God to seek the Lord.

“The man has been sinning. He is a sinner who must repent, must turn from his sin.”

And Jesus adds a weighty reason for why the man must stop. Jesus says, “So that nothing worse happens to you.”

What exactly is Jesus saying? Is he saying that this man’s previous sickness was the result of sin and so now a refusal to repent may result in an even greater affliction than the man has previously suffered? Even that 38-year debilitating illness? You might have some worse chastening brought into your life from God?

Perhaps that’s what Jesus is saying. Though not all sickness or trial is a result of sin. Don’t just assume that you got sick and think, “I must have sinned.” We’re clearly going to see that that is not the case when we get to John 9.

Some trials, some sickness, it’s just there so that you can glorify God. But in other cases, trial, even sickness, is a result of sin. And we can see this in the Bible. In Acts 5, when Ananias and Sapphira. First Corinthians 11 with the Corinthians who were violating the Lord’s Supper. In James 5, the sick man who calls for the elders and confesses his sins so that he may be healed.

In some cases, affliction is the result of sin. So how foolish would it be for this man, now that he’s experienced physical healing, to just move on with his life without ever dealing with the sin that brought the affliction upon him? He had known an ongoing sin in his life.

A positive change in circumstances is no excuse not to deal with that sin. Even if the man is healed temporarily, something worse will come. He needs to get right with God.

“A positive change in circumstances is no excuse not to deal with sin.”

And the same is true for us. If you’ve been afflicted with something, and all of a sudden your circumstances turn positive, and yet you’re aware of ongoing sin in your life, don’t just say, “Oh, well, God obviously doesn’t care now because things are going well.” God is just being merciful to you. You need to repent before something worse happens to you.

Something Worse Than Illness

But whether the man had a particular sin for which God afflicted him, there is something worse, something far worse in store for every sinner, every unrepentant sinner, than a debilitating 38-year illness. And that is the forever conscious torment that awaits all unrepentant sinners in hell.

God is a holy God. God is a good God. And he said, “The wages of sin is death.” Eternal death. My wrath must be satisfied for that which blasphemes me. And the only way it can be satisfied is forever punishment.

And mercy, then, Jesus warns this man that the man must get his heart right with God and not merely offer sacrifices as thanks for a physical deliverance. If you don’t deal with a bigger problem and the full wave of God’s judgment, which is building up, it’s going to crash down upon you, and you will suffer for all of eternity.

What good is a physical healing if a person’s soul was never saved? That’s the truth that applies to us too, isn’t it? Don’t stop with seeking God for physical deliverance. You need to get your soul right with him. And that only comes by repentance. You must turn from your sin.

“What good is a physical healing if a person’s soul was never saved?”

The Healed Man Reports Jesus to the Jews

Well, how does the man respond? Does he heed Jesus’ exhortation? Does he repent and believe in Jesus?

Well, look at verse 15.

“The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who made him well.”

That is a strange development, isn’t it? We might have expected the man to confess his faith in Jesus and go home and tell his family about Jesus, like the royal official did, whose son was healed. That was just the previous chapter. But this is not what we see.

The man instead goes back to those angry Jewish leaders, the ones hunting for the Sabbath breaker, and he tells them that the one they’re looking for is Jesus.

Why on earth does the man do this? Is this a mark of new faith? Was he courageously going to give testimony to those hostile to Jesus, saying, “Jesus proved his Messiahship by healing me. I want you to know it’s Jesus”?

Significantly, verse 15 does say that the man told the Jews that it was Jesus who made him well. It doesn’t say, “It was Jesus who told me to break the Sabbath.” It says, “It was Jesus who made me well.”

So is this a mark of new faith? Or is this a mark of naivete, not picking up on the hostility of the Jewish leaders? The man goes back like a simpleton to finally answer the question they gave him before. “Oh, now I know the name of the one you’re looking for. It’s Jesus. Okay, have a nice day.”

Is that what the man’s doing? He’s just not quick on the uptake? Or is this really a mark of betrayal?

Instead of showing gratitude to Jesus and heeding Jesus’ warning and called to repentance, the man tries to ingratiate himself with the Jewish leaders by tattling on Jesus. After all, such would secure the man’s continued access to the synagogue and the temple. He wouldn’t be put out of Jewish society or face any other kind of punishment. That’s the reason why he tells the Jews. It’s a difficult question to answer.

But I believe the answer, one way or another, is negative. Really, I think the man is hedging his bets here. He’s not explicitly betraying Jesus. He is grateful to Jesus. But he also doesn’t want to run afoul of the Jewish leaders either. He doesn’t want to be ostracized. So he gives up Jesus.

“He’s not explicitly betraying Jesus but doesn’t want to run afoul of the Jewish leaders either. So he gives up Jesus.”

One of the reasons I take this view is because when we get to John 9—I’ve already mentioned that chapter—we’re going to see another man healed on the Sabbath, just like this man is. And that other man, just like this man, at first doesn’t know the identity of who healed him.

But this other man in John 9, the man born blind, he will defend Jesus before the Jews, even without knowing who Jesus is. He’ll say, “This man clearly is from God.” And when the man does, the Jews will condemn him and put him out of the synagogue. He’s excommunicated from Jewish society proper.

And that’s when Jesus finds the man again, reveals himself to him, and the man believes in Jesus. He even falls down to worship him.

A Tragic Choice: Comfort over Christ

All that is very different from what we see of the healed man here. I believe there’s a tragic note to this signed miracle of John 5.

This healed man foolishly, ungratefully, chooses this world, his present comfort, the man-made system of religious tradition that he was raised in, rather than the God of life and the merciful Son of God who had mercy on him.

“This healed man foolishly chooses this world rather than the God of life and the merciful Son of God.”

What a foolish choice.

The Persecution Begins

Well, whatever the man’s exact reasoning for telling the Jews about Jesus, we see the effect in verse 16.

“For this reason, the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.”

Notice the verb tense of the phrase “were persecuting.” It’s another imperfect, indicating continual past action. In other words, because of this healed man’s testimony about Jesus, the Jewish leaders have switched from mere observation and interrogation of Jesus to vicious persecution.

The Jews are now pursuing and harassing Jesus for what Jesus says and does. Then notice the additional explanation in the second half of the verse. Why are they doing this? “Because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.”

There’s another imperfect tense in the verb phrase “was doing.” Jesus was doing these on the Sabbath. What does that tell us? That tells us that the miracle reported here isn’t the only time that Jesus works on the Sabbath. He keeps doing it. He keeps healing people on the Sabbath.

The Jewish leaders regard Jesus working and breaking the Sabbath rules. Therefore, the Jewish leaders cannot stand Jesus. “He’s breaking the holy rules of our religious tradition. He’s teaching others to do so. We’ve got to stop this wicked man, this evildoer, this loosener of the Sabbath.”

There is a profound disconnect, a great mental dissonance in this reaction to Jesus, isn’t there? The Jews conclude that Jesus sins and breaks the Sabbath by doing signs of miraculous healing. Something is obviously wrong with that conclusion.

If breaking the Sabbath, as Jesus does, is so evil, then how does Jesus continue to heal by the power of God? Not just once, but time after time?

There’s a glaring contradiction now staring the Jewish leaders in the face. Jesus violates your religious tradition, but he heals by the power and approval of your God.

“Jesus violates your religious tradition, but he heals by the power and approval of your God.”

Is not then the proper conclusion that Jesus is right and you and your religious tradition are wrong? Even your whole system of self-righteous, externally focused works is wrong, and it will not save you. He needs to show you the way of salvation, a way of salvation that’s in him.

That’s the proper conclusion. That’s the rational conclusion. That’s proper logic.

This is the realization that John wants his original audience of Hellenistic Jews and us today to see. We must be rescued from entrapping religious tradition, from man-made self-righteous religious tradition. Otherwise we will never be saved. We will never turn to Jesus and believe in Jesus to be saved.

“We must be rescued from entrapping religious tradition, or else we will never turn to Jesus to be saved.”

If we’re not rescued from this, we will end up just as ridiculous and as eternally condemned as these Jews who are condemning Jesus now.

Application: Religious Tradition Among Us Today

I’ve been talking a lot about the Jews and Jewish religious tradition. But is this message really relevant for us, traditional Christians today? Do we really have entrapping religious traditions? Or potentially entrapping religious traditions?

We do. I’m not just talking about the traditions of Roman Catholicism or the traditions of Greek Orthodoxy. Yes, there’s a lot of man-made traditions that entrap people away from Jesus Christ and away from his word. That’s certainly true.

But even we evangelicals can start adding helpful rules, necessary rules to what God said in his word. And then we trust in our rule-keeping, trust in our own righteousness as we keep these external rules, these extra righteous rules. We can even look down on those who do not keep them.

Examples of Extra-Biblical Rules

Let me give you a few quick examples. Do you believe that Christians should pray before every meal? That is not a bad custom. But nothing in the Bible says you must do that. In fact, Jesus only did it once, as part of his miracle of multiplying the loaves and fishes.

Does he look to heaven and bless the food? From what I remember, from what I’ve studied, I don’t see Jesus praying before he eats. Amen. I’m guilty of judgment over this myself. Being with a Christian who doesn’t pray before they eat, I’m like, “What are they afraid of? I don’t want to stand up for Jesus.” But this isn’t required from the Bible.

The Bible merely prescribes a thankful heart and a clean conscience to make food acceptable.

“The Bible merely prescribes a thankful heart and a clean conscience to make food acceptable.”

Or do you believe that Christians should celebrate Christmas and that we must fight to keep Christ in Christmas for our culture? Well, the Bible does not command this. The Bible does not command Christians to celebrate any holidays. In fact, the early Christians notably did not celebrate Christmas. It’s not until the end of the fourth century that we hear about Christians celebrating Christmas.

As for the Puritans in the late 1500s into the 1600s, they tried to outlaw Christmas because they considered the holiday too worldly.

Now, before any one of you says “amen” and cancels Christmas, recognize that the counter argument is also true. The Bible does not forbid you from celebrating Christmas. You can engage in that holiday in such a way that you glorify God. It’s not required.

Do you believe that extra rules need to be enforced when it comes to dating, especially for Christian young people, so that they will avoid fornication? Young ladies must wear or must not wear certain pieces of clothing. We need measuring sticks to enforce skirt length and necklines. And we need chaperones around our young brethren. Never leave them alone with someone of the opposite gender. Gotta follow these rules. We’re also going to sin.

Well, the Bible does not give us specific commands like these to enforce. Rather, God only gives us certain wise principles for the pursuit of chaste living. The very principle is that we are to instruct our younger brethren in.

Now, as individual convictions or as family guidance, yes, we can set rules. We can have rules, even for the issues I mentioned and similar issues. And don’t mishear me. Religious traditions are not themselves automatically bad. Some are helpful.

But we must be aware of enforcing extra-biblical convictions on others to burden them or to judge them. “If you’re a true Christian, you’ll do this. I know it’s not in the Bible, but if you love God, you’ll do this.”

We must be aware of taking that stance. And furthermore, we must be aware of looking to our own rule-keeping for our righteousness.

The Heart Is What Matters

Because what about all the rules I just mentioned as examples? What do all these rules fundamentally, fundamentally neglect? The heart. The most important part.

You can pray before every meal. You can cancel Christmas. You can wear a burlap sack to make sure nobody lusts after you. But if your heart is not right with God, all that means nothing, and you will die in your sins.

“If your heart is not right with God, all the rules mean nothing, and you will die in your sins.”

This is the great error of the Jews in Jesus’ day. It’s the trap they fell into, and it’s the trap they’re still stuck in. We must not fall into the same soul trap.

Conclusion: Believe in Jesus Alone

Do not settle for man-made self-righteous religious tradition. Believe in Jesus, the Son of God, and you will have eternal life. He’s the only one who can give it to you.

“Believe in Jesus, the Son of God, and you will have eternal life. He’s the only one who can give it to you.”

Well, how did Jesus respond to this new hostility from the Jews? Does he back off? Does he avoid saying anything else that might upset these powerful Jewish religious leaders?

Far from it. Rather, as we’ll start to see next time, Jesus uses the generated controversy of his Sabbath healings to put forward an even more provocative and even more infuriating claim before the self-righteous Jews.

Namely, Jesus will declare that the reason why he does what he does on the Sabbath is because Jesus is God.

Come back next time to hear all about that.

Let’s close in prayer.

Lord, how wicked is the human heart. Apart from your regeneration, how wicked is the flesh that still attaches to those even that you have made into new creations. For we will afflict ourselves with rule after rule after rule. We would rather do this than change our hearts.

So it is with all the false religions of the world. So it is for us when we slip back into that legalistic mindset, trusting in our external works for our righteousness.

God, these things mean nothing to you. They are an offense to you. They only make us look ridiculous. They only make the condemnation on us more obviously justified.

So God, we turn from this. We turn from putting forth rules on others as if they were your rules. We turn from trusting in our own righteousness, trusting in all these strict things that we may impose on ourselves.

We know it is not bad to have convictions and to be holy. We must have self-discipline. Yet that is not where our hope lies. We can never be good enough for you, no matter how many rules we impose on ourselves.

The only one who can make us right, the only one who can save us, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, we glory in you. You are our righteousness. We have nothing to plead before the gates of heaven except the blood of Jesus, the life and death of Jesus.

Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you for being our God. Thank you for your incredible mercy towards us. You are merciful to the man in this account, and you have shown us mercy as well.

Lord, I pray that we would not trample on your mercy as this man appears to do, even in a polite way. We eschew your mercy. But let us embrace it.

And if it means that we are ostracized, if it means that we are judged by others who are still caught in their self-righteousness, then so be it. Because we want you. We want the God who is life, joy, and peace in himself.

There is no eternal life anywhere else except in you, Lord Jesus. So we will cling to you. We will glory in you.

Help us, Lord God, to live out a life worthy of the salvation that we have received, for your name as a testimony to the people of the world.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

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