John 5 begins with a man who had been unable to walk for thirty-eight years. Jesus asked him a simple question: “Do you want to get well?” Then Jesus commanded him to Get Up and walk. But the miracle quickly became a confrontation over the Sabbath and Jesus’ authority. The chapter moves from physical healing to a much greater question: Will you believe Jesus and receive life?
Obedience • God’s Covenant • Mercy • Belief • Blessings • Judgment • Repent • Redemption Plan • Jesus Christ
📖 John 5:1 -2 (NIV)
“5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. “
Jesus went to Jerusalem and came to the pool of Bethesda, where many sick and disabled people gathered.
Among them was a man who had been unable to walk for thirty-eight years.
Jesus saw him.
He knew how long he had suffered.
Then Jesus asked:
“Do you want to get well?”
The man explained that he had no one to help him into the pool when the water was stirred.
Jesus did not tell him to wait for someone else.
He said:
“Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
Immediately, the man was healed.
Later, Jesus found the man at the temple and gave him another warning:
“Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”
The story then becomes much bigger.
Jesus explained His relationship with the Father and declared that the Son has authority to give life and to judge.
He told them that those who hear His word and believe have eternal life and have crossed over from death to life.
Jesus also explained that the Scriptures testify about Him.
Yet the religious leaders studied the Scriptures while refusing to come to Jesus.
The chapter ends with a question that reaches beyond the people standing before Jesus:
“How are you going to believe what I say?”
The issue was no longer simply whether Jesus could heal.
The issue was whether people would believe who Jesus is.
📖 John 5:3-7 (NIV)
“3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
“7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
The man at Bethesda had suffered for thirty-eight years.
He had become accustomed to waiting.
He explained his problem to Jesus:
“I have no one to help me.”
Jesus did not ignore his circumstances.
Jesus saw him.
This is an important picture of God’s mercy.
Sometimes people become defined by how long they have suffered.
They begin believing their circumstances will never change.
But Jesus saw this man when others may have passed him by.
Jesus knew exactly how long he had been there.
Then Jesus spoke.
“Get up.”
The story reminds us that Jesus sees people in places where others may not notice them.
Your circumstances may be known to God even when you feel forgotten by everyone else.
📖 John 5:8-12 (NIV)
“8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
“11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
“12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
Jesus did not tell the man to remain beside the pool and hope someone would eventually help him.
He gave him a command:
“Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
The man had to respond.
He could have continued explaining why he could not move.
Instead, he acted upon Jesus’ word.
The command required faith.
The miracle came from Jesus, but the man still had to get up.
Faith is not merely agreeing with what Jesus says.
Faith responds.
Sometimes God asks us to take a step before we understand what will happen next.
The man could not have walked because of his own ability.
But Jesus gave him the ability.
When Jesus calls us to move, obedience means trusting His word enough to take the step.
📖 John 5:13-17 (NIV)
“13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.”
“14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.”
“16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
Jesus later found the man at the temple.
The healing had already happened.
But Jesus had something else to tell him:
“Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”
This shows that Jesus was concerned about more than the man’s physical condition.
Physical healing is temporary.
Spiritual life is eternal.
Jesus wanted the man to understand that his relationship with God mattered more than simply having his legs restored.
Grace gives us an opportunity to change direction.
Repentance means turning away from sin and toward God.
Jesus does not merely want to make our earthly lives better; He wants to lead us toward eternal life.
📖 John 5:18-22 (NIV)
“18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”
“19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, “
The religious leaders were angry because Jesus healed on the Sabbath.
Jesus’ response revealed something far greater than His authority over sickness.
God the Father gives life.
JesusThe Son gives life.
The Father judges.
The Father has entrusted judgment to the Son.
Jesus was declaring authority that belongs to God.
He was not simply another teacher performing miracles.
He was revealing His divine identity.
The healing at Bethesda was only one sign.
Jesus was pointing toward a much greater work:
giving life to those who are spiritually dead.
One day, the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God.
Those who hear will live.
The One who told a man to get up from his mat is also the One whose voice will call the dead from their graves.
📖 John 5:23-26 (NIV)
“23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.”
“24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. “
Jesus makes a powerful statement about judgment.
The Father has entrusted judgment to the Son.
This means that Jesus is not only Savior.
He is also Judge.
That truth is important because God’s mercy does not eliminate God’s justice.
Jesus offers forgiveness.
He offers grace.
Jesus offers eternal life.
But there is also accountability.
Jesus says that those in the graves will come out.
There will be a resurrection.
There will be judgment.
This gives urgency to the Gospel.
Jesus is calling people to life now.
The same Jesus who offers mercy is the Judge who will ultimately judge with perfect justice.
📖 John 5:27-32 (NIV)
“27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.”
“28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.”
“31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.”
The religious leaders searched the Scriptures diligently.
Jesus told them something they had missed.
The Scriptures testify about Him.
They had knowledge of God’s Word but refused to come to the One God’s Word was pointing toward.
This is a powerful warning.
It is possible to know Scripture and still miss its central message.
The Bible is not simply a collection of stories, laws, prophecies, and teachings.
It tells the story of God’s Redemption Plan.
And that story leads to Jesus Christ.
Jesus even pointed them back to Moses.
If they truly believed Moses, they should have recognized Jesus because Moses wrote about Him.
Knowing God’s Word should lead us toward Jesus, not away from Him.
📖 John 5:33-40 (NIV)
“33 “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. 34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. 35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.”
“36 “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study[c] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
Jesus asked:
“How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”
The religious leaders were concerned about human recognition.
They wanted the approval of other people.
That desire can become powerful.
People can become more concerned with being accepted than being truthful.
Jesus was not seeking human glory.
He was seeking the glory of the Father who sent Him.
This creates a challenge for every believer.
Whose approval matters most?
People can change their opinions.
Crowds can change direction.
Human praise disappears.
But God’s truth remains.
Faith becomes stronger when our desire for God’s approval becomes greater than our desire for human approval.
📖 John 5:41-47 (NIV)
“41 “I do not accept glory from human beings, 42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God[d]?”
“45 “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
The people had witnessed Jesus’ works.
John the Baptist testified about Him.
The Father testified about Him.
Jesus’ works testified about Him.
Yet some still refused to believe.
This reveals something important about faith.
Seeing evidence does not automatically produce belief.
The person can see and still reject.
The person can study and still refuse.
A person can hear and still turn away.
Jesus was asking the religious leaders to do more than recognize His miracles.
He was asking them to come to Him for life.
The question is not simply whether we have heard about Jesus. The question is whether we believe Him enough to come to Him.
John 5 connects Jesus directly to the promises and Scriptures that came before Him.
Jesus did not come as a disconnected teacher.
He came as the fulfillment of God’s continuing Redemption Plan.
Moses wrote about Him.
The Scriptures testified about Him.
The healing at Bethesda demonstrates His authority over sickness.
John testified about Him.
The Father testified about Him.
Jesus’ works testified about Him.
Everything was pointing toward the Son.
His teaching demonstrates His authority over life.
His words demonstrate His authority over judgment.
And His relationship with the Father reveals His divine identity.
God’s Covenant stands because the promises, Scriptures, and testimony of the past are all moving toward their fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
Jesus sees those who feel forgotten.
God’s mercy reaches people in difficult circumstances.
Faith requires action and obedience.
Jesus can accomplish what human strength cannot.
Physical healing is temporary, but spiritual life is eternal.
Mercy should lead us toward repentance.
Jesus has authority to give life.
Jesus has authority to judge.
God’s judgment will be perfectly just.
Scripture points us toward Jesus Christ.
Knowing Scripture is not enough if we refuse to follow its message.
Human approval can become an obstacle to faith.
God’s approval matters more than human praise.
Seeing miracles does not automatically produce belief.
Jesus calls us to move from hearing about Him to believing Him.
The Redemption Plan of God points to Jesus from beginning to end.
John 5 begins with a man who could not walk.
Jesus said:
“Get up!”
The man got up.
But the chapter does not end with a physical healing.
Jesus takes the conversation to something much greater.
He explains that He has authority to give life.
He has authority to judge.
His voice will one day reach the graves.
The Scriptures testify about Him.
Moses wrote about Him.
John testified about Him.
The Father testified about Him.
And Jesus’ works testified about Him.
Yet the religious leaders still refused to come to Him.
That leaves us with the question Jesus placed before them:
How are you going to believe what I say?
The man at Bethesda believed enough to get up.
Jesus now calls each of us to something greater:
Get up from spiritual death. Leave sin behind. Come to the One who gives life.
Jesus Christ is not simply the One who can make the lame walk—He is the Son of God who gives eternal life to those who believe in Him.
