14  The Persecuted Jesus  (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 porticoes. In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of 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.] A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 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?” 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. Afterward 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 had made him well. For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. (5:1–16)

The earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ created an unprecedented sensation in Israel. For three and a half years He performed miraculous works unlike anything ever seen before (John 15:24; cf. Matt. 9:33; Mark 2:12). Those signs authenticated Him as the Son of God and Messiah (Matt. 11:2–5). In His compassion and grace, Jesus frequently chose to do miracles that alleviated people’s suffering. He healed the sick—practically banishing disease from Israel for the duration of His ministry—raised the dead, cast out demons, and fed large crowds of hungry people.

The Lord also taught concerning the kingdom of God with boldness, confidence, and authority. Unlike the scribes, who primarily quoted other human authorities, Jesus spoke with the divine power of the Son of God (cf. Matt. 5:21–22, 27–28, 31–32, 33–34, 38–39, 43–44). As a result, “the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matt. 7:28–29), and “all the people were hanging on to every word He said” (Luke 19:48). Even His enemies acknowledged, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks” (7:46).

Excited by His astonishing miracles and powerful preaching, people flocked to Jesus. Matthew 4:25 reports that “large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.” After the Sermon on the Mount, “when Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him” (Matt. 8:1). On another occasion, “large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach” listening to His preaching (Matt. 13:2). Across the Jordan in the predominantly Gentile region of Perea, “large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there” (Matt. 19:2; cf. 20:29; John 6:2, 5). Luke records a time when “so many thousands of people had gathered together [to hear Jesus] that they were stepping on one another” (Luke 12:1).

But the overwhelming popularity that Jesus experienced was not as beneficial as it appeared. The crowds who flocked to Him primarily consisted of curiosity seekers. They were not devoted to Him as Lord and Messiah, but followed Him for the excitement, healings, and free food He provided (cf. 6:26). At one point, they were so enthusiastic about what they perceived as Jesus’ supernatural social welfare program that they tried to make Him king (6:15). But because they were not generally committed to Him or His gospel of the kingdom, Jesus did not commit Himself to them (2:24; 6:26, 64).

Ultimately, the fickle crowds rejected Jesus (6:66), following the example of their religious leaders. Those leaders, especially the Pharisees (the most influential religious sect of Judaism), mounted an unrelenting campaign of lies against Jesus, falsely accusing Him of being a demon-possessed Samaritan (8:48) of illegitimate birth (8:41). As noted earlier, they even attributed His miraculous signs to the power of Satan (Matt. 9:34; 10:25; 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15). The nation’s ultimate rejection came at Jesus’ trial before Pilate when, urged on by the religious leaders, the crowd screamed, “Crucify Him! … His blood shall be on us and on our children!” (Matt. 27:23, 25). At His death, Jesus had only a handful of identifiable true disciples—120 in Jerusalem (Acts 1:15) and another 500, probably in Galilee (1 Cor. 15:6; cf. Matt. 28:7, 16).

As chronicles of His ministry, the gospels record the rising tide of opposition that Jesus faced (e.g., Matt. 9:27–34; 11:20–30; 12:1–14, 22ff.; 13:54–58; 15:1–20; 16:1–4, 21; 21:15–16, 23–27; 22:15–46; 28:11–15; Luke 4:16–31; 11:14–23; 13:10–17; John 3:32; 7:30–52; 8:12–20, 31–59; 9:13–41; 10:19–39; 11:45–53). Summing up Israel’s rejection of Jesus, John observed, “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (1:11). The Jewish people were hostile to Him because of both their hypocritical legalism and their misconceptions concerning His mission (they looked for a political-military messiah who would free them from the yoke of Rome). After His death, they continued to reject Him because of the offense of the cross (1 Cor. 1:23; Gal. 5:11).

Chapters 5 through 7 of John’s gospel note the beginning of the nation’s shift in attitude toward Jesus from reservation (cf. 3:26; 4:1–3) to outright rejection (summed up in 7:52). Chapters 5 and 7 describe the opposition that He faced in Judea; chapter 6 records the opposition in Galilee. The first sixteen verses of chapter 5, which chronicle the controversy generated by Jesus’ healing of a sick man on the Sabbath, signal the beginning of that hostility. It would intensify in chapter 6 when many of Jesus’ followers, unwilling to accept His teaching that He was the bread of life, abandoned Him (6:66). Finally, chapter 7 records the hardening of official opposition, as the religious authorities sought unsuccessfully to arrest Him (7:30–42).

The outbreak of hostility toward Christ was triggered by an incident at a pool in Jerusalem known as Bethesda. Jesus’ cleansing of the temple had stirred up antagonism (2:13–22), which only grew as His ministry gained popularity (4:1–3). His rejection of self-righteous Jews and His violation of the Jewish traditional regulations concerning the Sabbath fanned the flames of resentment into open opposition.

The passage may be divided into two parts: the miracle performed, and the Master persecuted.

THE MIRACLE PERFORMED

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 porticoes. In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of 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.] A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 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?” 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. (5:1–9a)

The phrase after these things indicates that this incident took place at an unspecified time after Christ’s ministry in Galilee had ended. John recorded only one event from that period, the healing of the royal official’s son (4:43–54), but the Synoptic Gospels relate many more events (e.g., Jesus’ rejection at Nazareth [Luke 4:16–31]; His extended preaching tour [Matt. 4:23–24]; and several healings, including a demon-possessed man [Mark 1:21–28], Peter’s mother-in-law [Matt. 8:14–17], a leper [Luke 5:12–16], and a paralytic [Mark 2:1–12]). In fact, Luke 4:14–9:50 is all related to His Galilean ministry, as is Mark 1:14–9:50.

John refers to a feast of the Jews six times in his gospel (cf. 2:13; 6:4; 7:2; 10:22; 11:55); this is the only one he failed to identify specifically. Since Jesus went up to Jerusalem for this feast, it likely was one of the three major feasts held in that city (Passover, Tabernacles, Pentecost [Weeks]) that all Jewish males were required to attend (Deut. 16:16; cf. Ex. 23:17; 34:23). Perhaps John did not name this particular feast because Jesus’ actions on this occasion are not related to its particulars. The apostle likely mentioned it merely to explain why Jesus was in Jerusalem.

For his readers who were unfamiliar with the city John explained that there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes (porches). Some see the apostle’s use of the present tense verb is as evidence that John wrote his gospel before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The use of the present tense, however, is not conclusive evidence for an early date of writing. The pool evidently escaped destruction when the Romans sacked Jerusalem, since a fourth-century pilgrim to the city reported seeing it. Thus, it would still have been in existence even if John wrote after A.D. 70. John was probably writing here in the “historical present,” using a present tense verb to refer to a past event; doing so would have been consistent with his writing style elsewhere (c.f.4:5, 7; 11:38; 12:22; 13:6; 18:3; 20:1, 2, 6, 18, 26;21:13, where the verbs translated “came” are actually in the present tense). (For a discussion of the date of writing of this gospel, see the introduction.)

The NASB italicizes the word gate since the noun modified by the adjective probatikos (“of or pertaining to sheep”) is not expressed in the text. The reference is most likely to the sheep gate mentioned in Nehemiah 3:1, 32; 12:39, located near the northeast corner of the city’s wall not far from the temple. Bethesda is the Greek transliteration of a Hebrew or Aramaic word variously understood to mean “house of outpourings” or “house of mercy.” In the covered porticoes near the pool, where they would receive some protection from the elements, lay a multitude of those who were sick, including the blind, lame, and withered (paralyzed). The pool was apparently fed by an intermittent spring (cf. v. 7), and people imagined that its waters had healing powers (ancient sources indicate that the water in the pool had a reddish tint from the minerals in it).

The earliest and most reliable Greek manuscripts omit the last phrase of verse 3 and all of verse 4. Others include the passage, but mark it as spurious. Despite its brevity, the omitted section contains more than half a dozen words or phrases foreign to John’s writings—including three not found anywhere else in the New Testament. These facts, along with the absence of any specific mention of angels in the rest of the passage, indicate that the section was not part of John’s original account. In the years after John wrote his gospel, scribes apparently added this material as a marginal note to present the popular explanation for the stirring of the water (v. 7). (The early church father Tertullian referred to the superstition of the angel stirring the water in the late second or early third century.) Later manuscripts incorporated the scribal glosses into the text itself.

Among those gathered at the pool hoping for a miracle was a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years. The exact nature of his illness is not stated, but he was either paralyzed or too weak to move freely on his own. Having been incurably ill for nearly four decades, this man provided Jesus with an opportunity to display His divine power.

Jesus saw this man lying near the pool, knew (supernaturally) that he had already been a long time in that condition, and said to him, “Do you wish to get well?” The Lord’s question seems strange; obviously the man wanted to be cured, or he would not have been at the pool in the first place. But Jesus never engaged in flippant, idle conversation. His question served several purposes: it secured the man’s full attention, focused on his need, offered him healing, and communicated to him the depth of Christ’s love and concern.

But the man failed to grasp the weight of Jesus’ offer. Instead of asking Jesus for healing, the man responded by expressing his belief in the healing powers of the pool. Thus 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.” Whether or not he believed that an angel stirred the water (cf. the discussion of vv. 3b, 4 above), he did believe that when the water was stirred (maybe by a surge from the source) only the first person into the pool would be healed. Since he could not move rapidly enough on his own, and had no one to help him, he never managed to get there first.

The possibility that Jesus might heal him never entered his mind; in fact, he did not even know who Jesus was (v. 13). His only concern was finding a way to be the first one into the pool when the water began stirring. Maybe he thought that Jesus could help him by waiting there with him and carrying him into the water when the time was right. But he certainly never considered that, in a moment, Jesus could miraculously make him completely well. No doubt years of failing to make it first into the water had left him embittered and hopeless. Thus, “v. 7 reads less as an apt and subtle response to Jesus’ question than as the crotchety grumblings of an old and not very perceptive man who thinks he is answering a stupid question” (D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991], 243). Like many people, his expectations of what Jesus could do for him were limited to what he believed was possible.

But Jesus gave the crippled man far more than he could have ever expected, commanding him authoritatively, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk” (cf. Mark 2:11). Three imperative verbs express the completeness of the healing: the man was to stand, carry the straw mat he was lying on, and walk away. Just as Jesus spoke and the world was created (Gen. 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26; cf. John 1:3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2), so also His words had the power to create a new body (cf. Matt. 8:16; 9:6; Mark 2:11; Luke 6:10; 13:12). Unlike many alleged modern healings, Jesus’ healings were complete and instantaneous, with or without faith. This one proves the point, since the man exhibited no faith in Jesus at all. Yet he was healed instantly and wholly. John records that he immediately … became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.

One of the cruelest lies of contemporary “faith healers” is that the people they fail to heal are guilty of sinful unbelief, a lack of faith, or a “negative confession.” In contrast, those whom Jesus healed did not always manifest faith beforehand (cf. Matt. 8:14–15; 9:32–33; 12:10–13, 22; Mark 7:32–35; 8:22–25; Luke 14:1–4; 22:50–51; John 9:1–7), and this man is a prime example.

This incident perfectly illustrates God’s sovereign grace in action (cf. v. 21). Out of all the sick people at the pool, Jesus chose to heal this man. There was nothing about him that made him more deserving than the others, nor did he seek out Jesus; Jesus approached him. The Lord did not choose him because He foresaw that he had the faith to believe for a healing; he never did express belief that Jesus could heal him. So it is in salvation. Out of the spiritually dead multitude of Adam’s fallen race, God chose and redeemed His elect—not because of anything they did to deserve it, or because of their foreseen faith, but because of His sovereign choice (6:37; Rom. 8:29–30; 9:16; Eph. 1:4–5; 2:4–5; 2 Thess. 2:13; Titus 3:5). Even the faith to believe was a sovereign gift (Eph. 2:8–9).

THE MASTER PERSECUTED

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. Afterward 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 had made him well. For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. (5:96–16)

John’s seemingly incidental note that the healing took place on the Sabbath is in reality the key to this incident. It sets the stage for the open hostility that the Jewish authorities manifested toward Christ. The fury of their opposition, fueled at this pool, would only escalate throughout the remainder of His earthly ministry, finally culminating in His death.

Jesus’ refusal to observe the legalistic and man-made Sabbath regulations of rabbinic tradition was a major point of contention between Him and Israel’s religious establishment (cf. Matt. 12:1–14; Mark 2:23–3:6; Luke 6:1–11; 13:10–17; 14:1–6; John 7:21–23; 9:14–16). In fact, the Lord deliberately chose to heal this man on the Sabbath to confront superficial and bankrupt Jewish legalism. The man’s condition was not life threatening, and he was constantly at the pool. Jesus could have easily chosen another day to heal him. But the Lord not only wanted to show mercy to this man; He also wanted to call the nation to repentance by confronting the self-righteous and unbiblical stipulations that led to their illusion of spiritual life. They had become experts at substituting their traditions for God’s commands (Matt. 15:9).

Observing the Sabbath regulations was central to the legalistic Judaism of Jesus’ day. Gerald L. Borchert observes,

The Old Testament prohibited working on the Sabbath (Ex. 31:12–14; 35:2), but did not specify exactly what kind of work was forbidden. It seems, however, that one’s customary employment was in view. The Israelites were not to participate in their normal, week-long occupations on the Sabbath day.

But rabbinic tradition went far beyond that, listing thirty-nine forbidden categories of work—including carrying goods. The rabbinic prohibition against carrying loads on the Sabbath was ostensibly based on such passages as Nehemiah 13:15–18 and Jeremiah 17:21–22. Those passages, however, were aimed at individuals who conducted their ordinary business, their livelihood or occupation, on the Sabbath. Thus they did not apply to the healed man, since he did not make his living by carrying his mat.

Nevertheless, it was for his violation of rabbinic (but not biblical) law that the Jews (the religious authorities) confronted the man who was cured. “It is the Sabbath,” they declared to him indignantly, “and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.” Instead of rejoicing that he was healed, they castigated him for breaking their trivial rules. They were far more concerned with legalistic regulations than with the man’s well-being (cf. Matt. 23:4)—an attitude for which the Lord sharply rebuked them (Matt. 23:13ff.). The false religion of Judaism, like all false systems, cannot change the inside, so it is left to manipulate life on the outside.

Caught in the act of violating traditional Sabbath regulations, the man attempted to defend himself by shifting the responsibility to Jesus. He replied, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’” His fear of the authorities is in marked contrast to the formerly blind man in John 9, who boldly confronted them (John 9:17, 24–33). As Leon Morris wryly observes, “The man was not the stuff of which heroes are made (The Gospel According to John, The New International Commentary on the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979], 306).

Not to be put off, the authorities immediately asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?” What man, they demanded, would have the audacity to call for such a Sabbath violation and flaunt the authority of the rabbis? Who would dare to violate the “traditions of the elders” (Mark 7:3), which they equated with the inviolable law of God? Such impudence needed to be dealt with at once. Once again, they proved themselves to be far more concerned with the minutiae of the law than with the weightier matters—such as the mercy that had been shown to this needy individual (cf. Matt. 23:23).

To their disappointment, the man who was healed did not know who it was who had commanded him. The stranger had approached him, healed him, and left without giving him His name. Nor could the man point Him out to the authorities, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place (cf. 8:59; 10:39; 12:36). But Jesus did not abandon this man. Later, He 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.” Our Lord’s sobering warning reflects an important biblical truth. Although Scripture is clear that illness is not always an immediate result of personal sin (9:1–3), it also teaches that some sicknesses are directly related to deliberate disobedience. For example, after committing adultery and murder, David cried out, “When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer” (Ps. 32:3–4; cf. Ps. 38:1–8). Along these same lines, Moses warned Israel:

Even in the church age, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For this reason [because of your sin] many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep [are dead]” (1 Cor. 11:30).

The most natural understanding of the Lord’s warning, then, is that the man’s illness was the result of specific personal sin on his part. If the man persisted in unrepentant sin, Jesus warned, he would suffer a fate infinitely worse than thirty-eight years of a debilitating disease—namely, eternal punishment in hell.

The man’s response suggests that he failed to heed Jesus’ warning, since he promptly went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. It is astonishing that he would accept this healing after nearly four decades of terrible distress and then walk away from Jesus and show his loyalty to the Jews who hated Him. This has to be one of the great acts of ingratitude and obstinate unbelief in Scripture. He did not intend to praise or worship Jesus for healing him. Since the Jews had already manifested open hostility toward Jesus (vv. 10–12), it would have been incredibly naïve to think they would now react positively. He further aided their hostility by identifying Jesus. More likely, the man’s actions were a further attempt to defend himself for breaking the Sabbath regulations; he could now answer the authorities’ question of verse 12 by naming Jesus (cf. the discussion of vv. 11–13 above).

The Jews also ignored the miracle, as they always did, so the result was predictable: the Jews were continually (as the tense of the verb makes clear) persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. Not only was He guilty (in their minds) of violating the Sabbath Himself, but even worse, He had incited another to do so. So began their open opposition toward Jesus—persecution that would eventually result in His death.

The die was cast. Jesus had not only confronted Jewish legalism at its very core by disregarding their Sabbath rules, but had also challenged them with His true identity as the Son of God, in whom “all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col. 2:9). As impossible as it is to imagine, the Jews’ opposition to their own Messiah would harden and intensify until they finally were able to satisfy their wicked hearts when they “crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8).